How to Heal from the Trauma of Coronavirus

Imagine how you have felt these past few weeks. Or maybe you are reading this post-tense, in the shadows of a virus that ravished the earth.

Life was shut down as we know it. Our resistence to fight a battle bigger than ourselves left us helpless, vulnerable, and feeling out of control.

Now imagine, children who have experienced trauma. (Trauma being any environment where basic needs are threatened by an inconsistent or unsafe environment where needs aren’t predictably met)

As a foster parent of over a dozen years, we have seen kids come into care, faces flat, eyes dim, responses, catatonic.

Children remain stagnant in development when fearful or uncertain of what tomorrow might bring.

Riding the wave of uncertainty, questioning what tomorrow might bring, they ask, “Will there be food? Will we experience felt safety?”

Will their family and resources they are dependent upon be here one day and gone the next?

Anytime life is not just unsafe, but any basic need feels out of reach, or in our mind we feel threatened, we can experience a sense of trauma.

Trauma by definition is any “deeply distressing or disturbing experience.”

Has COVID-19 been disturbing? Yes! It has upset our economy, our daily routines, our lifestyles, our sense of security and safety?

Furthermore, trauma is characterized by, “Any emotional response to any kind of terrible event.”

Truama effects, “Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.”

Do you think kids who come into foster care exihibit these characteristics? Absolutely.

Like us, during this epidemic, kids in foster care live in a state of shock, denial, fear and physical responses, sometimes indefinitely, apart from Jesus’ miraculous healing.

One event can paralize a child’s growth. Infants can literally give up hope, diagnosed with “failure to thrive”.

And furthermore, without help and healing, every life choice and decision can be molded or affected by early childhood trauma.

Jesus is our redemption.

He came to call forth from our Spirit’s a Spirit of Adoption. He has called us to Himself and He is the hope we are all needing.

Flat-lined, blank face, instant rage, sleep issues, a sense of learned helplessness….God can redeem them all.

Kids who have come from homes with trauma, can find restitution and redemption…depending on how significant their early experiences were and how long they experienced trauma.

But the early years?

They are like wet clay. Every early experience deposities on a child’s mind and body, then cements to their psyche and stays in place, imprinting like fossilized events, impacting kids for a life-time.

Those negative experiences actaully latch onto their DNA and not only go with them, but can carry on to future generations. (Watch more groundbreaking work about ACTS from Nadine Burke Harris here)

As adults, most of us can sympathize or parrallel the thoughts, emotions and reactions kids who come in care experience from our time in quarantine.

Imagine a child now, feeling completely out of control. They have nowhere to go, no way of escaping fear, screaming, abuse and/or malnutrition.

What would that child locked in a home with abuse experience, feel, think and hear? What messages would become imprinted on the DNA of that child? And can we all rise higher from the trauma our world has experienced these past few weeks and months?

Friends, I want to point you to Jesus. He isn’t some magical wand we wave to redeem our entire lives in an instant. He is “close to the brokenhearted”.

Jesus is the one who “claims freedom for the captives”, “gives sight to the blind and sets the oppressed free.” (Luke 4)

As a response to trauma, we can medicate, deliberate, contemplate or find a thousand different ways to cover or mask trauma.

The most common ways of coping is to deny, hide or bury what we experienced in the first place.

But God wants to dig up our pain and replant something beautiful. He longs to exchange beauty where there has been ashes, a way out where there has been doubt or uncertainty.

We are not without hope.

When kids come into care, healing and redemption for foster kids grows amidst connection and relationship (time spent face to face with those they love).

The outdoors carries a natural and incredible healing element. Kids dream and explore and hope. Outdoors, chidren are safe, left to explore their thoughts in an environment that is not threatening.

It isn’t until a child has had a consistent time of felt safety that they can begin to process and heal, learn and grow and actually embrace their prior experiences with courage and without fear.

When we have trauma, our immune system is suppressed. Healthy foods do nothing but benefit the growth of our systems and re-allign mental processes.

The best therapeutic method to healing, which can be applied post-trauma to Coronavirus, is play.

Play and laughter redeems the soul. They are like a Red Bull of energy and release. They bring connection and health in ways science is just beginning to know.

Have you ever flet stressed and just started uncontrollably laughing? That’s your body releasing stress.

Don’t be afraid to enjoy this time after Coronavirus. Don’t be afraid to play, waist the day, just relax and enjoy your time outdoors with those who make you feel safe and loved.

Healing from trauma isn’t easy. It often isn’t quick and sometimes it isn’t even painless.

Yet, we can grow as a nation because of what we have been through. Children who’ve gone through trauma can learn to live healthily and in community again…

That means, we can too.

Don’t be afraid of recognizing what we have all experienced. Talk to someone. Walk through the wholeness of this past world trauma.

But in the end, recognize and believe, there is One that can identify with what we have experienced. His name is Jesus.

He is our hope, when all seems lost. He is the light that alluminates our path and He will help us find our way back to “normal” again.