This episode was prerecorded as part of a live continuing education webinar. On-demand CEUs are still available for this presentation through all CEUs. Register at allceus.com slash counselor toolbox. Welcome everybody to today's presentation, Trauma-Informed Care Clinical Issues. So this is the last in our six session series on Trauma-Informed Care. And we're really going to focus on wrapping everything up and kind of summarizing and tying it up in a nice little bow today. We're going to define trauma-informed prevention and treatment objectives. So once you do the assessment, once you get somebody in, once you've got an organization that's trauma-informed and responsive, then what do you do? We'll highlight some treatment issues, understand when and how to make referrals to trauma-specific services, and we'll talk about what those are, and explore trauma-specific treatment models, integrated models for trauma, and some emerging interventions. Trauma-Informed Care places considerable effort in creating an environment that helps clients recognize the impact of trauma and determine the next course of action in a safe place. So they may not even realize that trauma is still impacting them or impacting them. And once they start coming to that realization, they may start looking back and going, okay, now I see why I'm making all these unhealthy choices. What is my next best course of action? And it's up to us to create that safe place for them to explore what that course of action might be. Trauma-Informed Care also focuses on prevention strategies to avoid re-traumatization in treatment. So obviously we don't want to traumatize anybody, but we don't want to re-traumatize anyone. Even those people who don't realize that they may be dealing with some traumatic reactions, you know, we want to make sure we don't inadvertently re-traumatize them and trigger trauma symptoms. We want to promote resilience, and we want to prevent the development of trauma-related disorders. Most people go through a traumatic event and don't develop PTSD. Most people. It happens that sometimes people do, but most of the time they don't. So we can get in there and provide prevention and early intervention services in order to prevent it from becoming a problem. If someone does start developing acute stress disorder or PTSD, we can provide services to keep it from worsening, to keep it from making their depression relax, from spiraling out and causing more mental health and physical problems. So prevention isn't just prevention of trauma or re-traumatization. It's prevention of further problems when at all possible. The first thing is to establish safety, and we have personal safety, which is what we often think about. We want to make sure that areas are well-lit, clients don't feel unsafe when they're in the lobby or in our office or walking down the halls or going to the bathroom. Bathrooms are big trigger places for a lot of people. So making sure that people do feel safe when they're in your facility. But we also want to make sure that they're safe from trauma symptoms. We want to make sure that they're safe from things that are going to trigger those symptoms, and or if they are triggered, we're able to help them de-escalate and get grounded again. Because, you know, sometimes during a session, they will have a flashback. There will be a trauma symptom. And, you know, we don't want to traumatize them in order to bring it out. But when those do happen, they need to feel like they're in a safe environment to handle it.  When something bad happens, what do they do? They run back to home base.  And the caregivers say, you're safe now. I'm sorry that happened. I'm sorry you're going through that, but let me help you deal with it. And that's what we want to do. So we can't prevent the trauma symptoms, but we want to make sure that they feel safe and secure and not like they're flapping out there in the wind. We can help clients gain more control over trauma symptoms and even label them when they arise and use grounding techniques when flooded with feelings and memories. So when they start to have, they start to dissociate, for example, you know, you start to see that spaced out look coming on. You can help clients get focused, you know, bring them back to the present, label what's going on, talk about why it happened and get grounded back in reality, back in the moment. So using mindfulness techniques, having them look around and identifying three things they hear, three things they smell, three things that they feel, you know, that's a good way to get them focused on the present or having them look at an object and have them tell you five things about this object. It's blue. It's a water bottle. Whatever it is, it helps the person get refocused in the here and now and get kind of get out of their own head. Establish some specific routines in individual group or family therapy, such as having an opening ritual or routine when starting and ending a group session. A structured setting can provide a sense of safety and familiarity. Now this is a recommendation that comes out of the treatment improvement protocol. I will tell you from clinical experience this can also backfire wickedly on you if the person that you are working with was a victim of ritualized abuse, sexual abuse especially, often has a ritual component to it. So, you know, each night after the person went to bed, you know, the lights would go out and something would happen and then they would hear that or whoever it was coming down the hall. So there was a specific routine. So dark lights, a specific time being told that you have to be quiet. There are certain things that can reactivate or bring back a sensation of being in that situation again. So do use routines and rituals very, very carefully with your clients and only once you know what their history is. Some clients, you know, in substance abuse treatment, a lot of times they will end 12-step meetings, for example, by saying the serenity prayer. Well, if the person was victimized by somebody who happened to be a pastor or a priest, that might be triggering as well. As is, you know, some people just don't like to be touched. Handholding and hugging might not be appropriate. So, you know, being aware of, you know, what usually happens, like in AA meetings, generally there's a lot of hugging and a lot of handholding and saying the serenity prayer, all of which can trigger people. So if you've got somebody who that might be a trigger, brace them ahead of time, help them figure out how to set boundaries and or that might not be the best support place for them right now. Maybe later, but maybe not right now. Facilitate a discussion on safe and unsafe behaviors. Have clients identify on paper behaviors that promote safety and behaviors that feel unsafe for them today. You know, what feels unsafe for you and it can be sleeping with your back towards the door or, you know, sleeping with incomplete darkness.  Going certain places, driving at night, whatever it is that feels unsafe for them and have them start making a list that way they can start seeing ways that this trauma is impacting their life and they can start taking control back. When you facilitate the discussion of safe behaviors, you know, we're going to talk about, you know, maybe one unsafe behavior is being out after dark or wearing your headphones when you're out jogging after dark, which is unsafe. So you want to talk about, okay, if you want to go running after dark, what's a safe way to do it?  But talk about ways to help people be safe and not have trauma negatively impact their lives to where they're feeling like they're, you know, locked in. You can refer to seeking safety, a treatment manual for PTSD and substance abuse. This menu-based manual covers an array of treatment topics. One of the therapists that I worked with in Gainesville used this exclusively with her groups and it was phenomenally effective. She was a phenomenal therapist, but it was phenomenally effective. So I would highly recommend if you're working with a population that has a lot of trauma issues, I would highly recommend at least looking at this resource to consider adopting it, you know, is good. And encourage the development of a safety plan. So when you're at home, what can you do to feel safe? When you're here, what can you do so I can help you feel safe? And what can we do as an agency to help you feel safer? When you are traveling, you know, identify the common places people are work, traveling, home and treatment. What can you do to feel safe in all those places and what may make you feel unsafe? And let's talk about that. Encourage them to develop a plan so, you know, they don't have unnecessary triggers of their trauma symptoms. Help the client feel in control and prepared for the unexpected.   And it reminds you of a car accident you were in or something. Whatever it is, how do you deal with that? And again, mindfulness works really, really well for a lot of these things. When somebody starts to notice the cop I worked with that was involved in a particularly bad, he was responding to a particularly bad motor vehicle accident, lots of trauma afterwards and when he went back out on the road, not even in patrol but even in his personal vehicle, if he would get stuck in traffic and he would start smelling exhaust fumes, it would trigger him. So he started learning how to stay in the present and stay focused on what was going on. Sometimes he would sing to a song on the radio, you know, he had a certain CDs that he would put in that he could focus on. Sometimes he would use mindfulness techniques and look around and see how many red cars were surrounding him. He had a variety of different tools that he would use, but it helped him stay focused in the present. And he also at that same time was reminding himself that I am safe, this is not that same thing happening again. Encourage thinking about how supports will respond and connect in the event of another crisis. So should something bad happen again and not to say that whatever the trauma was is going to happen again, but there could be another crisis, you know, somebody who's been traumatized by a car wreck or something, maybe traumatized again when there's a tornado that comes through and rips the roof off their house. You know, there are a lot of things that can happen, unfortunately. So what supports do you have in the event of another traumatic event and how can they best respond to help you? Let them know that ahead of time. What do you need from them? Encourage thinking about future steps that could make the client safer and prevent a recurrence of traumas that have happened. You know, how can you just generally stay safe? How can you protect yourself if you're going out dancing? If you're walking home from work, if you're going through the parking garage at night, how can you be more safe? You know, walking around glued to your tablet and not paying attention to your surroundings, that's not a way to stay safe. So encouraging people to do that. When I used to have to walk out to my car in the dark, if there was nobody that could walk me out for whatever reason, I would always call either my husband or a friend and talk to them on the phone while I was walking until I got in the car and had the doors locked.  