Lumos Trauma Institute in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | Mental health service

Lumos Trauma Institute

Locality: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Phone: +61 418 749 300

Address: 108 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington 4064 Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.lumostrauma.com

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• Mental health service

25.01.2022 Heres another re-post to help you to slow down your thought-train, as mentioned in yesterdays video...and relaaaaax.

25.01.2022 Whats behind your roller door?

25.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #48 Give your body a high five. I dont know about how things are in your corner of the world but here, we tend to put a lot of pressu...re on ourselves to be fit, thin, toned, trimmed, hair in the right places, no hair in the wrong places...and thats just the blokes. During the lockdown/iso/distancing/quarantining/#stayathome, weve all had more of a challenge to keep up with the things that help us to feel less cheesed off with our appearance. Consequently, many of us are feeling less than pleased with our bodies. As if we needed more material to work with in the department of self-body-shaming. If you already love your body, youre a legend. If youre struggling with an injury or health condition that has caused you to have a complicated relationship with your body, then skip this Hack. Your focus can be on being really kind and patient with yourself. For the rest of us, heres the hacky challenge. Shift your focus from critique to gratitude. From form to function. From paintwork to engine. Im talking about the literally INCREDIBLE stuff your body does to sustain itself, move around and make your life happen. So, heres a simple, easy, quick, effective, free-of-charge gratitude practice you can do every day to focus on the cool things your body makes possible for you. I call it a Gratitude Shower. Usually, having a shower is pretty much a daily ritual for many of us. It also often involves you being alone with your thoughts...and your own nudity. Many of us shower with our minds full of checklists, reflections, musings, inventions, plans, revisions and other mind-noise. Some of us shower with an aria or voice solo. Some of us get our best bolts of inspiration and good ideas in the shower. Some of us get a rest from being on call to our family and devices for those blissful moments in the shower, just enjoying the sensations. A Gratitude Shower is about focusing your mind on each part of your body instead of all of the above, as you soap and cleanse yourself. Thank you to my head, that allows me to think, remember, plan, hope and dream. Thank you to my eyes that allow me to see the beautiful full moon and a lovely sunset. Thank you to my nose that.... Thank you to my ears that.... Thank you to my mouth that.... Thank you to my shoulders that.... ...and so on. Pay particular attention to the areas of your body that you judge or have a yuk reaction to and be especially grateful to the function that part serves to keep you sustained in your life or has made possible in some way. Perhaps its crepey skin that hasnt held its shape the way it did 50 years ago...thats 50 years that skin has been in service to your body, keeping you protected from the elements, keeping the outsides out and your insides in. Perhaps its a mothers tummy that looks different since it carried little lives into the world. When you focus on gratitude...enough said. Its a wonderful thing to shower yourself with gratitude. Try it. Go well.

23.01.2022 A message from our Director...

23.01.2022 This ‘raw and real’ message from our Director is particularly for the carers, the caregivers, or anyone who could use a nudge to take care of you too.

23.01.2022 A message from our Director in brain glitches and the importance of resetting.

23.01.2022 All behaviour is caused...

23.01.2022 Just sharing this post again as a follow on from yesterdays video about applying the breaks on your thought train to stop it from literally keeping you awake at night.

22.01.2022 This raw and real message from our Director is particularly for the carers, the caregivers, or anyone who could use a nudge to take care of you too.

