When he died, I felt like my life had ended. My future was with him – the future I thought I would have.

Since my best friend’s murder, the world no longer feels safe.

If you previously saw the world as a safe, just, or fair place, your views may have been profoundly challenged. You may be doing a lot of repetitive thinking or questioning, and your day-to-day functioning may have changed. You may feel fearful or less safe, and you may spend energy trying to avoid painful reminders. 

What may help

• Acknowledge that your world has been shaken, and give yourself time to adjust.

• Some of the thoughts and feelings that you have now may change in time, especially as your trauma response fades.

• Both grief and trauma have the potential to change you. Sometimes when old views are shattered, new ones that offers hope and different ways of understanding the world are created.