Mental Focus Trauma Awareness cards

Trauma Awareness cards

A self-discovery and practical toolkit for understanding trauma and supporting healing

The Trauma Awareness cards provide a scientifically grounded, trauma-informed self-discovery and psychoeducational toolkit for those who would like to better understand the effects of past stressful experiences that can still be felt in the present.

Trauma can leave traces not only in our memories. It can also affect how our body reacts, how we experience and regulate our emotions, what thoughts we have about ourselves, and how we connect with others. The cards help you recognize these connections, understand the nervous system's survival reactions and gradually build a safer, more accepting relationship with yourself.

Recommended age: 12 and up.

Contents of the card deck

• 80 self-discovery cards

• 48 trauma-informed exercises

• 170 reflection questions

The cards don't ask: 'What's wrong with me?' – they help you ask a more compassionate question: 'What might have happened to me, and what was my nervous system trying to protect me from?'

Types of cards

Common consequences of trauma cards

These cards help you recognize common emotional, physical, cognitive, relational and behavioral consequences of trauma. They don't give a diagnosis, but support you in better understanding that what you experience doesn't mean something is wrong with you – it's your nervous system's natural survival response.

Exercise cards

The exercise cards provide support in four important areas on the path towards healing:

Somatic exercises: help calm the nervous system and reconnect with your body.

Emotional healing: support recognizing, understanding and processing feelings.

Healing relationships: help you connect more safely with yourself and others.

Post-traumatic growth: support the discovery of new resources, meanings and life directions.

Why can this card deck be useful after trauma?

What can be difficult at such times?

One of the hardest consequences of trauma is that our reactions often seem incomprehensible or unpredictable.

It may be that:

• a small situation triggers a disproportionately strong feeling,

• you sense danger where others don't,

• you find it hard to calm yourself,

• you long for closeness and fear it at the same time,

• even afterwards you don't understand why you reacted so strongly,

• you feel ashamed or blame yourself,

• you find it hard to connect with your body,

• you can't put into words what you would need,

• you experience too many or too few feelings,

• the boundary between past and present sometimes blurs.

In a traumatized state, it is often exactly the skills that could help that become harder to access: self-soothing, flexible thinking, asking for help and conscious choice.

What do the cards solve?

The cards don't try to quickly 'fix' or eliminate trauma reactions. They help make them more understandable, more recognizable and gradually more manageable.

A single card can:

• give a name to an experience that has been hard to put into words,

• link bodily reactions to how the nervous system works,

• help separate the danger of the past from the present situation,

• support self-knowledge with a reflection question,

• offer a concrete exercise for self-regulation,

• give a more compassionate perspective for understanding yourself,

• help you recognize relationship patterns and resources.

One of the most important messages of the cards is that your reactions are not necessarily random or meaningless. They may be responses that once served survival, adaptation or maintaining a relationship.

How do they help, and what do they affect?

The cards support healing on several levels:

• On the level of thoughts: they help you understand how trauma works and reframe self-blaming

explanations.

• On the emotional level: they support recognizing, naming and accepting feelings.

• On the physical level: they help you notice and calm the nervous system's reactions.

• On the relational level: they support recognizing boundaries, needs and safe ways of connecting

with others.

• On the behavioral level: they help you become aware of automatic survival reactions.

• On the level of self-knowledge: they support exploring personal patterns with reflection questions.

• On the level of resources: they help you notice existing inner and outer anchors.

The exercise cards provide support in four main areas: with somatic exercises, by aiding emotional healing, by strengthening healing relationships and by supporting post-traumatic growth.

Who is the card deck recommended for?

The Trauma Awareness cards can help those who:

• have experienced traumatic or long-term stressful experiences,

• would like to better understand their own reactions,

• often feel anxious or in danger,

• easily become overloaded or overwhelmed,

• tend to freeze or distance themselves from their feelings,

• find it hard to calm themselves,

• often experience shame or guilt,

• struggle with a strong inner critic,

• regularly blame themselves,

• find it hard to perceive or protect their own boundaries,

• adapt excessively to others,

• have difficulties with trust or connection,

• long for closeness and fear it at the same time,

• find it hard to recognize or express their needs,

• would like to develop a safer relationship with their body,

• would like to work on themselves at home alongside therapy,

• would like to notice the new resources that develop during healing.

The card deck can be used from age 12. For adolescents, it can be especially important that the exercises are used with a safe, supportive adult or an appropriately trained professional.

A useful tool for professionals too

The Trauma Awareness cards fit well into psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health support, trauma processing work, coaching, educational and school psychology processes, social work, and individual and group self-discovery sessions.

Among others, they can be a useful tool for:

• psychologists,

• psychotherapists,

• psychiatrists,

• mental health professionals,

• trauma-informed helpers,

• counselors,

• coaches,

• school psychologists,

• child protection professionals,

• teachers,

• special education teachers,

• social workers,

• family support professionals,

• group leaders,

• helpers working in healthcare and rehabilitation.

Professionals can also use the cards in psychoeducational and self-discovery groups to start conversations, for shared reflection and to lead exercises.

The cards do not replace a professional relationship, diagnostic assessment or personalized psychotherapy.

However, they can support the process well by creating a common language, helping to recognize experiences that are hard to put into words, and providing exercises that can be used between sessions.

About the author

The cards were developed by Bella Bagdi, psychologist and mindfulness teacher. The deck combines psychoeducation about how trauma works, awareness of nervous system and bodily reactions, self-reflection, a mindfulness approach and self-compassionate connection with trauma-informed exercises.

Among other things, the cards include:

• recognizing the physical, emotional, cognitive and relational effects of trauma,

• understanding the nervous system's survival reactions,

• somatic and body awareness exercises,

• grounding and orienting to the present,

• self-regulation using the breath,

• emotion recognition and emotional processing,

• working with self-criticism and shame,

• self-compassion,

• supporting safer connection,

• activating resources,

• becoming aware of personal boundaries,

• exploring the possibilities of post-traumatic growth.

The aim of the cards is not forced recall of traumatic memories, but supporting understanding, safety in the present, a compassionate relationship with oneself and a gradually expanding freedom of choice.

Important!

The Trauma Awareness cards are psychoeducational self-help tools with a psychological approach. They do not replace psychological, psychotherapeutic, psychiatric or medical care.

The cards can help you understand the possible effects of trauma, recognize nervous system reactions and practice certain forms of self-soothing. Deeper trauma processing, however, often requires a safe, personalized professional relationship.

Seek professional help if:

• past memories regularly overwhelm you,

• you experience frequent flashbacks or nightmares,

• strong dissociation, memory gaps or feelings of unreality occur,

• anxiety or a state of high alert interferes with your daily functioning,

• you can't work, study or stay connected with others,

• you are trying to reduce tension through substance use, self-harming behavior or other dangerous ways,

• the exercises regularly trigger strong distress or overwhelm,

• you feel you can't safely work with the experiences that come up on your own.

If you have suicidal thoughts, feel the urge to self-harm, are in danger, or feel you cannot stay safe, seek immediate help: call

112, or contact the Lelki Elsősegély (Emotional First Aid) Service at 116-123.

Asking for help is not weakness. Trauma often teaches us precisely that we have to endure everything alone. One important step in healing can be experiencing that we don't have to stay alone with difficult feelings.

Product details:

Box contents:

• 80 cards
• Guide to using the cards

Card size: 105×140 mm + 70×105 mm
In a quality box with a magnetic closure.
The cards are recommended for ages 12 and up.