EMOTIONAL

FIRST-AID

Tools to Manage Stress

and Trauma

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 Emotional First Aid Disclaimer
This educational PowerPoint is a gift created by the ACEP Humanitarian Committee for
those who wish to bring emotional first aid training to their community. It is the hope of
the authors that the information contained in the PowerPoint will be beneficial to those
who use it. However, these slides are for educational purposes only and are not, and
should not be used as, a substitute for mental health treatment by a qualified mental
health professional.

Further, the authors state that any such use of this information as a substitute for mental
health treatment by a qualified mental health professional constitutes misuse of the gift.
Further, neither ACEP nor the ACEP Humanitarian Committee, or any of its members or
authors of this PowerPoint accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for the use or
misuse of the PowerPoint or the information contained therein.
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 Emotional First Aid Disclaimer
While the authors are unaware of any evidence that the methods presented in the PowerPoint
have caused significant adverse effects, by using or viewing these slides you (the recipient of
the gift) agree to fully release, indemnify, and hold harmless, ACEP, its employees, Board,
volunteers and others associated with ACEP from any claim or liability whatsoever and for any
damage or injury, personal, emotional, financial or otherwise, which you may incur arising at
any time out of or in relation to the use of the PowerPoint, any of the slides contained therein,
ideas, suggestions, techniques, and/or any information or other materials contained herein.

Any information, stories, examples, or testimonials offered as part of the PowerPoint or the
presentation of the PowerPoint do not constitute a warranty, guarantee, or prediction
regarding any outcome that may or may not be experienced by any individual as a result of
using any such material or information contained within the PowerPoint and/or the
presentation of the PowerPoint for any particular purpose or issue.
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 Emotional First Aid PowerPoint
Training and Consultation
Please see the training video on how to use this PowerPoint to bring
Emotional First Aid to your community.

If you need to discuss how to bring this PowerPoint to your community, please
contact the ACEP Humanitarian Outreach Committee at the email below.
Email: acephum@gmail.com

ACEP Website: Resources for Resilience 

http://www.energypsych.org/resilience

ACEP Humanitarian Committee Web Page

http://energypsych.site-ym.com/page/Humanitarian

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 EMOTIONAL
FIRST-AID

Tools to Manage Stress

and Trauma

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 PRESENTER Insert brief bio info
NAME
Title

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 OVERVIEW
Impact of stress and trauma
Simple tools to manage effects of
stress and trauma
Ways to empower you to spread
healing with emotional first-aid skills

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 7

 BALANCE HOOK UP
1. Cross hands and legs as in image.

2. Breathe in nose with tip of tongue

behind top front teeth.
3. Release your tongue and breathe
out mouth.
4. Focus on breathing this way until
feeling calmer.
5. Switch hand and ankle positions
and repeat.

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 HEART
BREATHING

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 WHAT IS EMOTIONAL FIRST-AID?

▪ Is given to someone who is unable to calm or

soothe themselves.
▪ Techniques that allow a return to a calmer state.
▪ Can be used with one person or a group.
▪ Helps prevent symptoms of post-traumatic
stress (PTS) and long-term effects of trauma.

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 WHY OFFER
EMOTIONAL
FIRST-AID?

Calms people down

Speeds up healing
Helps grounding
Improves problem-solving
Decreases conflict

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 WHAT THIS IS NOT!
Emotional First-Aid DOES NOT
replace or substitute for mental
health services

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 12

 SMALL GROUP EXERCISE
1.What is your experience of
stressful situations?
2.What were the challenges for
you in these situations?
3.How do you calm yourself in a
stressful situation?

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 EMOTIONAL FIRST-AID
FOR SELF AND OTHERS
Center yourself
Be stress & trauma-informed
Learn tools for calming
Share with others

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 14

 Understand the
body’s natural
stress responses

BE STRESS AND
TRAUMA INFORMED
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 YOU ARE BIOLOGICALLY
WIRED FOR SURVIVAL

FIGHT
FLIGHT
FREEZE
FLOP

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 FIGHT
Aggressive response to threat 

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 FLIGHT
Running
Backing away
Hiding

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 FREEZE
Immobility in
response
to a threat 

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 FLOP
Faced with no other
option, your system will
shut down as if dead.

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 STORED TRAUMA
▪ Physical or emotional pain, stress
or shock
▪ Activates the body’s flight/fight/freeze
reflex
▪ Memory is stored in the body
▪ Triggered by cues: sights, sounds,
smells, and sensations
▪ “Body flashback” reactions are not
under conscious control
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 Anxiety, fears, and emotional distress

Feeling jumpy and hypervigilant

Easily irritated, angry, and reactive

Restlessness, inability to rest or sleep

SYMPTOMS
OF TRAUMA Spacey, attention problems, can’t think clearly

AND STRESS Fatigue, disconnected, and numb

Stomach and digestive problems

Heart arrhythmia and breathing problems

Aches, pains, illness, and psychosomatic

symptoms
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 ACE STUDY

The more Adverse

Childhood Experiences
(ACEs), the higher the
likelihood of problems
in adulthood.

