{"id":965,"date":"2025-10-31T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/?p=965"},"modified":"2025-10-31T16:35:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T16:35:42","slug":"fireworks-grounding-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/2025\/10\/31\/fireworks-grounding-techniques\/","title":{"rendered":"When fireworks are a trigger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">This can be a tricky time of year for military veterans with fireworks triggering unwanted memories of combat. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">If this is the case for you, try these grounding techniques to help stay present:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Notice your surroundings<\/h2>\n<p>Notice your surroundings using the 5-4-3-2-1 technique:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are 5 things you can see (focus on the details)?<\/li>\n<li>What are 4 things you can feel or touch (notice the sensations)?<\/li>\n<li>What are 3 things you can hear (pay attention to the sounds)?<\/li>\n<li>What are 2 things you can smell (and smell them!)?<\/li>\n<li>What is 1 thing you can taste (try eating something such as strong mints or gum) and focus on the how it tastes)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Notice the difference<\/h2>\n<p>Notice differences between \u2018then\u2019 and now\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Try noticing the similarities and differences between the memory that\u2019s been triggered and what\u2019s happening in the present moment.<\/p>\n<p>This can help break the connection between past trauma and day to day reminders.<\/p>\n<p>Try asking yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What was I doing then? <strong>What am I doing now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>What could I see then? <strong>What can I see now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>What was I wearing then? <strong>What am I wearing now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Who was I with then? <strong>Who am I with now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>What could I hear then? <strong>What can I hear now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>What could I smell then? <strong>What can I smell now?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Breathe<\/h2>\n<p>Try this short breathing exercise:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Headspace | Mini meditation | Breathe\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cEqZthCaMpo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>We&#8217;re here to help<\/h2>\n<p>At this time of year, and all year around, further support is available to veterans and their families.<\/p>\n<p>To make a self-referral for talking therapy, follow this link:<\/p>\n<div class=\"nhsuk-action-link\"><a class=\"nhsuk-action-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/oxfordshire.limbic.ai\/\" target=\"_self\"><span class=\"nhsuk-action-link__text\">Self-refer to Oxfordshire Talking Therapies<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fireworks can be a trigger. Here are some grounding techniques military veterans can use to stay present and prevent fireworks triggering unwanted memories of combat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1236,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/1236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/oxon-talking-therapies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}