{"id":79533,"date":"2026-06-05T11:32:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/?post_type=activities&#038;p=79533"},"modified":"2026-06-09T16:29:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:29:29","slug":"reduce-avoidance-activity","status":"publish","type":"activities","link":"https:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/activities\/reduce-avoidance-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"A practical activity to reduce avoidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spunout.ie\/mental-health\/conditions\/what-is-trauma\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trauma<\/a> can disrupt how you live your life. If you\u2019ve experienced trauma, you may avoid specific places, people, activities, or situations because of those upsetting past experiences.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Avoiding these things can delay you from enjoying your life to the fullest. The \u2018Reducing Avoidance Activity\u2019 will help you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increase your confidence\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feel safer<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overcome things you\u2019ve been avoiding<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to reduce avoidance<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Find a pen and paper.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Write down a list of activities, people, places or situations you avoid. View example below to help you get started.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Rank each item on the list between 0 to 10. If it causes you no distress, mark the item 0. If it causes you a lot of distress, mark the item 10.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Try to put the situations in order, from least to most distressing or difficult.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. In a separate column, write down a word to describe how you are feeling before completing the situation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6. Find the lowest rank situation in the difficulty score column. Try to do the least difficult situation first. Remember it\u2019s okay to ask for help if you need a friend or family to support you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7. After you\u2019ve completed the situation, go back to your paper with the list of activities you avoid. Add another column and grade yourself on how well you think you completed the situation. If you think you did excellent, mark the item A. If you think you didn\u2019t do well at all, mark the item F.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8. Finally, add a fifth column and reflect on how you feel knowing you completed the situation. If you feel unsatisfied, mark the item 0. If you feel satisfied, mark the item 10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9. Redo step 5 to 8 with the next situation that is the least difficult. Keep doing steps 5 to 8 until you complete the most difficult situation. Remember to be kind to yourself and take breaks between confronting difficult situations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reducing avoidance for specific situations may be difficult at first, however the more you keep trying, the easier you will find it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this example, the person doing this activity has experienced a traumatic event that involved driving to work and crashing on a roundabout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-79534 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-11.27.19.png\" alt=\"Table example\" width=\"1141\" height=\"658\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-11.27.19.png 1141w, https:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-11.27.19-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-11.27.19-1024x591.png 1024w, https:\/\/spunout.ie\/navigator\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-05-at-11.27.19-768x443.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1141px) 100vw, 1141px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"h-feeling-overwhelmed-and-want-to-talk-to-someone\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Feeling overwhelmed and want to talk to someone?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Get anonymous support 24\/7 with our text message support service<\/li>\n<li>Connect with a trained volunteer who will listen to you, and help you to move forward feeling better<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/api.whatsapp.com\/send\/?phone=353861804253&amp;text=HELLO&amp;type=phone_number&amp;app_absent=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Whatsapp\u00a0us now<\/a>\u00a0or free-text SPUNOUT to 50808 to begin.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/spunout.ie\/news\/article\/text-message-support-service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Find out more about our text message support service<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>If you are a customer of the 48 or An Post network or cannot get through using the \u201850808\u2019 short code please text\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>HELLO<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0to\u00a0<\/em><strong><em>086 1800 280<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0(standard message rates may apply). Some smaller networks do not support short codes like \u201850808\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-79533","activities","type-activities","status-publish","hentry","activitie_topic-feel-better","activitie_topic-feeling-stressed-or-low","activitie_topic-find-services","activitie_topic-general-wellbeing","activitie_topic-get-information","activitie_topic-getting-help","activitie_topic-post-traumatic-stress-disorder","activitie_topic-relate-to-others","activitie_topic-specific-mental-health-difficulties","activitie_topic-talk-to-someone","activitie_topic-trauma"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A practical activity to reduce avoidance - spunout navigator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A practical activity to reduce avoidance - spunout navigator\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trauma can disrupt how you live your life. 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