30 September 2025

Sometimes professional interventions in crises which affect people within the community are unhelpful, at least in  the beginning. There is such a focus on people being victims and becoming traumatised by things which are a natural part of living in an uncertain and unpredictable world.

Instead of seeking professional help in the first instance, it is more natural for people who have suffered a tragedy of one kind or another to examine their own personal resources and then the resources inherent within their family circle and their circle of friends.

This extends, of course, to the church where people may access not only the resources of their fellow members and, in particular, their parish minister and district elder but also, and most importantly, the spiritual resources available through their relationship with God.

I don’t know whether it is the internet’s ability to connect us with such a disparate array of  people and opinion that we have become so attuned to the notion that we are victims of one kind or another. It is such a negative self-perception which surely attracts more not less negativity?

There are two issues here. Firstly, people are too quick to share their agonies publicly. It’s as if you cannot be a real celebrity until you have experienced or shared a personal trauma. Opening up the inner life to the world is the first step to letting yourself evaporate.

Secondly, if the role models we respect are quick to share their trauma, we may be inclined to think that we should have some too. Redefining ourselves and our life story as one to evince a compassionate response from others is to refocus the world upon our person rather than the person of Christ.