People with histories of trauma and substance abuse are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors. So if they do have a substance abuse history, you know, be aware that some substances may encourage disinhibition like alcohol. You know, they're not really thinking straight and they get themselves potentially in positions where people could take advantage of them. And it's not their fault. We're not blaming the victim, but we're saying there are bad people out there that are going to do bad things. There are many, many more good people, but being aware that you could be vulnerable and paying attention to the fact that if they're using illicit drugs, just getting those can put them in some pretty risky situations. So encouraging them to keep their wits about them, you know, stay sober and, you know, ideally not use illicit drugs. Early treatment should focus on helping clients stop using unsafe coping mechanisms such as substance abuse, self-harm, and replace them with healthy coping strategies. My goal usually when I'm working with people unless substance abuse cessation is a primary goal or if they meet the criteria for a substance use disorder, then it obviously will become a primary goal potentially. But if they're drinking a little bit more than, you know, I would like to see, you know, a little bit more than healthy. Or if they're engaging in some self-harm behaviors, I want to see them be safer.  Is that a super healthy coping skill? No, but it's a step down. It's not self-injurious at that point. Ideally, you know, you wouldn't have to have that intermediary step. But if the person has these ingrained coping skills that they have been using, what else can they do that's in an intermediary that is less destructive, less harmful? Balance preparation for recurrences and all that kind of stuff. And the realization that you just can't prepare for everything. So, yes, you can have some backup plans, but you can't prepare for all possible traumatic events. So what is your plan if you will have a plan for when you can't plan, you know, take a breath, you know, generally that's the first thing I have people do is take a breath and think, okay, what is the first thing I need to do to get myself and or my family to safety? Scenarios. When we're talking about establishing safety, someone who has been date-raped before, when they go out again, when they start dating again, what's going to trigger them, what's going to feel unsafe, and how can they make sure that they are in a safe situation? People are unpredictable. I wish I could say that psychology was an exact science, but it's not. Helping people figure out how they are more empowered and more in control is, you know, going to help them. Someone who is a survivor of a home invasion, how can you feel safer?  So, you know, that kind of freaks me out. I like dogs. Dogs are good. Dogs will bite people. If there was a natural disaster, for example, the fires in California, how can people prepare and protect themselves to establish safety? Maybe they have a house-wide fire suppression system and sprinklers on the outside in order to keep, you know, the area right outside their house from getting burned in the event that it's possible to even prevent it. Sometimes those wildfires are so massive and so powerful, you just can't. So, in that instance, when you find out there's a fire, how do you get out? What do you pack? Where do you go? You know, have an exit plan. If there's a house fire, how do you protect yourself?  You don't want to use extension cords that are connected. You don't want to have paper near outlets or extension cords. So, all those things, you know, have them do some research. You don't have to spoon feed that to them because that's more education and psycho-ed than it is counseling. But encourage them to go online and find out how to be fire safe. If they were the victim of child neglect, you know, how can they feel safe again? When they were little, the people who were supposed to take care of them didn't. So, how can they help themselves feel safe again? Because they probably don't trust their caregivers. They probably don't trust their family if they were in a situation where nobody helped them when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. So, how can they build trust with any other person and start having meaningful relationships? And car accidents. You know, if somebody's in a car accident, they may not want to drive again. They may be triggered by the smell of exhaust fumes. There are a lot of different things that may trigger them. How can they be safe? You know, some people will say, well, I'm not going to travel during rush hour or I'm going to take back roads or I'm not going to go on the interstate. Some of that is more or less practical.  How can you feel safe when you're in your car? You know, maybe not tailgating and getting out of the way of people who are tailgating, you know, being an excessively defensive driver. Those are all things people can do to increase their chances of being safe and not having a recurrence. Prevent re-traumatization. Examples where we may unintentionally re-traumatize someone. A compassionate inquiry into the client's history can seem similar to the interest shown by a perpetrator many years before.  And it can feel weird. It can feel invasive. Direct confrontation about behavior can be seen by someone who's been abused as a sign of impending assault. So if you come on really strong, why did you do that?  So we just want to be cognizant of how we might come off to others and how it might replicate their past. We can't, I mean, I'm not going to say that we're going to be 100% on par 100% of the time and never do anything to trigger anybody. That's just not practical. But we can be as cognizant as possible, you know, be compassionate with clients instead of aggressive because that's just going to get you so much more anyway, flies and honey, something like that. And be wary about boundaries and appropriate self-disclosure. You know that eventually you're going to go there and you want to get to know the person and you really want to help them, but they may not know that. So try to be, allow them to have their boundaries and not be invasive or intrusive. Be sensitive to the client's needs. Don't ignore their symptoms and demands when clients with traumas are triggered and act out because doing so may replicate the original trauma. So if they walk out of a tense group, you know, don't ignore them and just let them walk out. But likewise, don't make them come back and sit down and force them to tolerate the distress because they may not be able to do that at that point in time with the skills that they have. Or if they avoid particular clients or topics, it could be that that's too scary for them or those particular clients they're having transference reactions with. And it's just too much in terms of trying to deal with learning about their trauma and basically addressing somebody that reminds them of their, of the perpetrator. Be mindful that efforts to control and contain a client's behaviors remind them of being trapped as part of the trauma. So if they were trapped physically or if they were told that they're not allowed to, you know, this is a secret. You can't tell anybody. Or if they were trapped in a neglectful or abusive family environment, they just couldn't get out. And parents were constantly disciplining them, sending them to their room or ignoring them. You know, we could inadvertently replicate those if we're not careful. So we need to make sure that clients feel like they have a voice. They feel like they're heard and they don't feel like they're ignored. Listen for specific triggers, driving clients reactions and help the client identify these cues and understand their reactions to behaviors. So if each time a client hears a fire engine go by, they tense up, you know, you can identify that.  Tell me what that's about. Help them, you know, identify what that means because they probably don't even realize that they're clenching their fists and tensing up or changing their demeanor in any way. So help them notice some of those things so they can start being more aware and cognizant of their environment and addressing those triggers.  No big deal. It'll be fine. Provide psychoeducation. Education can play a pivotal role in enhancing motivation, normalizing experiences and creating a sense of safety. Let's tell clients what these symptoms are that they may experience, how those symptoms actually make a whole lot of sense and what alternatives are out there. Normalize it for them so they don't feel broken. Understand the client's expectations and reasons for seeking help. Are they seeking help for their trauma? What do they expect is going to happen? And if they're not seeking help for their trauma, you know, maybe they want their depression to remit. Okay, well, that's still our goal is remission of depression. Now, if part of their depression may be caused by disempowerment during their trauma, you know, it'll all kind of weave together. But we need to make sure that the treatment plans are strengths-based and client-guided, individualized. Because they're the ones that are going to, you know, participate in treatment and they're going to stay more motivated to achieve the goals they want to achieve as opposed to what you think they need to achieve. Educate the client and other family members about the program. If you've got a trauma-informed program, you know, you might want to provide a little video on your website about what is trauma-informed counseling? How is it different than, you know, other counseling? How can people expect to be treated differently or what can they expect is going to be different in this program? And why might it be helpful? After obtaining acknowledgement of a client's trauma history, give information to the client to help them normalize their presenting symptoms. Handouts, you know, I can't say it enough. I don't like killing trees. I don't. However, if you give handouts or if you have something on your website, if you have the ability, not everybody has access to their public website in order to post stuff. But if you do, you know, that's great. You can have a little section on your website that people can go to instead of handing out paper all the time. Highlight potential short-term and long-term consequences of trauma. We talked about that the other day. Explore various paths to recovery and underscore that recovery is possible. So various paths. You can hit this trauma head-on, you know, we can talk about it and go there. You can, we can work on your depression and as you start getting more energy and feeling better, we might start talking about how the trauma might be contributing to it. There are multiple different ways to address trauma. You know, we can do it through talk therapy. I can give you an referral to EMDR and providing them different options so they don't feel trapped. Self is a group curriculum. Safety, regulating emotions, addressing loss and redefining the future. So you can Google that, find it online. It is not free. It's another manualized curriculum, but I believe you can buy it on Amazon. So that's another curriculum you can look at for psychoeducation for trauma. Develop a resource box or web page that provides an array of printed or multimedia educational materials that address specific symptoms and tools to combat trauma-related symptoms.  