Crisis Protocol Integration

Understand when to use each protocol and how to return from crisis.

When to Use What

Emergency Grounding Sequence: For acute moments

• Panic attacks
• Dissociation episodes
• Shock
• Acute overwhelm
• Moments when you’ve lost connection to present reality

Use: STOP-LOOK-TOUCH-BREATHE-WAIT-BASICS

Crisis Minimum Protocol: For extended difficult periods

• Extended illness
• Major loss
• Mental health difficulties
• Extended periods where normal isn’t possible

Maintain: Eat something, Attention Process when foggy, Fixed sleep time, Three gratitudes

The Return

Crisis doesn’t last forever. At some point, it passes. At some point, you can function more normally again.

The danger at this transition: staying in crisis mode longer than necessary.

Many people get used to the reduced functioning. They stay in survival mode after the crisis has passed. The crisis becomes identity. The minimum becomes the standard.

Check in with yourself regularly:

• Is the crisis still active?
• Or has it passed and I’m still operating as if it’s happening?
• Can I do more than the crisis minimum?
• Am I ready to step back up?

The minimum is the floor, not the destination. When you can do more, do more.

Gradual Return

When emerging from extended crisis, don’t try to resume everything at once. Gradual is better.

Maybe:

• Week 1 post-crisis: Add morning light back
• Week 2: Add warm water practice
• Week 3: Add one mindful meal
• Week 4: Resume full morning routine

Let the system rebuild. Don’t shock it with sudden full demands.

When Crisis Returns

Crisis will return. Not maybe - will. Life includes crises.

Now you have protocols:

• Acute crisis -> Emergency Grounding Sequence
• Extended activation the sensory tools can’t hold -> Emergency Gratitude Protocol
• Extended crisis -> Crisis Minimum Protocol

These are available forever. Use them when needed. Return to full practice when able.

The Deeper Truth

Crisis protocols aren’t about avoiding crisis. They’re about having a floor beneath the floor.

You can fall far, but not all the way. You have emergency procedures. You have minimum requirements. You have something to hold onto when everything else is gone.

This is valuable not just in crisis, but in knowing that crisis is survivable. The fear of crisis often exceeds the crisis itself. Knowing you have protocols reduces the fear.

Unit 9 Complete

You’ve completed Unit 9: Crisis Protocols.

What You’ve Learned:

• The difference between acute and extended crisis
• What happens physiologically in crisis
• The Emergency Grounding Sequence (STOP-LOOK-TOUCH-BREATHE-WAIT-BASICS)
• The Emergency Gratitude Protocol for extended activation the sensory tools can’t hold
• The Crisis Minimum Protocol (eat, attention, sleep time, three gratitudes)
• When to use each
• How to return from crisis

What You’ve Built:

• Emergency protocol for acute moments
• A written protocol for extended crisis that builds confront from far to close
• Minimum maintenance protocol for extended difficulty
• Personal crisis details documented
• Confidence that crisis is survivable

Going Forward:

Keep these protocols accessible:

• Know where you wrote your personal crisis details
• Practice the Emergency Sequence occasionally so it stays fresh
• Know your Crisis Minimum specifics (sleep deadline, paper location, food spot, attention trigger)
• Have paper and pen somewhere you can reach when the thinking is churning

When crisis comes - and eventually it will - you have tools. That knowledge itself is stabilizing.