When trauma strikes, what happens to our minds and bodies after the crisis? Critical Incident Support Manager Mitch Radin, PsyD, LP, leads the team that supports our team after a stressful or traumatic workplace event. He says we need healthy ways to acknowledge our own distress and support each other.
The Gazelle and the Herd: A Lesson in Neurobiology
Dr. Radin uses a metaphor from nature: a gazelle escapes a lion, then kicks its hind legs and shakes violently before returning to the herd. "That's neurobiology," he explained. "It's discharging toxic stress hormones—adrenaline, cortisol—before rejoining the group."
Humans, however, often skip this step. "We go from one stressful thing to the next without ever acknowledging our own neurobiological needs," he said. "We expect to just lean back into the herd—our team, our family—but if we haven't discharged that stress, we risk agitating the whole group."
How we can support each other
Dr. Radin said we can support each other by recognizing that it's normal and healthy to have a reaction to a traumatic event.
-
Validate all reactions: Some people check out. Some people lash out. Some hold it together and fall apart later. It's all normal.
-
Avoid pathologizing distress: Don't treat emotional responses like symptoms to fix. That's like sedating a trauma victim on scene—it delays healing.
-
Model vulnerability: When you say you're not doing well, that's powerful. It gives others permission to do the same.
-
Respect cultural differences: There are cultural differences in how we express emotion. Be thoughtful about how you interpret someone's reaction.
Stress lives in the body
"Your brain is only 20% of your stress response. Your body is 80%," Dr. Radin explained. As you come to work, notice where your brain is going if you're feeling distress, and check your body, he says: "I pretty much guarantee you're holding tension somewhere in your body and your breathing is tight, shallow or you're holding your breath."
Dr. Radin warned that the hardest part may not be the immediate aftermath—it's the weeks that follow. Right now, the environment matches our internal distress. Later on, the external environment starts to get back to normal but our body is still sending distress signals.
"Our body does not know the difference between past and present," he says. "It just knows that it's holding tension. It reminds us of what happened. Now everything starts to feel like a stress point."
His advice: recognize what your body is experiencing and know that this response —immediate or delayed—is normal. Hydrate, nourish yourself, breathe deeply, and take breaks. "If you need to tap out, tap out. It's not a failure to cope. It is not a weakness. This is hard."
When it gets hard, Dr. Radin encourages people to find one thing you can do today for yourself, your friend or your loved one. When things happen that don't make sense, draw meaning in how you show up for others: "Use that as your anchor as you move through this."