This is why it exists or why it might happen. These are some tips you can use when you start feeling a flashback coming on or in the middle of a flashback. You can provide information about treatment options and therapy approaches, advantages of peer support, and steps in developing specific coping strategies like mindfulness, distress tolerance, vulnerability prevention, cognitive behavioral stuff, cognitive processing therapy. Any of those tools that you're going to use out of those things, you know, small little chunked bits of information, preferably in video with a worksheet that people can either print out or look at online, but time is limited, I understand. Trauma-informed peer support is important because living with a history of trauma can be isolating and consuming and can reinforce people's beliefs about being different, alone, and defective. So even though we're saying, you know, this happens to a lot of people, well, who are those people? If you can't actually see those people, then you're kind of wondering where they are. And as people are dealing with trauma, it's exhausting. So dealing with that can feel all-encompassing and all-consuming and, you know, their mood may not be great for even a couple of weeks because they're dealing with it and they're exhausted and, you know, depressed, anxious, angry, a whole mess of emotions. So they may not want to socialize with other people or may not feel like other people can handle their emotional intensity. So they kind of withdraw and this withdrawal can lead them to feeling isolated and different and alone. Trauma for treatment for trauma effects can be inadvertently strengthen clients' beliefs that there's something wrong with them. So having them come to a trauma-specific program inadvertently communicates you need to go to this specialized program in order to deal with your stuff. Well, no. You know, which is why we really want everybody to employ a trauma-informed care approach because trauma is not unique. You know, more than 60% of people have been exposed to trauma. So it is not unique and they don't need, you know, it's not specialty services in that sort of way. So we want to help people understand that treatment and needing to come to treatment is a perfectly natural reaction because you were confronted with something you didn't have the tools to deal with. You know, if your car broke down and you didn't know how to fix it, you would go to a mechanic and say, help me fix my car. Or maybe you would go to night school and learn how to fix your car, but you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. So helping them understand that it's just, it's something that happens and sometimes you don't have the skills and tools to deal with it. Treatment helps you get those. That's all it is. Peer support can break the cycle of beliefs that one is damaged, nobody understands, and no one could tolerate my story. People, you know, talk, people get to share their stories a little bit and it has to be done carefully. Peer support programs need to be very, very well monitored so you don't traumatize the peers and so it doesn't end up self perpetuating. Peer support provides opportunities to form mutual relationships, learn how one's history shapes perspective of self others in the future. So somebody may say, you know, the entire time I was growing up, I felt like nobody understood me and nobody could, you know, get how I felt about things because they didn't know about all these secrets. And then they can start sharing how that affected them during their formative years in middle school, high school, college. But, you know, obviously if the peer is in leading or a participant in the peer support program, they're saying, but I overcame it. You know, this is how I'm dealing with my trauma. Peer support provides opportunities to move beyond trauma and see people who have moved beyond trauma. Not only are other people traumatized, but other people have moved beyond trauma and there is life afterwards, which provides people the opportunity to mirror and learn alternate coping strategies so they can talk about, you know, what do you do when you have a flashback or what do you do when you start to space out and share with each other. Peer support is an interactive process, not a definitive action where someone fixes the problem. So the peers not going to go, okay, you're having a flashback. This is what you need to do.  This is what works for me. I'm wondering when this has happened to you, what's helped you? I mean, it's just going to be a talking process and support. And the peer support programs that they talked about in the book in the treatment improvement protocol were not groups. They were actually individual peer and peer in person that were paired and they would meet at the facility. So it wasn't a group sort of situation. Provide education on what peer support is and is not and the value of using the resource because peers are not therapists. So it's not the time to go delving into past issues. Use an established peer support curriculum to guide the peer support process, which intentional peer support and alternative approach is a workbook that highlights four main tasks for peer support, helping people build connections, helping people understand their own and others worldview, developing mutuality and helping each other move towards set and desired goals. So this is another one that you can look up and use as a resource, which was recommended in the treatment improvement protocol. Normalizing symptoms gives considerable relief to clients who may not have thought that their symptoms were treatable. So, you know, if you normalize them and say, you know what, flashbacks, they are really rough. And I can empathize with what you're going through here or even sympathize, you know, if you've had flashbacks yourself and help them understand, you know, what the symptoms do and how they go away. You know, how you can make them become less frequent and less intense. And it's not an overnight process.  So every once in a while, you still may have a flashback here and there, but they're generally a lot less intense and frequent once you start understanding the function of them and dealing with them. Have the client list his or her symptoms. I always just give a checklist instead of having people go, well, I think this is a symptom because it's easier to recognize than to recall. After each symptom, ask the client to list the negative and positive consequences of the symptom. So, you know, looking at again, how does this benefit me and what are the drawbacks? So they're motivated to address the symptom, but they also understand the function it serves. Remember, symptoms serve a purpose and focus on how the symptoms have served the client in a positive way instead of going, yeah, that really not helpful. Look at it as, you know, even self injurious behavior.  Let's look at other ways that you might be able to get some control that aren't as destructive. Research the client's symptoms specific to trauma and provide individualized education. An individual who was conscious and trapped will more likely have strong reactions to interpersonal and environmental situations that are perceived as having no options for avoidance or resolution. And again, remember, trap doesn't necessarily mean physically trapped. It may mean stuck in a situation they can't get out of or emotionally trapped, such as feeling stuck in a work environment where the boss is emotionally abusive or being hyper vigilant about exits. Planning escape routes, even in safe environments. Whatever the situation was for the person, help them figure out how they can, why they feel that way and how they can feel safer. Key steps in identifying triggers for clients are to encourage them to reflect back on the situation, surroundings or sensations prior to a strong reaction. We're not going back to the whole trauma. We're going back to a particular situation that triggered them. Determine connection among the cues, the past trauma and the client's reaction. So, you know, we'll use a police officer, for example, when he started smelling the exhaust fumes, you know, my question is, how did that remind you or what about that reminded you of that past trauma? And then we talked about it from there and he made the connection and discussed the ways in which it is connected to the past trauma. Use self-monitoring to identify the frequency and intensity of reactions to gain an understanding of the types of triggers, the level of distress that each one produces and see reductions or changes in frequency and intensity. Identify one trigger at a time and then discuss the following. When and where did you begin to notice a reaction? So, you know, maybe somebody just recently started having flashbacks. You know, when and where did this first one happen? How is this current situation different from the past trauma? Not the same, but different. So, we're encouraging them to get in the present moment and experience their safety. How are your reactions to the current situation similar to your past reactions? How did you react differently to the current situation than to previous trauma? So, you know, what are you doing positively now that's protecting yourself, that's helping you feel safe? How are you different today? And this could be positive and negative, but how are you different today than you were when you were triggered the first time and then what you were when you were the victim?  