On the anniversary of 9/11 there have been lots of experts and lay people talking poignantly about the painful and traumatic memory of past events. It is well known in the profession of psychology how hard it is for those who’ve suffered acute loss around the time of anniversaries and big occasions.

At a time when I am working with many clients on organisational change initiatives from the modest reviews to the full blown enterprise restructures involving the potential for job losses, I am reminded of the power of the baggage we carry and the vivid memory traces which can propel us or paralyse us.

Whilst I am not equating organisational change to the horror of losing loved ones in terrorist events (indeed such comparisons must be perspective tested), there is an undeniable parallel in people who’ve experienced something traumatic or stressful and how that plays on their minds when they find themselves in situations much later that evoke similar memories of uncertainty, pain and loss.

How can we help? We can listen and empathise. We can gently help them reality test their ‘awfulising’ and ‘catastrophising’ and whether this is or isn’t serving them. Importantly we can remind them that as difficult as it must have been for them, they got through it last time and we are confident they will again. In therapy this is known as the transfer of optimism. We may also need to be patient and give them a little time; without tolerating chronic underperformance or justifying unacceptable behaviour.