As discussed in the part of the site on preventing escalation, it is essential for harm reduction workers to stay present and remain centered and relatively calm during escalated events.

This is one of the hardest things to do, but staying present and centered during any kind of escalated situation at your harm reduction site is essential to de-escalation.

Here are some hacks:

• Breathe—This is the most critical thing you can do when you are emotionally agitated, which is inevitable if somebody is yelling at you—especially if you have a history of trauma yourself. If you feel yourself becoming agitated, think of your breath and practice deep breathing. Consciously inhale for four counts, and then exhale for four counts. This can help calm your nervous system and help you focus without becoming engaged with the agitated person.
• 5-4-3-2-1 Technique—The 54321 technique is a technique to help ground you in an agitated situation. Identify five things that you can see, four things that you can touch, three things that you can hear, two things that you can smell and one thing that you can taste. This helps you ground and refocus yourself in your body.
• Body Scan—The body scan technique moves your attention from your emotions to your body. Slowly scan your body from your feet to the top of your head, directing your attention and awareness to each part of your body. This will pull you away from immediate response to the agitating person.
• Math—This sounds a little odd, but doing arithmetic in your head can pull you into your frontal lobe and make you less emotionally reactive. Simply adding or subtracting simple numbers in your head can help bring your own emotional reactivity into control. Combine this with other techniques for it to be especially effective.
• Name the Emotion—Most of us, when we’re having an emotional reaction, are so caught up with it that it’s hard for us to even think in words. Naming your emotions will help refocus and ground you.
• Reality Check—Remind yourself that being triggered doesn’t mean that you need to respond to your body. Remember, just because you feel a certain way doesn’t mean that what you’re feeling is something real or something you need to respond to. Check in with yourself about the facts. This is especially useful when somebody is insulting you to your face. It can be very easy to become reactive unless you’re very carefully reality testing to see whether this person’s opinion is actually meaningful.