22.01.2022 Some perspective in your dark times.

21.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #49 Tracking your stressometer readings. No doubt youve heard of health trackers? ... You know - those techie things you wear on your wrist that give you data about your activity, heart rate, sleep and a range of other fandangled things to help you to achieve your health goals. The idea with tracking is that you are prompted to bring your focus to your behaviour and choices as you go about your day. This helps you to create healthy habits and patterns of moving, eating, drinking, resting and sleeping. Without tracking, it can be difficult to notice whether were holding true to our healthy intentions or whether we are subconsciously sliding back into unhealthy habits. This is a very common (human!) phenomenon. This hack is about another form of tracking that I encourage you to adopt in your life. This tracking doesnt require a device. It doesnt require recharging. Nor iOS updates. This tracker is free. Lets call it your stressometer (sounds like thermometer). Imagine its gauge is numbered from 1-10. Number 1 corresponds with being blissed out- how you felt on your most relaxing holiday or on a mucho relaxo day off. Can you remember ever feeling that goooood? Its possibly been a while! 2-3 is when you are alert but feeling calm and focused. This is how you feel when youre driving along, paying attention to the traffic but singing along to some tunes. Alls well. 4-5 is when youre feeling a bit challenged and out of your comfort zone, maybe a bit hyper-alert but youve still got this. Sticking with the driving example, it might be when youre doing a tricky bit of merging into busy traffic or attempting a reverse-park with another driver waiting for you to get out of their way. Another example is getting ready to do a presentation or even (for some people) asking a shop assistant for help to find something in the store. The heart rate goes up a bit and you feel a bit wired but youre still in control and its not too uncomfortable. 6-7 is when your stress levels are getting to the point when it becomes difficult to think straight and youre feeling quite messed up. Your palms are sweaty, youre a bit agitated and you feel you either want to bop someone on the nose or get the heck out of there (remember the old fight or flight thing?). An example might be when youve been driving around the carpark for ages, finally find a spot then someone else zips into it ahead of you. Or when your kids are asking you for food for the eleventy-millionth time and its not even lunchtime, youre trying to supervise home learning and apparently work from home. 8-9 is full-blown danger-town. Its when we blow a fufu valve. Its when we lose it. We say things we dont really mean to say, maybe throw things, bang doors or escape and run for it, to hide. Were not feeling in control. 10 is the most freaked out you can possibly imagine being. People who have experienced sudden traumatic loss, severe injury, life threat, witnessed something horrific or had some catastrophic news all know the terror of what 10/10 feels like. It feels like youll never be ok again. For some, theyre not. I pray you never get to 10, I really do. But if you do, thats what I do. Help move the needle down the gauge. For everyone else, as long as you track your stressometer, you can notice when youre heading into the danger zone and do something to move your own needle down into a healthy range. More on this tracking thing tomorrow. Meanwhile, go well.

20.01.2022 Five days of Lumos Trauma values... Day Five - Professionalism...

20.01.2022 A message from our Director on keeping an eye on your energy supplies. Take care out there.

18.01.2022 Five days of Lumos Trauma values... Day One - Compassion...

18.01.2022 Five days of Lumos Trauma values... Day Four - Gratitude...

17.01.2022 A reminder from our Director that youre not a machine, or a device, or a computer or a robot. Youre a human being. Emotions are ok. Theyre normal. They belong.

17.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #51 Theres nothing to fear but fear itself...might well be baloney. The purpose of fear is to alert us to danger and to keep us saf...e. If you feel afraid about something it is wise to figure out what exactly it is that you fear. It could help to talk it through with a trusted person or write about it in a journal, to get clear on what EXACTLY you fear. Perhaps the feeling is not strong enough to be called fear. Perhaps you feel nervous or just off about something. These feelings are your clue to dig into whats driving them. Once you have switched on your smart brain to take a curious, analytical look at what it is that you fear, then you can make a wise-mind decision. Is my fear giving me a message that I should heed, about staying safe? Is this message trustworthy? Is the danger real or imagined? What are the chances of things going bad? What do I need to manage the risk of things going bad? In what way do I lose-out if I stay playing it safe? Fear serves a self-protective purpose. Its up to us to make a clear-headed decision about whether theres greater harm in doing the thing we fear or not doing the thing. Only you can decide. Fear serves a purpose but you decide if fear is serving you. Go well.

16.01.2022 A message from our Director about the f-word...feelings!

16.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #41 Feel the fear and do it anyway.

14.01.2022 The concept of acceptance seems like a great ideal but our Directors here to say that its a tall order in the face of grief, loss or trauma.

