How to Create a PTSD Crisis Kit

"Knowledge is power." - Sir Francis Bacon

Every day, your body is giving you a wealth of information about what it needs. Your body will tell you when it's hungry, when it’s tired, and when it’s hurt. Your body has cues that alert you: this needs attention. It also provides you with critical information about your PTSD: what triggers you, what trauma responses it uses to protect you, what things help your PTSD and what things make it worse. I’m going to show you how to take the knowledge your body is already giving you and turn it into an empowering resource for your PTSD recovery.

"Take the knowledge your body is already giving you and turn it into an empowering resource for your PTSD recovery."

All the resources I’m using today are available for free in The Vault, which you can access by signing up below. I’m going to walk you step-by-step through using these resources to create a personalized PTSD Crisis Kit, using real information about your PTSD to find patterns and collect strategies that support your journey to recovery. This is what we’re using today:

And this is what we’re creating:

1. The PTSD Mind Map

Every day for the past two weeks, I’ve filled in a PTSD mind map. It’s a quick check-in that gives me an idea of what my body is feeling that day, and it gives me a ton of information about how to find patterns in my PTSD. For help getting started with the PTSD mind map, check out this post to read in-depth about three ways you can utilize this resource.

2. The Tally Tracker

Once you have a full week’s worth of completed PTSD mind maps, it’s time to compile that information and start to see what it’s showing you. When I compile my data, I like to spread all seven pages of mind maps out on my kitchen table and look at them together to fill in my tally tracker. I start at the top of the tally tracker, with agitation, and count how many times it’s circled on my mind maps. Since the words are in the same spot on every page, it runs through pretty quickly. I tally how many times I was agitated this week, and then move on to anger, anxiety, etc. It always feels like a small win when I find a symptom on my tally tracker that I didn’t experience at all that week. It’s an exciting moment! Maybe this week I have one, but maybe next week I’ll have two. Or maybe next week, I’ll get to mark down 0 days for a symptom I really struggled with this week. PTSD recovery definitely isn’t linear, but evidence of your progress is there if you know how to look for it.

As we prepare our information for a PTSD Crisis Kit, we are going to use mind maps from multiple weeks and combine all our symptom information on one tally tracker. I already had a tally tracker from each week I filled out mind maps, so I used a third tally tracker to combine my totals. If you’re compiling as you go, for the purpose of a PTSD Crisis Kit, you can combine multiple weeks on the same tracker.

With so many symptoms associated with PTSD, and so many options to choose for my PTSD Crisis Kit, I decided to add any symptom that I circled on at least half of my mind maps. Since I’m using data from two weeks of mind maps, I identified every symptom I experienced at least 7 out of the 14 days, and used those to put together my PTSD Crisis Kit.

A quick note:

Here’s why I put the prep work into my PTSD Crisis Kit instead of just guessing at what symptoms need to be on there: it doesn’t help me when I am having a PTSD episode to have suggestions for symptoms I don’t experience. In fact, my system is already completely overloaded when I’m having a trauma response, and having dozens of symptoms listed out to try to sort through and assess feels like more of a hindrance than a help. The goal here is to create a resource that supports me when I’m in crisis and makes it easier for me to make it through my trauma response. It’s worth it to me to put the time in when I’m not in crisis to find ways to support myself when I am. My PTSD Crisis Kit is not going to take away my trauma response, but if I can set myself up with strategies and resources ahead of time, then maybe I can make my trauma response even 1 % better. When my body is in crisis, even a small amount of relief is a welcome distraction.

3. The PTSD Crisis Kit

a. Adding Symptoms and Strategies

Now that we have our information gathered from several days of mind maps, we are going to take that knowledge and turn it into power. One by one, we’re going to fill in our symptoms and strategies on the first couple pages of the PTSD Crisis Kit. To give you an idea of what this looks like and how to start using it on your own, here’s a look at the first page of symptoms in my PTSD Crisis Kit. These are strategies that have worked for me, or strategies that I’ve worked on in therapy with my trauma specialist. When you fill out your own PTSD Crisis Kit, it’s important to add things that support your PTSD responses, and remember that what helps me might be different than what helps you.

b. Identifying Areas of Growth

As I filled out my Crisis Kit, I realized pretty quickly that I couldn’t think of any strategies for one of my biggest PTSD symptoms: avoidance. Assessing each symptom and the strategies I’ve learned to support them ended up being crucial information to make growth in my PTSD recovery. I made a list of the symptoms I didn’t have strategies for so that I could talk through them with my PTSD therapist. If I can’t think of a way to combat my symptoms when I’m not having a trauma response, there’s no way I’ll be able to think of a strategy when I’m in mental and physical distress.

c. Adding Encouragement

In addition to the strategies I’ve worked on developing over the months that I’ve been working towards my PTSD recovery, one other thing has been instrumental in my experience of a PTSD response: encouragement. My PTSD reactions are very physical, and it’s really scary not to be in control of my body when I’m experiencing such intense physical distress. Connecting with my support system reminds me that I’m not alone in this, and it helps to be reminded that I’m loved and supported, even if it doesn’t change the physical reaction my body is having.

Just like the first couple pages of the Crisis Kit gathered practical strategies, this last page is a spot for gathering encouragement. Here’s a look at each section of this encouragement collection, along with some ideas of how it might look filled in:

Spend some time thinking about the times when you feel safe - what are you doing? Who are you with? How does it connect to your five senses? How can you recreate that when you need to? If you find that you only have one or two things to add to your list right now, that’s okay. As you work towards recovery, you’ll start to find the things that help you feel safe. Start where you are, and those lists will grow.

The encouragement I added here were from texts and phone conversations I had, but I would love to add encouragement from my support system that they choose themselves. Ask your partner, your trauma therapist, your family member or caregiver: what encouragement do you want me to remember when I’m having a trauma response? Challenge yourself to invite them into your healing process, and see how your experience changes when you know you're supported by people who love you.

4. Bonus

If you want to take your PTSD Crisis Kit a step further, collect any items you’ll use with your Crisis Kit and store them together in one place. Based on what I filled in on my Crisis Kit, that might look like finding a shelf in my linen closet for my favorite candle, bubble bath, and weighted blanket. I'd also add in some cozy socks and my favorite sweatshirt, because I know those are things that bring me immediate comfort.

Just like taking the time to think about and list the strategies for your trauma reactions is helpful to do ahead of time, so is gathering the things you know you’ll need when your body is in crisis. In my experience, it’s always been worth it to take the time to prepare when I’m not in crisis, because when I am, my body is too overwhelmed and out of control to take care of itself.

One of the ways I do that is by working on finding strategies that work for me. Strategies for me might not be what your body needs, and I hope you’ll use this as a place to really start thinking about what does help you. In all the ways I’ve made this Crisis Kit my own, I hope you’ll personalize it to you and your PTSD journey. And by doing that, I hope your Crisis Kit makes your next trauma response even 1% easier.

Sign up for The Vault to access all your Crisis Kit downloads, and leave us your best encouragement below!