Core Actions: The Seven Cs

Stress First Aid is based on a set of five evidence-based elements that have been linked to better functioning after stress and adversity across a number of settings.

These elements are: (1) regaining a sense of safety, or cover, (2) restoring calm, to reduce intense physiological arousal and negative emotions, (3) feeling connected to sources of social support, (4) increasing the sense of self-efficacy, which means feeling competent to handle the situations that create stress, or ones own reactions to the stress, and (5) experiencing hope, or confidence, in ones self and the world.