After the Shock

Book excerpt: If you are in crisis or walking alongside someone in crisis, this book is meant for you. This is more than a book; it is like being with a great friend. When you hear the word crisis what do you think? A dramatic car wreck. A critical medical diagnosis. Divorce. Job loss. Natural disaster. Death. What about the mini-shocks within those crises or the smaller events that disrupt our lives more frequently? A fender bender in rush-hour traffic. Personal information getting hacked. Being overlooked for a promotion. When crisis hits, large or small, we are thrown off balance. In After the Shock: Getting You Back On The Road To Resilience When Crisis Hits You Head On, Becky Sansbury introduces a sustainable model to help you stabilize and move toward resilience. After decades of working with people in crisis, she determined that four factors give us balance, strength and support throughout our lives, but especially in shocking times. Like the four tires of a car, comfort, control, community, and connection to something bigger than self provide both a base and a cushion for navigating the ruts and potholes of life. But that is not enough to move us on to resilience. In the overwhelming confusion of crisis we crave a space safe for focusing on our current experience, strengthened by crucial lessons from the past. We make both casual and far-reaching decisions based on assumptions that may no longer be authentic or lead to our desired future. We grasp for resources, often unsure of what we need. Expanding the car metaphor, in After the Shock the reader learns effective ways to use the frame of experience, the steering capacity of assumptions, and the fuel of resources to lead toward more resilient responses in a variety of crises. Reach for After the Shock to nurture healing through warmth and wisdom. Written in a conversational style, this book provides practical tools while wrapping you with virtual arms of support as you make your way from reaction to resilience.