Guide to provide emotional first aid

Guide to provide emotional first aid

1 question what they want from you
Faced with a sad person, one of the first questions you should do is:what can I do for you? It is at that moment when it begins the emotional support of truth, has more than under the investigation of whathappened. Prioritizes your well-being to your curiosity to know whatcould happen.



2 listen to what you say
Support is, among other things, listen and facilitate the other can vent to release tension. Therefore, you should not take a role as active toclearly lead the relationship that the sad person and you have. Support is just that: be willing to help the other person, pay attention to their needs, and not to saturate it with tips or activities imposed. For this reason, the most important thing you can do is practice active listening, i.e. less than the other person speak and do it to make it it that ifyou want to, can express itself.



3. do not despise the silences
Do not have why to feel discomfort if the time you spend giving company to the other person is fraught with silences: is normal. Accompanying physically this person already can be helping, and words are something secondary almost always. Tries, in addition, that the other person note that for you there is no problem in staying long time without saying anything. So you won't have to act on commitment.





4 cry isn't bad
It seems absurd to have to say it, but it is never wrong to remember this. Today cry is frowned upon, especially in the case of men, and yetis a mechanism present in all cultures used to download tensions, exhausting the body and, in a way, relieved. It is also a good time to strengthen ties through the embrace, since this physical contact can bemade from that moment on the person who is sad feel more wrapped and freer to express thoughts and feelings that afflict it.
You can complement this point by reading the following article: "howto give bad news? 12 keys to emotional"


5. he respects your privacy
Provide emotional support to someone does not mean that we are sealing a pact with that person that you offer company to change thatreveals you all the reasons of her sadness. One side of this feeling ofgrief is verbalizable, but there is another that inevitably is intimate and subjective, either the person prefers not to reveal it. It is importantto respect that.



6. look at the important details
Someone who goes through a bad time is able to spend much timepondering what happens or focusing on their emotions and, therefore, is able to forget important things in their daily lives. If you can, tryto be there to look if this person is going through high things important both in its planning of the day to day as in small gestures and movements that can be done.



7 respects your desire for solitude
There are many people who prefer to be alone when they are sad. Why you not insist on being next to them whatever they say and do what they do. Leaving a space you can be helping it recover and, in any case,you can always clarify that they can count on your company at any time if at any time you want them.