How are you different? What choices can you make that help you address the current situation or trigger? So, this thing is going on, maybe it's a smell.  You know, they use the same cleaning products or whatever. Well, you can't tell your in-laws you got to change the cleaning products. So, how can you help yourself address the current situation when you have to go over to your in-laws? What can you do? You know, maybe some people can say, can tell their in-laws that, you know, you need to change your cleaners, but a lot of people won't feel comfortable. So, we want to encourage them to figure out how they can address that. I know when I go into hospitals, I smell, it's like hospitals all use the same cleaner, I think. And whenever I go into the hospital, which is where my doctor's office is, I smell that smell and it's the same smell that they had at the hospital when my son was in the neonatal intensive care unit. And, you know, that was a very stressful time, but it was also a very positive time. It was my first born and, you know, thankfully he did really well once he, you know, cooked a little longer, so to speak. But that smell, every time I walk into the bathroom and it kind of brings a smile to my face. I'm like, oh, I remember when he was little. The same thing can be true for, you know, exceedingly traumatic experiences. And it can, you know, seem to be in weird places. So, help them recognize what's reminiscent. Encourage observations coping strategy. Take a moment to observe what's happening. Focus on your breathing. Name the situation that initiated your response. In what way is this similar or familiar to your past? And how is it different?  I smelled the smell. How is it different? Well, there is not a semi on fire in front of me now and I'm safe. That's how it's different. Label emotions and remember that they come and go. And this is one of those radical acceptance, mindfulness techniques, thinking of emotions like clouds in the sky. They just come and they go. And, you know, you don't want to try to struggle with them and hold on to them. They will pass if you don't feed them. Recognize that this situation does not define you or your future. It does not dictate how things will be, nor is it a sign of things to come. Even if it is familiar, it's only one event. So somebody who was abused in their past as a child, they get into a relationship with somebody and it becomes domestically violent. Well, that's very similar to their past. So it's going to trigger them. But this situation right here does not define your future. It is one event of domestic violence and you can choose what to do with it. Henceforth in your life. Encourage people to validate their experience. You know, if it was terrifying, it was terrifying. It doesn't matter whether other people think it should be or shouldn't be. If you felt terrified, that's how you felt and that's okay. Ask for help because you don't have to do this alone. You know, have people that you can call on when you're having a bad night, when you're feeling uneasy. Remember that this too shall pass. There are times that are good and times that aren't. You're going to have sometimes where you're more triggered than others.  Encourage them to remind themselves I can handle this by naming their strengths that have helped them survive. Have them keep a list of it on their mobile device so they can look at their strengths list if they need to. Keep an open mind and try and look for new solutions. You know, I feel trapped in this particular situation. What's a new solution I could use in order to get out of it? Name and choose strategies that have worked before. Again, encourage them to keep a list of strategies that have worked. That way they don't have to think of them on the fly when they're stressed.  Draw connections. Writing about trauma can help clients gain awareness of their thoughts, feelings and current experiences. But obviously use it with caution. This is something that's potentially going to get pretty intense for people. So make sure that they're able to handle it. I encourage clients if they're doing a writing exercise, they set a timer. And I usually say 30 minutes. 30 minutes is enough. And after 30 minutes you quit writing. You know, otherwise they can get stuck in it for hours on end. Have them have an emergency support person if they start to feel triggered and they need to call somebody while they're working on it. They can call. If you don't feel like they're ready to do that as a home assignment, especially if they live by themselves, encourage them to do it, you know, maybe you have a break room or somewhere that they can do it at the clinic. So they're in a safe place where they already know that they're safe and they can more safely explore. Encourage clients to explore the links among traumatic experiences and mental and substance use disorders. Identify how substances may have helped address symptoms or addictive behaviors of any sort. Gambling, sex, food, shopping, you know, anything that produced that dopamine rush and helped them escape.  So help them understand that, you know, maybe this addictive behavior or this behavior over here was the self-injury, for example, were the only ways that you could figure out how to survive at that point in time. And it helped you survive. But it also monkeyed with your neurochemicals and your brain chemicals that help you feel happy. So all this kind of feeds in on itself, but as one starts to improve the other one's will too. Discuss how substance abuse or anxious or depressive behaviors have impeded healing from trauma, have helped people from actually feeling their feelings or having the energy to do the work they needed to do. Help clients recognize trauma symptoms as triggers for relapse to substance use and mental distress.  There's a lot of things that can happen because of a trauma situation. When trauma happens, that HPA access, that fight-or-flight thing goes off and the body feels like it's under stress. So however that person reacts under stress, and if they already have low levels of cortisol, we know that they're probably going to react more extremely than other people. So it's going to intensify their sense of anxiety and or helplessness. Develop coping skills to recover from trauma and also occurring issues. And recognize how both trauma, mental illness, and substance abuse often occur in families through multiple generations, such as the cycle of abuse. You know, if there's verbal or physical abuse, we see that a lot of times it does carry through families. So this behavior traumatizes successive generations. Inability of parents to protect or teach healthy coping. So if you've got great grandma and she didn't have the skills to deal with life-on-life terms and she struggled, she was depressed and anxious and traumatized, and then she had kids, she didn't, she can't. She didn't have anything to teach, you know, unless she knew that she had deficient coping skills and picked some up along the way. She didn't have anything to give. So then those people grow up, they don't have any coping skills that are born with them. We kind of muddle through and figure some out.  So intergenerationally, you just don't see an improvement, which means increased anger, increased anxiety, potentially increased abuse. If people are feeling emotionally overwhelmed, a lot of times, not always, but a lot of times they can become aggressive and defensive. Teach balance. It's a myth that every traumatic experience needs to be expressed in every story told. You know, sometimes you don't need to go through every single nitty-gritty. That's up to the person. Working with trauma is a delicate balancing act between the development and our use of coping strategies and the need to process traumatic experiences. Too much trauma can trigger dissociation, shutting down or becoming just emotionally overwhelmed and feeling like you're drowning. But too little focus on trauma can reinforce avoidance and confirm the client's internal belief that it's too dangerous to deal with the aftermath of the trauma. One of my clients likened it to Pandora's Box. He was afraid that if he went there, he'd never be able to get the lid shut back on Pandora's Box. So it was too dangerous to even go there. He was just going to leave it locked up in his little mental attic. Traditional desensitization processes start at a very low level of distress, gradually working up through a hierarchy of trauma memories and experiences until those experiences produce minimal reactions when paired with the same coping strategies such as relaxation. So think desensitization and fear of spiders. That's basically what we're dealing with. First, you want the person to imagine being in a particular situation which may be triggering for them. And learn how to de-escalate themselves so they can imagine being in that situation and it doesn't cause a stress reaction. Then encourage them maybe to get some more senses involved. What does it smell like? And gradually walk them through that process. Subjective units of distress scale is something that you can hand out to clients so they can tell you particular situations that they encountered in the last week. What situations did you encounter that were a 60 or above? And let's talk about those. And what situations did you encounter that were below 60 that used to be above 60 and why are those different now? So you want to see the symptoms and the distress going down. It's not necessarily going to get down to a zero. And I tell clients that some things are just going to give you a little bit of pause. But you're going to get down to the fact that you feel good most of the time. Build resilience. Encourage mindfulness and thought awareness. If clients are aware, they wake up in the morning and we know that sleep deprivation tends to put people on edge anyway because the HPA axis stays a little bit more activated. People are tired, not thinking as clearly. So encourage them to be aware of their vulnerabilities. Be mindful about what they need in the day. But in each situation, when they go into a meeting, where do they need to sit? What is it that they can do to help themselves be as happy, healthy, and calm as possible? Encourage thought awareness. Have their mind drifts and goes to that place sometimes. Encourage them to be aware of what they're thinking and what they're telling themselves about their goodness as a