Anda RF, Felitti VJ, Bremner JD, et al. The enduring effects of abuse and related adverse experiences in childhood: A convergence of evidence from
neurobiology and epidemiology. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience. 2006;256(3):174-186. doi:10.1007/s00406-005-0624-4. ©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 ACE STUDY
In addition to Adverse Childhood Experiences having
long-term effects, they also increase the likelihood of
risky behaviors:
▪ Early initiation of smoking
▪ Illicit drug use
▪ Early onset of sexual activity
▪ Adolescent pregnancies
▪ Suicide attempts

Anda RF, Felitti VJ, Bremner JD, et al. The enduring effects of abuse and related adverse experiences in childhood: A convergence of evidence from
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology neurobiology and epidemiology. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience. 2006;256(3):174-186. doi:10.1007/s00406-005-0624-4.
 BE STRESS and TRAUMA
PREPARED
Use Emotional First Aid techniques to
manage symptoms of stress and trauma:
• Easy to use
• Self-applied
• Easy to share
• Efficient and effective

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 3 STEPS OF EMOTIONAL FIRST-AID

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 26

 STEP 1
SAFETY
Find a safe place
A smile
A connection
How can I help you?
Butterfly hug

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

BUTTERFLY HUG
Place your hands as shown
Flap your hands like the wings of a
butterfly
Breathe slowly and notice the change

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 PRACTICE TIME!
Notice how it feels in your body and mind
Before After

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 STEP 2
STABILIZATION
Notice the here and now
4-7-8 breath
Blow-out

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 GETTING HERE NOW

WHAT DO YOU SEE WHAT DO YOU HEAR CAN YOU FEEL CAN YOU COUNT BY
IN THE ROOM? IN THE ROOM? YOUR FEET ON THE THREES OUT LOUD?
GROUND?

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 Take a deep breath, counting to 4

CALM Hold your breath counting to 7

BREATHING
4-7-8 BREATH Breath out counting to 8

Repeat 2–3 times

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 STRESS
BLOW-OUT
With a deep breath, lift
both hands over the head
And make fists facing you

Pull fists down fast while

blowing out air with a
‘SHHHH’
Open hands and let it go
Repeat 3-5 times
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 PRACTICE TIME!
Notice how it feels in your body and mind
Before After

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 STEP 3
SELF-REGULATION
Calming Hug
Balanced Hook-Up
4-Thumps
Trauma Tapping Technique

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 CALMING HUG

Cross your arms as shown

Hold for a minute
Switch & Repeat using
opposite arm

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 THYMUS THUMP:
RELEASE THE FREEZE

Gently pound the

center of the chest
with a closed fist

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 37

 4-THUMPS
TO MOBILIZE THE SYSTEM
& RELEASE SHOCK

Tap Lightly on point 1

Vigorously tap points
2,
3 & 4 for 20 seconds
each

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 TRAUMA
TAPPING
TECHNIQUE
Connect lightly with
upset
Tap points 1-14
Breathe deeply twice
Repeat as needed
Notice any changes
and appreciate them
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 PRACTICE TIME!
Notice how it feels in your body and mind
Before After

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 40

 CREATE A SELF-CARE PROGRAM
Walk our walk: the importance of self-care and
stress management
Identify stressors/impact on body
Build stress management routine
Talk to peers
Debrief after stressful events

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 SPREAD EMOTIONAL
FIRST-AID IN YOUR
COMMUNITY
How will you use these
new skills with the people
you serve?
What situations would
these skills benefit?
Can you teach simple tools
to your peers?

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 CREATE YOUR
ACTION PLAN
Brainstorm ideas for bringing these
tools into your community.
Share ideas with the whole group.

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology 43

 QUESTIONS?

COPYRIGHT 2019 ACEP HUMANITARIAN COMMITTEE

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 WEB RESOURCES
ACEP Website: Resources for Resilience
http://www.energypsych.org/resilience
ACEP Humanitarian Committee web page
https://energypsych.org/Humanitarian
Resources for Resilience = R4R YouTube page
https://tinyurl.com/R4Rvids
Peaceful Heart Network (Self-Help For Trauma smart phone app)
www.selfhelpfortrauma.org and www.peacefulheart.se
FREA: Finding Recovery and Empowerment from Abuse
https://www.frea.support

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 TTT APP

www.selfhelpfortrauma.org

©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology

 VIDEO RESOURCES
Resources for Resilience = R4R youtube page
https://tinyurl.com/R4Rvids

TTT demos (Winky: wordless animation) Peaceful Heart Network

https://youtu.be/cLZEfe47gwk 
www.selfhelpfortrauma.org
TTT Two Fingers Tapping Song (5 min.) Hamne, Gunilla & Sandström, Ulf.
http://peacefulheart.se/videos/twofingers-a-trauma-tapping-song-from-rwanda/
Bucket of Resilience, (2016), Sandström, Ulf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqFzKKJk1yE
ACEs Connection social network, (2017)
http://www.acesconnection.com/blog/aces-primer-great-five-minute-video-that-e
xplains-ace-study
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology
 CERTIFICATION
PROGRAMS
©2019 Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology