Latest news with #LucyEasthope
The Guardian
03-08-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I lost my hearing in one ear and I'm worried I won't find a new job
I am a 50-year-old man. After a long-term disease, I had my inner ear removed, and then lost my job due to incapacity. I have hearing in one ear, am waiting for an implant and wear aids, which help. I felt lost for a few years, but I got fit and slowly regrouped, and ended up doing an apprenticeship. Now it is coming to an end, I am worried about applying for jobs, having to prove myself again against healthy people half my age. Sometimes I wake in the night panicking. I want to cry most of the time. I just want someone to say it will be OK and help me. But I'm not sure who to ask. My biggest fear is putting strain on my wife and kids again. I can't drive due to the illness and operation, so I am already at a loss as to which jobs I can apply for. After being ill for so long I lost a lot of friends, who just didn't get it. I think the new situation is triggering a lot of that hurt. Facing a long-term disease and loss of hearing is tough. You have already really helped yourself. I went to emergency planner Prof Lucy Easthope, and the RNID, the national charity supporting people who are deaf or have hearing loss or tinnitus (which is one in three adults in the UK). Easthope has written a book you may find helpful called Come What May: Life-Changing Lessons for Coping with Crisis. The first thing she said was: 'Bloody well done. We often need to hear that, but no one says it. You've been incredibly brave doing the apprenticeship.' She felt you were using 'pessimism as protection, which can actually be really helpful as long as it doesn't sabotage, because you have to be ready for things to not go entirely right. And there are reasons things might not go right that shouldn't be linked to your self-esteem.' She gave the example of people after adversity 'going for total reinvention and not being realistic, like going for jobs they can't do and maybe could never do. If the job isn't right for you, then you probably won't get it.' She also felt that: 'What you are going through is bigger than what happens next; the dreams you have had to give up on.' She suggested 'speaking out loud the monsters that keep you awake at night so you can explore them'. Who previously made things OK for you? Is there someone you can talk to? I'm sure your wife would welcome you letting her in, but if not, a good friend or a family member? I'm sorry your friends didn't get it. Lots of people don't, but often it's not ill intent, just ignorance (and laziness to not find out what you need). Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Little by little, things can and will shift. Health crises can really throw us, and it can take a long time to adapt and redefine ourselves. It also sounds like you are a bit afraid of letting others in, but talking about things is how we process. No one can say this is going to be 100% OK, but slowly you may realise that there will be OK-ness, joy and hope. You can cry if you need to. The RNID recommended looking for employers who have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. And added: 'Remember that under the Equality Act 2010, employers have a legal duty to support individuals, including those who are deaf or have hearing loss.' The RNID has lots more info, and the charity Hearing Link Services offers peer support sessions. Easthope said that you might imagine younger people without your issues wouldn't be afraid but, trust us, they are. Everyone is with a new start. You've done amazingly well. This wasn't what you planned, but it's where you've found yourself. You're not the same person you were at the beginning of this journey, because you've already found great resources within yourself. Every week, Annalisa Barbieri addresses a personal problem sent in by a reader. If you would like advice from Annalisa, please send your problem to Annalisa regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions. The latest series of Annalisa's podcast is available here. Comments on this piece are pre-moderated to ensure the discussion remains on the topics raised by the article. Please be aware that there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.
The Guardian
03-08-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I lost my hearing in one ear and I'm worried I won't find a new job
I am a 50-year-old man. After a long-term disease, I had my inner ear removed, and then lost my job due to incapacity. I have hearing in one ear, am waiting for an implant and wear aids, which help. I felt lost for a few years, but I got fit and slowly regrouped, and ended up doing an apprenticeship. Now it is coming to an end, I am worried about applying for jobs, having to prove myself again against healthy people half my age. Sometimes I wake in the night panicking. I want to cry most of the time. I just want someone to say it will be OK and help me. But I'm not sure who to ask. My biggest fear is putting strain on my wife and kids again. I can't drive due to the illness and operation, so I am already at a loss as to which jobs I can apply for. After being ill for so long I lost a lot of friends, who just didn't get it. I think the new situation is triggering a lot of that hurt. Facing a long-term disease and loss of hearing is tough. You have already really helped yourself. I went to emergency planner Prof Lucy Easthope, and the RNID, the national charity supporting people who are deaf or have hearing loss or tinnitus (which is one in three adults in the UK). Easthope has written a book you may find helpful called Come What May: Life-Changing Lessons for Coping with Crisis. The first thing she said was: 'Bloody well done. We often need to hear that, but no one says it. You've been incredibly brave doing the apprenticeship.' She felt you were using 'pessimism as protection, which can actually be really helpful as long as it doesn't sabotage, because you have to be ready for things to not go entirely right. And there are reasons things might not go right that shouldn't be linked to your self-esteem.' She gave the example of people after adversity 'going for total reinvention and not being realistic, like going for jobs they can't do and maybe could never do. If the job isn't right for you, then you probably won't get it.' She also felt that: 'What you are going through is bigger than what happens next; the dreams you have had to give up on.' She suggested 'speaking out loud the monsters that keep you awake at night so you can explore them'. Who previously made things OK for you? Is there someone you can talk to? I'm sure your wife would welcome you letting her in, but if not, a good friend or a family member? I'm sorry your friends didn't get it. Lots of people don't, but often it's not ill intent, just ignorance (and laziness to not find out what you need). Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Little by little, things can and will shift. Health crises can really throw us, and it can take a long time to adapt and redefine ourselves. It also sounds like you are a bit afraid of letting others in, but talking about things is how we process. No one can say this is going to be 100% OK, but slowly you may realise that there will be OK-ness, joy and hope. You can cry if you need to. The RNID recommended looking for employers who have signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. And added: 'Remember that under the Equality Act 2010, employers have a legal duty to support individuals, including those who are deaf or have hearing loss.' The RNID has lots more info, and the charity Hearing Link Services offers peer support sessions. Easthope said that you might imagine younger people without your issues wouldn't be afraid but, trust us, they are. Everyone is with a new start. You've done amazingly well. This wasn't what you planned, but it's where you've found yourself. You're not the same person you were at the beginning of this journey, because you've already found great resources within yourself. Every week, Annalisa Barbieri addresses a personal problem sent in by a reader. If you would like advice from Annalisa, please send your problem to Annalisa regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions. The latest series of Annalisa's podcast is available here. Comments on this piece are pre-moderated to ensure the discussion remains on the topics raised by the article. Please be aware that there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.
ABC News
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Encore: What does a 'disaster specialist' actually do and how do they survive?
When Lucy Easthope was 10 years old, she was at home with her dad watching a Liverpool Football Club match when all hell broke loose. The Hillsborough Disaster, as it came to be known, was a fatal crowd crush that killed almost 100 people and as Lucy and her dad watched it all unfold on the television, she remembers him shouting, "Someone needs to sort this!" That formative experience inspired Lucy to go on to become what's called an 'emergency planner' or 'disaster specialist'. When a plane crashes, a bomb explodes, a city floods or a virus spreads across the planet, Lucy's phone begins to ring and she springs into action. Further information When the Dust Settles is published by Hodder & Stoughton. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.
New York Times
13-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
How to Survive a Crisis
Lucy Easthope describes herself as 'the last responder.' When disaster strikes, emergency workers rush in to deliver aid. But Dr. Easthope, a visiting professor of mass fatalities and pandemics at the University of Bath in England, tells me that her specialty is what comes after. She has spent 24 years helping people recover from catastrophes like the Sept. 11 attacks, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and the London subway bombings in 2005. Her many tasks include working in the rubble retrieving remains and personal effects, advising on cleanup and reconstruction, and helping stricken communities mend. In her upcoming book, 'Come What May: Life-Changing Lessons for Coping With Crisis,' Dr. Easthope writes about what a life in emergency management has taught her about weathering difficult times. She shared her insights on how to deal with everyday loss and calamities like death, a bad diagnosis, divorce or being fired. When she arrives on the scene of a disaster, the first thing Dr. Easthope does is write down every single thing that has happened, no matter how small: the collapsed bridge, but also the destroyed community garden. This is called an impact assessment. When something bad happens, she said, we can all benefit from making our own impact assessment. Write down everything that's affected by the event, whether it's physical, psychological or logistical, she said. This can help you understand what you have been through, how it is affecting you in all realms of your life and what is or isn't fixable. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
I'm a national emergency planner. This is how I cope in a personal crisis
Lucy Easthope, 46, walked through her front door in 2009, leaned her back against her hallway wall and slid down to the floor, overwhelmed with grief. Her blood pressure had plummeted, her legs had given way – a response she'd only ever seen happen in films. She'd just been in hospital, where she'd been told that she'd had a miscarriage and was overwhelmed with grief. Her reaction to the personal crisis was dramatically different to her response to the national crises she faces head on through her role as an emergency planner. 'You have to show that you are not going to be a terrible wreck,' the Liverpudlian tells me from her home in Shropshire. And for good reason – Easthope has formed part of the response to almost every disaster involving British citizens over the last few decades: 9/11, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the 2005 London Underground bombings, the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, the Salisbury poisonings in 2018, the Covid pandemic and the 2024 Southport stabbings, to name a few. Her job involves either preparing, often sitting in her office planning for future emergencies, or responding, which can involve providing immediate on-site response, advising the most senior figures in government and supporting communities long after an event has left the news cycle. It's a role – taken up after achieving a law degree, a PhD in medicine and master's degree in disaster management – that makes her uniquely well placed to navigate personal crisis, though you 'would be a robot' if you could have the same measured response when crisis hits at home, which Easthope has also seen much of, including five miscarriages (she went on to have two children, aged 10 and 14) and her father's death in 2023. But that doesn't mean that her career can't help to translate into coping with personal tragedy. 'We make big, long lists of all the things that can go wrong in the world and then work out what to do about them,' Easthope writes in her new book, Come What May: Life-Changing Lessons for Coping with Crisis. 'We think about the winter in the spring.' Here's how you can apply her principles to get through personal crises and momentary disasters. 1. Crises happen to all of us – but planning is crucial None of us can really ever know how we will react until disaster strikes but there are small things you can do to prepare for a situation. As an emergency planner, Easthope painstakingly plans for the worst, then reviewing those plans so they're ready when national disaster strikes, whether it's a collapsed bridge or unexploded ordnance. But she also applies the same approach to her children's school calendars, planning with military precision and keeping an eye for any trouble ahead. While you don't need to devote hours to imagining every emergency that you could face, it can be helpful to prepare for the two big things, Easthope says. These are being stuck in your home or not being able to get home, which recently happened to tens of millions of people across Spain and Portugal, when the countries lost power for 10 hours. If you're stuck at home, you need to make sure you have everything that you could need. 'You want light, so the charged torches and the charged hurricane lamps,' she says. She urges against using candles because of the fire risk they pose. 'You want food and snacks – anything you can make without cooking,' she adds. 'Everyone always adds in, rightly so, the board games and playing cards.' Easthope keeps all of these emergency items in a cupboard at home. Leaving the house in a hurry, or being left stranded, is another common crisis, whether a result of a power outage, car breakdown or cancelled train. 'Think about things you'd grab if you had to leave home now in a hurry – perhaps tonight and tomorrow's medication. I always have a phone and phone charger.' She also recommends adding shoes – 'I have seen many people exit their house in their socks' – a spare house key, first aid kit, thermals and insurance documents to a disaster 'go bag'. 2. Be ready for what comes after the immediate crisis Regardless of the disaster – whether it sweeps the nation like a pandemic or terrorist attack, or is personal such as widowhood or pregnancy loss – they can all be understood under the framework of the 'disaster recovery graph', originally created by American scholars around 70 years ago. It shows that, soon after a disaster, there is an upward slope, representing an improvement in feelings, followed by a crash and eventually a gentle incline, Easthope explains. 'It's not a grief cycle (like 'two weeks on Wednesday you'll be angry') but it's a helpful explainer for what's inevitable after a major event.' The phase immediately after a national disaster or personal loss is often known as the 'honeymoon phase', according to this framework, Easthope says. It's a period full of hugs, compassion and an outpouring of support. For the person at the centre of the crisis, this can cause a flood of oxytocin (the love hormone), but it's followed by a slump, she explains. The slump is often a time of anger, distress and pain. 'It goes back and forth and it's not a failure if you slide back down,' Easthope says. In her work, Grenfell Tower is a physical manifestation of the slump. 'The skeleton of the tower, shrouded in white material, still stands, haunting the skyline', Easthope writes. 'This disaster is one of the few I have seen where there was no honeymoon. It hurtled straight into utter misery and despair.' 'We did a big public meeting [in Southport] in December about the slump because what people want is to hear that each month it will get better and you're delivering the reverse – really it's going to get harder, for example often after a first anniversary.' But, finally, there is an up tick when things should get better. Though, in the case of Grenfell, 'any up tick will always be perilously fragile', she says. The graph challenges the myth that you will go from a difficult time to a really great time in the aftermath of any loss, she says. It's been a revelation for people because it helps people make sense of what's going on, Easthope says. 3. Don't fall victim to wishful thinking In the face of a crisis, it's important not to fall victim to excessive wishful thinking, or 'hopium' as Easthope calls it. It's been a common failure in many national incidents, such as the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, which officials had hoped would be a handleable weather event. 'Hopium fills the ears with cloth,' Easthope writes. 'It is ultimately perhaps best described as an over-estimation of the positives of a situation.' That doesn't mean she's immune herself. 'With the miscarriages, you sit there Googling stories of people who've been told they miscarried but, in fact, there was a hidden baby in their uterus,' she says. 'I'm very in love with hope but I also want people to be very realistic. 'You need to be prepared for the reasonable worst case scenario, so for somebody that could be: 'A lot of colleagues are up for redundancy but I'm pretty hopeful it won't be me.' OK, but we need to talk about what to do if it is you,' she says. To avoid it, she recommends considering how you would handle difficult news or a critical incident – whether a job loss, power cut, sudden illness or need to rush to hospital – and discussing it out loud with your household to create a plan of how you would respond. 4. Understand that loved ones will process things in different ways Shock and grief and ultimately coming to some form of peace after a crisis can manifest in different ways among different people, Easthope notes. 'It's very divisive sometimes in families', she notes, when different family members often reach these stages at different points. Easthope's father Bob Payne, a woodwork teacher, died suddenly in April 2023. 'My mum says it took her a very long time, probably a year, which sounds bonkers for a very rational woman, to realise he wasn't going to reappear, like maybe this was some kind of really dark prank, maybe he's testing me, maybe he'll pop back,' she says. When it comes to working through grief as a family, 'you're looking all the time for little shoots of growth and joy', she says. 'The moments I see pure joy in my mum, for example, are to do with the grandchildren. So often, [it's that idea of] life goes on,' Easthope explains. 'In men's mental health, it's often growing or making things, or taking on an animal as a reason to sort of keep going and looking up.' She watches out for the moment when bereaved people can 'really properly laugh' for the first time since the loss, as a sign that they are making their way through the crisis. 'It might be the day after, it might be a year after,' she notes. Come What May by Lucy Easthope is published by Hodder Press on 15th May and available for pre-order (Hardback, £20) Six hacks so you're always prepared for a crisis 1. Prepare a disaster 'go bag' It should contain all of the basics for if you need to move in a hurry. A phone charger, spare house key, medication, underwear, non-perishable snacks, bottled water and insurance documents. Think about any pets too – the RSPCA has advice on their website for a pet emergency plan. Keep the bag in a designated place and check the contents regularly. 2. Have a plan for short power outages Keep your phone charged and consider investing in battery packs. Have torches accessible and extra batteries. Invest in thermals and pick up jumpers and sweatshirts at charity shops. 3. Start daily breathing exercises The aim is to slow the physical symptoms of anxiety and calm ourselves down. At times of stress, we often take shallow breaths. Try breathing exercises every day so they are second nature when you need them. 4. Don't spiral You might find yourself in a spiral during a crisis, looking for reasons something has happened and demanding to know why things are so unfair. Get a handle on this reaction and accept there is no reason and it is unfair. This doesn't mean you should stop finding out about the event and asking for apologies or learnings later on. 5. Go outside In the aftermath of a crisis, get outdoors – scrunch bare feet into grass or sit among some trees. Studies evaluating the benefits of immersing ourselves in nature have shown positive psychological effects, such as a drop in blood pressure and improved immune function. 6. Stay alert for scamming and fraud In the hours after a weather emergency or flood, new scams start to circulate. No area innovates faster than fraud.
