Serious injuries can happen to anyone. You and your loved ones can do everything right, exercise caution wherever possible, and still end up with an injury that can potentially change your life forever. It’s hard to say what’s worse — being the victim of a serious injury or having someone close to you suffer through this experience. In case of the latter, it’s important that you’re there to help your loved one recover from their injury. Here’s what you can do.
Offer Support Whenever It’s Needed
Recovering from a traumatic injury can be a long process. Sometimes it takes years or even decades to get back to full health. Other times, it’s a lifelong journey. The best way to help your loved ones recover is to offer them support whenever they need it. The type of support we’re talking about can be anything, but it mainly comes down to being there for that person when they need a pick-me-up.
There will be times when recovery might seem too difficult, or too emotionally depleting. No matter how strong you are, a severe injury will question your resolve. Be there for your loved ones when they reach this moment of weakness.
Help Them Come to Term With Their Accident
Accepting that you’ve had an accident is often a very difficult thing for many victims. Doing so means facing the trauma they’ve had to endure all over again. It’s important that you let them know that they are not alone in this. Make them understand that although only they know what they’re going through, they have support — you.
The best way to get over a traumatic event is to get counseling from a professional. Going to therapy is often the fastest way to internalize what has happened and put the accident behind them. Yet, therapy is just one part of the equation. Your loved ones will also need a pillar of support they can talk to outside the therapist’s office. Be that person for them.
Help Them Resolve Any Legal Issues
While some traumatic injuries are caused by “act of God events”, most are caused by negligence or criminal negligence. Injury lawyers from www.stewartlawoffices.net remind us that criminal negligence is a lot more common than most people think. Drunk drivers causing an accident is an obvious form of criminal negligence, but so are drivers who use their phones in traffic, or people who refuse to clean their car of snow in the winter.
If your loved one was injured in an accident, they are most likely eligible for compensation for their injuries. Since dealing with recovery and legal battles is too much for most people, it’s a good thing to hire a good personal injury lawyer to take care of any legal matters.
Not only will a lawyer exponentially increase the chances of your loved one receiving the kind of compensation they’re entitled to, but a lawyer can also offer key advice regarding any future steps.
Make Sure That Your Loved One is Getting The Care They Need
Recovery can be a long process that involves a tonne of doctor appointments, physical therapy, and all kinds of tests. Even though all of these things are necessary to reach full health, your loved one could lose the drive to go to every single doctor’s appointment. You have to be there to catch them when they falter.
Staying on track with physical therapy and medical exams is essential to reaching full recovery. You have to be the one who will make your loved one get up when going gets tough, and head out for that doctor’s appointment. Be the moral support they need.
Don’t Be Pushy
Once the initial shock of having someone close to you suffer a severe injury subsides, some people become too “helpful”. In other words, they are unable to accept that their loved ones are severely injured, so they begin to push them harder and harder. It’s perfectly fine to be the motivator your loved one needs, but you have to know when to ease up.
Pushing an injured person to do more than they feel like doing can only worsen their condition. Some injuries require a lot of rest and a very careful approach to recovery. Sometimes you can’t just walk it off or push through the pain. Sometimes all you need to do is rest, and that is perfectly fine.
Try to be accepting of these facts and try not to be pushy with your words of encouragement. The person you’re trying to help could very easily become irritated by your efforts, which can put a strain on your relationship with them. Try to read the room and recognize an acceptable tempo.
Help Them Acclimate to a New Way Of Life
No matter hard someone’s willing to work on their recovery, some injuries will cause long-term or permanent damage. At that point, the person who has suffered said injuries need to accept the fact that their life will change moving forward.
The best thing you can do for them is showing them that they are still loved and appreciated. Show them that whatever changes they have to make in terms of their lifestyle won’t affect the way you see them or the way you feel about them. Changes, although imposed by force at times, don’t have to be all bad.
It’s A Long Road Ahead
Helping someone recover from a severe injury can be taxing for both parties. Just because it wasn’t you who was hurt doesn’t mean that you don’t have the right to feel frustrated at times. If the person who got injured is someone important in your life, you’ll be affected as well.
The key is to accept what happened and look towards the future. Try to focus on what’s ahead and not dwell on what took place in the past. The journey ahead is a long one, but it’s worth taking if your loved one reaches full or near full recovery at the end.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
.
.