person and their ability to control their situation and stay safe. Help clients reestablish personal and social connections by accessing friends, family, and community and cultural resources. Encourage the client to actively take care of his or her own needs early in treatment. We're not going to do it for you. Other people probably aren't going to be able to do it for you forever. I want you to identify what your needs are and let me help you figure out how to take care of those needs. Encourage stability and predictability in the daily routine. Not necessarily rituals, but it's good to make sure that they're keeping their circadian rhythms pretty stable, getting a good solid eight hours of sleep every night, if at all possible, etc. Nurture a positive view of personal, social, and cultural resources and help clients recall ways in which they successfully handled hardships in the past. This is that strengths list that you want them to keep. Help them gain perspective and foster a long-term outlook. You're at a 2 right now and you want to be to a 10. What does a 10 look like? And then what's going to get you to a 3 and to a 4? Help maintain an optimistic outlook. Visions of good things in life can keep people going even in the hardest of times. So encourage them to, you know, this thing right here not going so well. What are 3 things in your life that are going well? And then as treatment progresses, maybe they have a particularly bad week and have more flashbacks than usual or something. Alright, you know, it's a particularly bad week. That happens. Let's talk about the intensity of those flashbacks. Were they as intense? You want to see them or help them see that they're making incremental progress. Maybe 2 steps forward and 1 step back but it was only 1 step back so you're still ahead of the game. Baseline, charting, graphing, that's all really helpful. Journaling and helping people identify those incremental changes and recognize that, oh, you know what? I just realized I haven't had a flashback in a week. How awesome is that? Encourage participation in peer support and have them set smart goals. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time limited. So those goals for recovery, you know, have these symptoms gone in a month ain't going to happen. That's not realistic. It's time limited but it's not achievable or realistic. So encourage them to set goals that they can accomplish. Encourage them to look at failures and mistakes as opportunities for growth, not as a negative reflection on their abilities or self-worth. This is the challenge part of resilience and hardiness. If you go back to the hardiness work from the 70s. Commitment, encourage them to enhance their commitment to their lives and their goals. Yes, it was unfortunate I had to go through whatever that was but I have a really good life and I am committed to making the best out of it despite my past. Focus on situations and events that they do have control over. You know, you may not be able to control what your boss does tomorrow but you can control how much longer you work for him. Explain setbacks and successes. Permanence, when people are looking at how things happen, permanence means it's stable. It is always going to suck.  Changeable means this is unpleasant right now. When I used to work in the clinic we would regularly have auditors coming in and when auditors, we knew an auditor was coming in, that particular couple of weeks was really pretty unpleasant usually. But in between times we're fine and it wasn't necessarily stable. If you got your treatment team to make sure their documentation was beautiful then when auditors came in it was like no biggie. What file do you want? I don't have a problem with it. That isn't stable. It is changeable. You can make it better. Pervasiveness is global or specific so when something happens does the person say I am bad, I am faulty, I am flawed or do they say that was an unfortunate event or I am not perfect or whatever? An internal versus external attribution. Do they look at things as being all their fault or do they look at things as being everybody else's fault and nothing to do with them or somewhere in between? Address sleep disturbances. Educate clients about the importance of sleep in setting and settling the HPA axis or what I call their threat response system. Identify habits that interfere with sleep and develop a sleep routine. Some people who have been traumatized are not going to be willing to sleep in 100% darkness. If you can get them to agree to sleep with a sleep mask then they can pull the sleep mask up if they need to see something that will help. Talk about different things that they can do and encourage them to develop a sleep routine of the same three things they do every night before bed to cue their body and understand that it's time to start winding down. Support empowerment and build trust by providing effective informed consent so clients know exactly what they're walking into. Empower clients to make choices and assume an active role in treatment and establish a sense of self-efficacy. They have a say in what's going to happen and you know what? They're experts on themselves. Go figure. Acknowledge grief and bereavement. Emotional, cognitive, interpersonal, environmental and physical. We want to encourage people over time to look at those and I want to acknowledge that happened and you had that loss because of the trauma so let's talk about it and they need to work through the grief process for each one of those things and sometimes it will be a one session deal sometimes it will be a one month deal but you know they can work through those and come to a level of acceptance of why things are the way they are now. Risk factors for chronic bereavement perceived lack of social support so if they don't feel like anybody was there for them. Concurrent stressors in the past six months so they were already worn down ambivalence about the loss. They're not going to start really dealing with it if they're ambivalent about it they're just going to be like whatever and back in the back of their mind they may have you know stronger feelings about that and a history of mental health or substance abuse issues which could be triggered because of the losses. Signs of destabilization include increased substance use or other unsafe behaviors such as self-harm driving too fast increased psychiatric symptoms increased symptoms of trauma helplessness or hopelessness either expressed verbally or behaviorally so obviously if they go I don't feel like any of this makes a difference that's verbally if they quit coming to treatment you know they start you know just not showing up for their sessions that may be a sense of helplessness and hopelessness you know why should I even bother why should I try. Difficulty following through on commitments isolation notable decline in daily activities including self-care hygiene care of children or pets and going to work so you know kind of look for any and all of these. Other treatment issues include engagement clarify the situation through discussion reinterpreting client saying I can't to I won't I have the ability to choose what I'm going to do I can do it but I'm choosing not to and I won't to I'm willing you know so helping them see yes you have a choice about it let's see if I can convince you why it might be helpful use motivational interviewing when possible frequently discuss and request feedback from clients about pacing and timing is it too slow too fast do we need to take a little break for a couple weeks on this particular issue signs it's going too fast no shows dissociation excessive silence confusion or inability to comprehend simple concepts so you can tell they're kind of not with you they're in this emotional haze redirecting the conversation or an increase in symptoms some people are not able to completely remember past events particularly events that occurred during high stress and destabilizing moments explore with the client how the memory of an event helps them understand their feelings thinking and behaving in the present and persistently trying to recall all details of a traumatic event can impair a client's focus on the present you know so when they think back they're like you know I can't remember where my dog was during this whole thing okay is that important to your recovery right now and is that detracting from your ability to focus on the present so what we want to do establish safety prevent retraumatization provide psychoeducation use trauma informed peer support normalize symptoms identify and manage triggers help clients draw connections teach balance between recovery and you know trauma you know you can't plan for everything and with recovery your whole life cannot revolve around this trauma recovery you know you need to but then you need to have a life and you need to have some fun and you need to have some relaxation it's too intense to work on 24-7 for any period of time develop resilience in your clients help them change their sense of powerlessness to one of empowerment and their sense of being stuck to one that believes that things can change address sleep disturbances support empowerment and build trust with the client and encourage the client to build trust with others start trusting themselves and start trusting safe other people in their life and acknowledge grief and bereavement are there any questions yes sleep is critical to recovery and fear of going to sleep fear of being vulnerable while you're asleep so that's definitely something that has to be worked on with the person to help them get to a place where they feel where they feel safe and when I worked with veterans in Florida some of them you know they would when we go to sleep they would keep a light on so when they woke up they would get oriented a little bit better some of them you know they knew they were going to have nightmares because they had nightmares every night and they were afraid to go to sleep because they didn't want to go there with a lot of them EMDR really helped the VA also was not shy about prescribing sleep bates like Sarah Quill to help them sleep and stay asleep so there are things that can be done a lot of times clients will not want to medicate because they will not want to feel because that may also re-traumatize them so talking with them about how can we help you feel safe how can we help you get good sleep is it not is your fear of sleep because you feel vulnerable how can we address that is your fear of sleep because you quote no you're going to have a nightmare as soon as you go to sleep that's a whole different thing that needs to be addressed is it both and work together with them work with them to figure out how to best address those things the nightmares also do seem to remit quite a bit with cognitive processing therapy as they actually work through the trauma and fully process what happened but that's not an overnight process that's 12 to 16 weeks so if you work with a multidisciplinary team get the docs input get the clients input on what they're willing to do and what they feel safe doing alrighty everybody thank you for being here today and hopefully I'll see you tomorrow I know it's Valentine's Day and a lot of people aren't going to want to be taking CEUs on Valentine's Day but let's see what do we do tomorrow strategies for the prevention of mental illness I don't know why I put that one tomorrow so everybody have an amazing day and if I don't see you tomorrow have an amazing Valentine's Day and I'll see you Thursday if you enjoy this podcast please like and subscribe either in your podcast player or on YouTube you can attend and participate in our live webinars with Dr. Snipes by subscribing at allceus.com slash counselor toolbox this episode has been brought to you in part by allceus.com providing 24-7 multimedia training to counselors, therapists, and nurses since 2006 use coupon code counselor toolbox to get a 20% discount 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What's going on guys? It's your boy dpj here today with another destiny video and today we have top five hunter supers of the week Now if you guys do enjoy the video do smash that like button submit any badass clip you've got to the email I just linked in the top of the video description warlock and titan top five supers are under waste or stay tuned for them Thanks again for stopping by and I'll catch you on that next one Change the lead. Zone B neutralized. You're falling behind. Your victory gives the city hope Every ammo on the way zone B lost zone a neutralized zone a secure Neutralized look at them fall unstoppable zone a


The term Geordie may refer to either a native of Newcastle upon Tyne or the dialect spoken by the inhabitants of that city. The word first emerged in the early 18th century when the citizens of Newcastle declared their support for the English kings George I and II, the last British king to come from the House of Hanova. The dialect, mainly localized in the area of Newcastle, merges into the Northumbrian and Scottish dialects in the north and Durham and Yorkshire dialects in the south. The Geordie dialect contains sound elements very similar or identical with standard English, however there are some exceptions. The R phoneme is realized as a uvula R like the French or German R, often referred to as the Burr. The initial H is not dropped as it is the case for many other PDE dialects and word final In is pronounced as In. The vocabulary exhibits a wide range of words that are sometimes very similar and sometimes quite different from standard English such as a lang instead of a long, grand instead of fine or great, ban instead of child or champion instead of great and lovely. Grammatical peculiarities of Geordie include the use of plural instead of singular forms and vice versa. Furthermore, past forms are often replaced by other past or present forms and pronouns are often replaced by other singular or plural forms as you can see in these examples.


Satellites are extremely important tools for observing the environment on Earth. They can measure changes to the polar ice caps, for example, or the extent of deforestation. Such information is important for scientists studying weather patterns and climate change. One of these satellites is called Ibuki. It was launched in 2009 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Formerly named the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite or GOSAT, it was the first to be designed specifically to check the amount of these gases in the planet's atmosphere. In fact, Ibuki means breath in Japanese. At an average altitude of 667 km, Ibuki circles the Earth in about 100 minutes, covering the entire surface and allowing it to monitor the atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. High precision sensors can observe about 56,000 points on the planet. The satellite is able to track not only emissions but also the movement and absorption of greenhouse gases. In addition, Ibuki can pinpoint such problems as leakages of methane from natural gas pipelines. Data from Ibuki is contributed to GOS, the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, a world partnership to find and share data on environmental issues that affect us all.


Hello and welcome to today's Residential Tendencies Authority webinar recording in collaboration with the Office of Industrial Relations, the Electrical Safety Office and what you need to know about electrical safety in rental properties. My name is Lynne Smith and I'm from the Communication and Education team at the RTA. Today's recording will run for approximately 20 minutes and if any time you can pause and watch the video at your own pace. Today we will look at Queensland Tendency Law and how it relates to electrical safety. Our guest speaker will look at the Electrical Safety Act, safety switches, tingles and shocks, DIY electrical work, checking electrical appliances and reporting issues to the Electrical Safety Office. We'll also advise where to get more helpful information in relation to today's topic. Please know the RTA cannot provide legal advice and you are encouraged to seek your own independent advice to make informed decisions. So the RTA is pleased to be working with the Office of Industrial Relations and the Electrical Safety Office and today's guest speaker is Michael Thompson. Michael has the wealth of knowledge for all things electrical safety and on behalf of the RTA and our rental sector watching today, thank you for joining us. Thank you, Ellen. So before I hand over to Michael to go through today's presentation, I'll just quickly touch on the Tendency Laws and how it relates to electrical safety. Queensland Tendency Laws outline the rights and responsibilities for everyone involved in the Tendency. For property owners, one of their obligations is to ensure the right of property is in good repair, fit to live in and not in breach of any health or safety laws at the start of the Tendency. Also during the Tendency, they must continue to maintain the property by doing repairs and maintenance. This does not only include the property itself, but any inclusions in the Tendency as well. Residential Tendencies and Rumi Accommodation Act outlines what is the emergency repairs. The definition can also be found in the standard terms of the general Tendency agreement. For relevance of today's topic and the importance of electrical safety, the emergency repair definition list does include a dangerous electrical fault or a fault or damage that makes the premises unsafe or insecure. The act allows the manager or the owner to enter to comply with the Electrical Safety Act as well as carry out repairs and maintenance. The tenant must be given at least 20 hours of notice before entering the premises and is issued an entry notice of all nine, but the information on who's entering and when the entry will occur, what day and time that's going to be. The tenant also has rights responsibilities under the legislation and one of their obligations is to not cause damage to the rental property and also allow or allow someone else to cause the damage and importantly to repair report any repairs or maintenance issues to their manager or owner. So I'm now going to hand over to Michael from the Electrical Safety Office. The information Michael will share will help both property owners, managers and tenants. So over to you Michael. Thank you Lynn and thank you for the RTA to give us the opportunity as well to come in and speak and pass on the Electrical Safety message to all involved. So first off, we'll talk about the Electrical Safety Act. So this is the Electrical Safety Latest Slation within Queensland that has a very wide scope. We legislate as a regulator across the board, so community, business and everything. So not just the same as workplace and safety where they just do workplaces. We do the whole gambit, even the generation and distribution of electricity as well. We regulate the whole lot. Now when it comes to landlords and tenants, the Electrical Safety Act does have duties where people have to conform to and meet and this is not only to the property owners or the landlords or the agents themselves, but this is also the tenants. So landlords must ensure that the electrical equipment or the installation within their rental premises is safe. So they must ensure that it's not a risk to the tenants or people or anyone entering that property. And this would include such things as your cables and your walls, your power points, your light switches, hot water systems, socket outlets, ovens, cooktop, air conditioners, all that stuff that's hardwired into the house itself that is applied with the house for use and also any plug in equipment that may be present. So this would include pool pumps. So if your pool pump is plug-in, it does fall within that scope as well where if you supply a plug-in equipment for the tenant to use while in that premise, then it must be safe as well. So how you do that is used through testing or some means, but that's definitely something that needs to be considered. And that's obviously a different approach for everyone. Now tenants also have a responsibility as well to make sure that they look after themselves electrically and also others. So they have a duty as well to ensure their own electrical safety and ensure their acts or emissions do not adversely affect the electrical safety of others. So that can go across the board as well, people entering the premises themselves or friends. So we have fairly big penalties, which we are following up a lot more these days within legislation. So that would include for an individual. So anyone who engages in conduct that regularly exposes someone to danger or risk electrically, you're probably looking at about $300,000 or five years in prison for an individual. For a corporation, it's up to $3 million. And for a director or an officer of a company, $600,000 or five years in prison. So we take it pretty seriously these days with electrical safety. If you expose someone to risk, then be aware that you will face the full prosecution of the law. So safety switches, they are different to circuit breakers which most will see. Some people even have the old fuses in their homes, which we recommend to replace with circuit breakers at the minimum. But they protect people from electric shock. So you have circuit breakers and safety switches. And these days you actually have a combination of both where you can buy a product that actually does both. But circuit breakers protect equipment and cabling and the like. But safety switches protect people. So a safety switch will activate in a minimum time to prevent the person or even animal from receiving a shock. And that's 30 milliamps. So that's what medical advice was taken on that when they designed the safety switch. And 30 milliamps is about the max before you have serious issues with your heart. So as a minimum, domestic rental properties must have safety switches fitted to the PowerPoint circuits as a minimum. And that is law. That is within electrical safety act or electoral safety legislation that has to be done. So best to check that is there. The RTA also would state that in their requirements as well. So as a landlord or an agent, you should be well aware of that. The penalty is $1,500 or $7,500 for a corporation or on the spot fines are $300. If we come out, we find that there's not one there. It's a high risk. So it's a requirement under law these days. So we at the ESO actually recommend that all safety circuits are protected by safety switches and new wiring rules now so that any new installation or new circuit that is put in actually has to be protected by safety switch. So that's the wiring rules and that's the electricians handbook. So testing, okay. Now you definitely need to be doing testing at regular intervals. This is mostly about how do you as an owner of a premises or a landlord guarantee that your premises is electrically safe? So if it comes to the point where what it's just been knowing I suppose and having that testing in place that to make sure that they are operating and operating correctly, we have found ones in the past that are actually installed but they're not actually operating. So because they may have an internal fault and maybe old. So this is something that needs to be done regularly. We recommend that the push button test which is the little button on the outside that has a test button is done every three months whether by tenant or landlord. That's just to make sure that it actually operates. And then we say an operation and test time to be done by an electrical contractor. So that's when they actually plug in some testing equipment. They run it through a fault scenario. So it actually like it would replicate a fault across that that circuit whether or not it might be a power point or what it may be. And it trips within a certain time limit. So they test it, it's still within its parameters of where it was designed. Now, that's essential to know that it is working. We highly recommend that. And another way to I suppose keep the cost in that down or the actual the inconvenience to everyone is have that with the smoke alarm testing. So have them at the same time do your safety switch test and at the same time they test the smoke alarms. And they can guarantee that you've got safe an installation that is safe and working effectively those safety switches. So Michael, we know a lot of landlords or agents may choose to engage not some particular companies to check their safety switches when they check things like the smoke alarms. But what you're saying is to that either the tenant or the landlord or the agent should be doing the testing but the main thing is it's done on a regular basis. Yes, exactly. Yep, definitely that. The push button is a definite must for those three months to six months periods at the most to make sure it is operating. That can be done by anyone, the push button and the electrical contractor can do the operational time testing. So probably a good idea is that when the routine inspections are occurring with the landlords or the agents when they're inspecting the property to actually make sure this is part of their checklist to check the safety switch as well. Absolutely. So for people who might be renting for the first time or first time property owners or they're from overseas and not sure where to find the safety switch where do you look and more importantly what to expect when the switch is actually tested. Okay, so this can be several things here we refer to them as different things. So you have a meter panel people call it or your switchboard or your fuse panel or it may be it's where all your electrical circuits come into the building or the house or the installation and have your other fuses, circuit breakers or main switches and sometimes meters, sometimes different. So you need to just go in there have a look and now it's not necessarily easy sometimes some safety switches have little hidden push buttons but a safety switch will actually have such as the picture in the slide that it has a test button. So it either have a T or test written on it where a circuit breaker will not the circuit breaker will just have the toggle that goes up and down for on and off. So that's the main indicator of the difference between the two and also so when you activate that and we push that test button that the toggle should switch off so it should shut off power to that circuit always be prepared that when you are doing your testing that it will turn the power off to that circuit no matter what it is. So if you've got anything plugged in that you need to maintain power to to be aware it will turn off for a momentary time period. So the test only takes all of five seconds to be honest to push the button and then we've switched the safety switch on so it's not a massive inconvenience. So when I'm in a house I'm going out to a meter box and I've done the testing and I've done that when I do get back inside it's not uncommon to find that my microwave, my clock radio and all the other things that might actually have a time on that needs to be reset. That's right, that's right. So just be aware of that and if you're going to think it needs to stay on just and just prepare previously. So tingles or shocks from metal fittings. Now this is a very important one for us. Now if you ever feel a tingle from an electrical from a metal fitting such as a tap or a pipe or the like, it can even feel like a pinprick sometimes through the skin in the shower. It's actually a shock from your system. So do not ignore it. This is a very serious situation and it could be fatal. People have actually been killed in the past by this incident or this fault across the system. So you need to contact your electricity entity immediately and stop using that equipment or do not go near it or even turn off the main switch if you can access it safely without touching the switchboard. Because what happens is that can be some stray current or voltage or power going through your metal parts of your house. And then close the switchboard because the switchboard can be often be metal. So if you're not able to touch it just ring your electricity entity. So that's Erdogan, Energex or essential energy. So they have different regions. So Energex is your southeast Queensland. So Sunshine Coast, the Esk and Gatton areas. You got essential energy. He looks after Gunda, Wendy and surrounding areas. And then Erdogan energy looks after the rest of Queensland. So there's a big difference between your retailer and your entity. So your retailer should still direct you in the right direction if you contact them and talk to them about it. Except for Erdogan energy, they actually are a retailer as well. So just be aware of that. But there are on our website those contact numbers available as well. And so the same applies for tingles or shocks from permanent appliances. Not necessarily so much about contacting your entity because it might not be a network problem. But stop using that appliance immediately. And these things are referring to such as permanent or hardwater equipment or non-plugin. So that's air conditioners, ovens, light fittings, hot water systems, et cetera. Stop using it immediately. Tell whoever else is in the house too. So just give them a heads up that it's not okay to be touching it or using it. And contact your landlord or real estate. They'll obviously have a process in place for you to report this. Or they might get you to contact their licensed electrician or electric contract straight away and they'll come out and test the equipment to make sure that it is safe or if there's any issues related to the house or the installation itself. So you need to do that straight away. The model with the tingles and shocks. Are you able to share with our audience some examples or an example where this is actually heard and what actually has happened? Okay, so people might be familiar with one that happened within the last couple of years, I believe it was over in Western Australia, where a young girl received a near fatal shock from an outdoor tap. So what that was is basically the electricity system. The power lines had an issue where the neutral was broken off. So the power goes through the earth. And so as soon as that young girl was standing on a slightly wet ground around the tap, touched the tap, she received a near fatal electric shock. It's very, very sad and unfortunate and this is not the only time that this has happened. People have actually had, we've had fatalities from this sort of thing happening before from pipes and stuff becoming live. And unfortunately that young girl was sustained permanent brain damage from that. So this is, it's a very serious situation and you need to be on your game and report it straight away. And as I said, it's not always recognizable straight away. As I said, those little pinprick feelings in the shower on a tap when your hands are wet, that can be electricity flowing through your earthen system. So people, you know, when it comes to reporting, do you think it's just that people sometimes think, oh, it's just minor and don't do anything about it? Yes, absolutely. A lot of people don't realize what it is. That's why I mentioned the pinpricks because it's a strange feeling. It doesn't, you wouldn't think it's electricity. So you do get that where it's actually dismissed as being nothing. Ah, DIY. So this is something that we take a hard line on. So do yourself, electrical work must be performed by an electrical contractor, a licensed worker who works for a electrical contractor. So do yourself work, it's very dangerous, it's illegal and no doubt if you perform that work and it burned your house down, I'm pretty sure the insurance company would not cover it. So that's probably the last point, but it's very dangerous. So you can leave legacies. They don't always appear straight away. The faults or the dangerous conditions, but they can appear. So you put in a risk, not just yourself performing that work, but anyone who actually visits that house or the installation, including other workers, usually, well, we've had a few of that where other workers or trades have come into the premises and they've come into contact with live wise or whether it may be a faulty system from poor workmanship or do yourself and they've been killed. So, and then that's a real serious issue. So that potential criminal matter. So yeah, so always there's heavy fines of prosecutions if we are found that you perform the legal electrical work, but we have a facility on our website where you can go in there and check your contractor's license numbers. So you best do that at all times, go in there and make sure that they are licensed. That way they've got their insurances as well covered. So in case anything goes wrong and so they're competent to do the work. We're not necessarily competent, but they're licensed to do the work. So, and also I just wanted to touch on roof spaces within that as well because they have very dangerous areas. People don't consider that too much, but always turn the power off before anyone enters that roof space, including yourself and any workers. There's a lot of hidden danger there. Exposed cables, old cables, you know, rodents can chew things. It can become a very dangerous area. And don't forget that a main switch and your hot water switch need to be turned off because they are usually separate tariffs. So they have separate feeds. So if you turn the main switch off, your hot water circuit may not be isolated. And also incoming mains, when your power lines come into your house, if they come down through the roof, they are always live. You cannot turn them off with your main switch. So just be aware of those as well. I think it's very important for landlords and agents to know you do need a licensed electrician to do that electrical work. So it's no DIY handyman or a landlord come in and say, look, I'll just do this myself. No, not at all. A main clarification is hardwired and anything that's actually wired is the installation. Plug-in equipment is different.  So. It's just two electrical appliances. That's right. So electrical appliances. So always make sure that your appliances you purchase have that regulatory compliance mark. So that's the RCM mark and there's a tick in the triangle. That will tell you that it's actually compliant with Australian standards. So why we always say, be wary of buying stuff online from overseas because it may not comply. It may fail dangerously and you may have no warranty or recourse of action for that as well.  So always make sure that you buy it and check that that's the case that it can comply with Australian standards. As I said before, landlords, you have an obligation to maintain the equipment or appliances that you supply. So it has to be maintained, kept in good working order and electrically safe. So we always recommend have a maintenance schedule or process for electrical repairs. So a guideline for tenants reporting faults. So it's streamlined. It's easy. Everyone knows how it works and there's no delays. And also always use your license electrical contractor. And my point from your experience, what are the factors that contribute to a circuit breaker or safety switch tripping that just doesn't work or something's gone wrong in your house? So with circuit breakers, it's usually an overload function or a serious fault within the actual hardwine of equipment or the plug-in equipment itself. So it might be a short across the active and neutral something on those lines or overloading can be also be a topic as well. So when you've got multiple double adapters or powerboards plugged into one point, that is going to cause issues. We recommend that if you're going to use anything, use powerboards with overload protection, buy one of those and it will actually turn off before it takes out the actual circuit breaker. Once you start tripping circuit breakers, it can cause other issues. In RCDs, they usually, what they are, is there an imbalance? So there's a fault with an piece of equipment or cable somewhere that is actually leaking to earth or leaking to somewhere else which makes it a dangerous situation. So if you start getting those repeatedly happening, then you need to get an electrical contractor out to have a look. Now information brochures. So we have all this information in these wonderful brochures that we're available on our website. They are great. Everything we've talked about today and a bit more. And they are excellent references and we would suggest that the tenants guide actually goes into maybe a pack with the new tenants from the tenancy packs so they understand how it works as well as your reporting guidelines on how to report electrical issues and the processes around that. So in speaking of reporting, so unsafe and dangerous work. So it's actually part of legislation electrical safety legislation where you must report these incidents to the electrical safety office. So unsafe and dangerous wiring equipment. So that's where you find, come across something that's not safe or you feel safe, give the electrical safety office call, we'll come out, we'll have a look to make sure that no one's gonna be seriously injured or killed by that wiring and maybe do an investigation about who have done that work. Illegal unlicensed works, similar lines. You must report that. It's illegal and there will be prosecutions or actions taken to get those people that do that work and shocks or dangerous electrical events, we call them. So we call them serious electrical incidents and dangerous electrical events and they're in a legislation and there's certain parameters around those but shocks could also be reported to your entity as well if you're a business, so electrical entity but definitely because it's not really asked about, I suppose, prosecuting someone but it's more about tracking the fault, identifying the situation and ensuring it doesn't happen again and kill someone. So that's what we're all about, it's electrical safety and some more information on our website. So we've got a lovely website. So go on there, have a look, we've got a raft of information and these relevant booklets and brochures are on there as well as heaps of other stuff or information about every other item you can think of including tree pruning, you name it. It's on there in your premises and they're looking at for overheads, overpower lines and everything. So get on there, have a look, follow us on Facebook. We release a lot of good stuff on Facebook as well, information, competitions as well. So follow us on there, get on there and yeah, update yourself. Right, Michael, thank you again. I mean, this is really important information for everyone in the rental sector. So the RTA highly recommends you download the owner and the tenant's guides and I totally agree with Michael saying put the tenant guide in your tenant pack for ages to land or as when the tenant first moves in. They're an easy to read resource and a lot of information relevant to you. So just in finalizing today's presentation, know your rights and responsibilities under the Queensland Tenancy Law and remember health and safety is always a priority and this includes the safety switches and that regular testing in the rental property or your own home. So don't ignore tingles and shocks that may come from a tap and appliance or a fixture in the property and check your electrical appliances to make sure they are compliant. Remember only use licensed electricians to do your electrical work. Download that safety brochure at electricalsafety.qld.gov.au and keep this as a valuable education and resource tool. Again, a huge thank you to our guest speaker, Michael Thompson for your time today and recording in today's recording, you are the subject matter expert and sharing your knowledge with us today has been great. And so it's been a pleasure. So the RTA is here to help you and everyone involved in the tenancy. So you can keep connected with the RTA by subscribing to the RTA News and you can also link in with us at the RTA through LinkedIn. The RTA's website has a lot of information and resources available for you and we encourage you to be informed and view this at RTA.qld.gov.au. The RTA web services for all matters bond including your lodgements and refunds is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You need further assistance, you can contact us on 1300 366 311 and speak to one of our friendly contact center staff members Monday to Friday 8.30 to 5.00 p.m. Thank you to the team at the Office of Industrial Relations and Electrical Safety Office for their collaboration in this recording and thank you for your time today.


Okay. Good morning, everyone. Reviewing here the spy. Clearly, this is going to hold here now today. It was interesting because I saw this this morning and then it broke the low and then it looked like it was going to break and it didn't do it and then actually got bought in the tail here. So just reviewing this here, the spy looks like it's going to get to 266 today. Right here, you could be in it. You could be in it already. You could have been in it earlier, but this is good and targets 266 right in here. High the previous bar up here to 1130. So it has the potential to be a bigger train, but I think that's a realistic target 266 and we're just not breaking. I mean, we're just not going lower and we opened today right at 265 and barely broke it. So I have a stop in this at 264.60, which is a little bit of a cushion. It's not a huge cushion, but it's a little bit of a cushion. Let's look here at the 30 minute. This looks good now. It's just, you know, to trade late in the afternoon, you have to have a lot of patience. And if you don't have patience, you can't really trade in the afternoon. But it's one of these things where it's December and looking for stuff to do that I feel solid in, feel conviction and I feel now the spy and I have conviction that the spy is going to rally today. So it could take all day for this trade to go up. We'll just really see where it goes. Again, targets 266. It's held. It's triggered in a buy set up in the daily chart. Market looks higher and I think that there's a potential that it could go over 266. It just depends on how late this really wants to get going. Time of the day here now really is 12.15 and I said noon 12 o'clock for this to hit and I was right. So for anybody that's in it, we'll see where it goes. Check back later and just watch the trade. See you later. For more information, email me at melissa at thestockswish.com.