Abbey Caves tragedy: Psychology lecturer on how best to deal with trauma

Associate Professor of Psychology at Massey University, Kirsty Ross, is urging those less affected by the Abbey Caves tragedy to support those most affected.

Being able to talk about feelings without delving into what happened inside Abbey Caves will help those impacted by the tragedy deal with their stress, a leading psychology lecturer says.

The comments from Associate Professor of Psychology at Massey University, Kirsty Ross, come after a number of parents decided against sending their children to Whangārei Boys High School on Wednesday as they felt the school should be closed for the week as a mark of respect for a student who died in the cave a day earlier.

Ross said after a traumatic event, an acute stress response was not unusual and it involved trouble with sleeping and eating, or people may feel wound up and find it difficult to relax.

“Or they might find it difficult to make decisions or feel motivated to do things. Having a flight, fight or freeze response is understandable, and looking after your physical self is really important in managing your emotions.”

She said being able to talk about your feelings would help reduce the physical impact, and engaging with social support and strategies that were important spiritually would also help.

“If someone you know was directly involved, it is important to let them talk in their own time about their experiences, rather than ask them a lot of questions about things they might not be ready to talk about yet.

“For young people, adult support is really important, alongside the peer support they will also find valuable. A tragedy like this can make young people question what they thought about the world and can affect their sense of safety and justice/fairness,” Ross said.

A range of emotions was understandable, she said, and it was important to let those emotions settle before making any decisions or taking any actions.

“So just really good self-care, for yourself, your whānau and within the community is important. Allow support to go inwards – those less affected support those most affected.

“It is important to validate those feelings, but over time, to balance their thinking so that their sense of the world as being safe is renewed. Otherwise, they make have an increased sense of anxiety from feeling unsafe and that the world is threatening and uncertain.”

“Having a sense of what they can control will also help them – routine, structure, but also some flexibility to meet their emotional needs. Checking their thinking so they are not filling in gaps in information with guesses is important, as making assumptions can increase distress and be unhelpful,” she said.

Ross said the Ministry of Education’s decision to send a trauma team to the school would help as the team was skilled in dealing with the physical and emotional side of things.

Multiple investigations are under way to determine what happened in the caves and why the school trip went ahead despite a forecast for wild weather that day.