8. Trauma Never Goes Away: It Always Has to Be Managed

There are more than a few consequences associated with a crisis-causing event. There is the crisis. We may have an idea about what event triggered the crisis and its role in the crisis. These are the obvious characteristics, the evident distinctiveness associated with our crisis in our organization. We also know something of the nature of the trauma. We can see the crisis and its damaging effects. We can even measure its impact on the organization. These observations are useful and long as we don’t become complacent and let the crisis and its effects obscure the nature of the trauma emerging. No crisis impacts only one person. People are part of social networks, families, workplaces, schools, clubs and religions. We belong to these networks because we believe they meet our needs, and when a crisis impacts someone in the network, all feel some effects to some extent. The types and levels of trauma are not always obvious. But wherever it occurs, trauma must be managed; it cannot be ignored. Hoping doesn’t make it go away.