13.01.2022 Another message from our Director with her take on worry and rumination.

13.01.2022 What’s behind your roller door?

12.01.2022 Say yes to you.

11.01.2022 Our Director is talking about how to stop your freight train of thoughts that keep you awake at night.

11.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #43 Rejigging the rules you live by. You might not know it, but its quite likely that you live by a set of inner guidelines. Some of ...these are actually laid down in your brain as more set in stone, like rules that you live by. Theyre called cognitive rules. Kind of like hard-wired programming. Were often not even consciously aware that theyre there. Whirring away in the background, guiding our choices and sometimes bossing us around. Let me give you an example. Are you a person who is a stickler for holding to your word? If you say youre going to do something, come hell or high water, youll do it. This works a treat when things are pootling along without any dramas. Everyone loves a person whose word is their bond. Theyre reliable, dependable, responsible...well, its good manners! Ok and here comes the but...what happens when circumstances change and for whatever legitimate reason, its no longer possible to do the thing you said you would do? If youre not enslaved by a cognitive rule saying uh uh, you SAID you were going to do the thing so you HAVE to do the thing!, then you go ahead and change the plan. If someone else is going to be affected by this change of plan, then things could be a bit more tricky. However, if youre free of cognitive rules prohibiting you from letting others down then maybe you explain the situation and apologise for the impact on them, then you go ahead and change the plan. Simples. Except that its often NOT simple. We often DO have a cognitive rule telling us that we do not under any circumstances no matter what without exception break.the.rule Its often not overt and clear like this. Thats the problem. Its more subtle and almost imperceptible. Its a nagging little feeling in your gut saying; this doesnt feel right (Rule: you have to do it anyway because you said you would). I want/need to cancel but I cant just say that, Ill have to come up with something else (Rule: cancelling plans without a REALLY good reason is rude). I dont want to go through with this but I have to now, its too late to reneg. (Rule: as above). If circumstances change, youre allowed to change your mind...if its for the right reasons. Youll have to sniff out your true motives for changing your mind. If your mind is being sneaky then get your wise mind to pull rank and get you back on track. If your mind is being fair and self-compassionate, then give yourself permission to rewrite the rule book. Just ensure that you are the one deciding how youre going to live your life. Not some ancient, subconscious, perhaps irrational and outdated inner rule book. Make sure that your inner guide book is more like a Code of Conduct for yourself rather than a bunch of rigid, bossy, unhelpful rules. Go well.

11.01.2022 A message from Martha about the most important relationship youll ever have...

10.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #50 Setting up your stressometer tracker. Having read Hack #49, you are now the proud owner of a stressometer. This finely tuned ...piece of high quality stress tracking is designed to detect when you are threat activated in response to stress, when used correctly. For optimal operation of your inbuilt stressometer you will need to calibrate your system to regularly monitor your stressometer outputs. It is recommended that you adopt a routine for checking the reading on your stressometer at regular intervals. These are called touchpoints. Touchpoints can include; every time you wash your hands (whats my stressometer number out of 10?) every time you brush your teeth (whats my stressometer number out of 10?) every time you have a drink of water (whats my stressometer number out of 10?) every time you put something in the bin (whats my stressometer number out of 10?) every time you put your seatbelt on (whats my stressometer number out of 10?) every time you open the fridge(whats my stressometer number out of 10?). This will take some time to turn doing everyday activities into a habit of checking your stressometer. Keeping track of your stress levels allows you to then make healthy decisions about what you might need to do to bring your stress levels back down to a safer range. Please see a counsellor if stress persists. Go well.

08.01.2022 A message from our Director about scars.

06.01.2022 A message from our Director about the importance of mindfulness moments to invest time in yourself.

05.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #42 Youre a human-being, not a human-doing.

05.01.2022 Five days of Lumos Trauma values... Day Two - Joy...

04.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #47 What really matters to you that lies beyond matter? There are a thousand memes and eye-catching posts to remind us that when we are... at the end of our lives, it wont be our property portfolio, curriculum vitae or stamp collection that will give us a warm glow. It will be a collection of memories, achievements and loved ones that will be fondly cherished. This pandemic is presenting us with an uncomfortable disruption of our usual activities and consumption. Of entertainment. Of media. Of news. Of food and drink in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Of energy. Of time. Theres something else that has been going on. Its something intangible and its quite lovely. Its gratitude. Its connection. Its empathy. Its hope. Its compassion. These are the things that really matter, that lie beyond matter. They cant be measured, captured on a spreadsheet or counted and yet they count for so much. What matters to you? Go well.

03.01.2022 Our Directors invitation to you to listen to your own needs. When you have been through injury or bereavement trauma, this is more important than ever.

02.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #46 Post-it Notes for your brain. Have you ever set yourself a New Years Resolution? Have you ever kept one?... Have you taken the opportunity during pandemic iso to set a new commitment to being more healthy or staying in touch more with the people who matter to you? How are you going with that? Have you ever set yourself a goal to change something in your life for the better? Have you let some (or all) of them slide? Have you ever joined a gym then stopped going after a few months? If youre like most people, then youve nodded along to some of these. Not because youre flaky. Not because youre lazy. Not because you told big, hairy lies to yourself. Not because you meant to. Its because youre human. Habituating change is REALLY hard. That is, turning a new thing into a habit can be a bit of a mission. For change to go from talk to action and for change to actually stick, we need to really want it. We need to commit to it, then re-commit to it daily or maybe even more often than that. We need to remind ourselves (again!) that we are determined to make change happen in our lives. We need to disrupt old, die-hard patterns and ways of doing things. We might also need to give our brain a few little helping hands along the way. For example, you want to disrupt a pattern of eating a slab of chocolate in the danger hours between dinner and bed; dont buy it/ dont have it in the house store it somewhere unusual and leave yourself a post-it note where you usually keep it saying you are committed to this being a no-choc night tonight, right? wrap the chocolate in a note saying you can have two squares but youre in control so no more than that...then be your own supervisor to keep an eye on things. Or if you want to commit to daily exercise in the morning; set an alarm on your phone arrange your gear, ready to go the night before have an accountability buddy disrupt your usual self-sabotagers (eg dont give yourself permission to hit the snooze button!) If you want to STOP doing something, make it harder to access it. If you want to START doing something, use reminders and post-it notes or leave yourself hints where you cant miss them. Tell yourself that youre not available to reneg on your commitment to yourself. You dont cancel on other people, you no longer cancel on yourself. Side note: youre allowed to change your mind if the plan to change something no longer serves you...as long as you are changing your mind... ...on purpose... ...with purpose... This is not the same as reneging on your commitment to creating a positive change in your life. Remember, youre no longer available for letting this slide. Then give it a red, hot go. Notice when barriers get in your way and trip you up on your way to the healthier, better you. Then work on removing or defusing every one of those barriers until you make the change stick. Go well.

02.01.2022 The concept of ‘acceptance’ seems like a great ideal but our Director’s here to say that it’s a tall order in the face of grief, loss or trauma.

02.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #44 Enjoy the little things.

02.01.2022 Five days of Lumos Trauma values... Day Three - Integrity...

01.01.2022 COVID-19 Well-being Hack #45 Lessons from Ring Theory...Comfort in, Dump out. The theory goes that those who are at the centre of a loss or trauma are consid...ered to be in the inner circle. Its not a happy circle. The authors of Ring Theory, Silk and Goldman, suggest you write the name of the most significantly affected person or people in a crisis on a page, then draw a circle around their name/s. Then write the name or names of the people who are next closest, then draw a circle around that. Then write the name or names of the next closest people, then draw another circle around that. Then continue until you have about 5 rings with people at the outer layers who are less directly or deeply affected by the crisis than those at the centre or in the inner circles. The way Ring Theory works is that the person or people at the centre have the most right to grieve and wail about the situation to anyone. The authors say, quite rightly, that this is the one and only perk of being at the ground zero of crap. People in the next layer out from the centre have every right to grieve and wail to anyone in the outer rings, but not to the people who have it worse in the centre ring. People in the third layer, in turn, can grieve and wail to anyone in the rings further away from the centre but not in the other direction, towards the centre. In every ring, the helpful rule of thumb is Comfort in (only kindness, support and help flowing inwards to those more deeply affected), Dump out (grieving and wailing to those less affected). Comfort in means holding your own pain and suffering in, out of respect for their closer position to the crisis, and allowing support, kindness, patience and understanding to flow in the direction of the more directly affected person in the inner circles. This means you dont say to a person who has sustained severe burns oh, this one time, I burnt myself on the iron. Just....no...nope. Dont say that thing. Even though you think youre showing understanding of the pain they must be going through, just...no. Its not helpful. Telling them theyre lucky it wasnt worse. Although potentially true...also bad...because theyre unlucky it happened at all (not usually feeling very lucky). This means you dont say to someone who is grieving, theyve gone to a better place. No...nope. This is not helpful. These things actually happen to injured and bereaved people all.the.time. This means you dont complain about the hot mess that is working from home while supervising your three kids home learning during pandemic iso to a person who has lost their job as a result of the lockdowns. Nope. Dont do that. This means that you absolutely have a right and a need to express whatever emotions youre feeling about the plights youre going through...you just need to choose your audience. This also means you dont tell yourself you have no right to be feeling messed around or messed up at this time during the COVID-19 crisis because so many people are far worse off than you. Youre allowed to grieve and wail...but not to the people who are in the eye of the storm. Maybe not to anyone. But definitely to yourself. Everyone in the Ring Theory circles matters. Everyones experience is real and sometimes raw. Everyone belongs. Every persons emotions count. So remember, its Comfort in, Dump out ....not Suck it up, buttercup. Go well.

01.01.2022 A message from our Director about emotional intimacy and healthy boundaries.