Hi Clare, welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear your story, and I am glad you have come forward to seek help and advice at this time of crisis. With so much obstacles unfolding in your path now, it's kinda of a challenge. My heart goes out to you.
Here's some of my suggestion that you could use. If it doesn't help you, it's not a big harm anyway.
1. Think of the list of stuff that you and your husband are capable of doing (i.e., computer repair, dry cleaning, ironing, dog walking, lawn-mowing, accounting, document filing etc etc.).
2. Draw out a list of contacts from your local community. Call them up and offer your services. Tell them you are hardworking and honest and you will surely get the work done smoothly. Mark down the date you call them and if they don't call, call them again in a week - it's like a reminder call, the first time they might not be interested, but the second time will prompt them to think about you. Just keep trying this.
3. Draw out a budget for the entire household. See how long your budget would last. Cut away the stuff that you don't need. For example, vegetables for salad could substitute cheese and butter. Whichever is cheaper and healthier, use them. It's also a good time to get a healthy lifestyle. Veg is always good ;)
4. Take time out for exercises. Being physically active will help your mental well-being, and getting your body some work-out is a good channel for stress relieve. Or get some ball games with your family - it's definitely a good way to bond and increase happiness for everyone.
5. Shift your thinking to a positive one. Thinking of your own problems will not solve the situation. It's just like a F1 race driver that comes to a corner - does he think and focus on that corner? Of course not. He looks forward at the bend and not that corner, because it will crush him if he's just looking at that corner.
6. Decrease your negativity - There could be a lot of negativity and frustrations back at home now - since your child is coping with PTSD, and your husband just recently out of work. It's very demoralizing for everyone. And I guess you have to be the strong one around for now. Understand this situation, and help everyone out by being understanding and less temperament.
7. Have a personal prayer session with your family. Sit down with your child and hubby and start a prayer session. Doesn't matter what religion you believe in, but even a general prayer session helps tremendously.
8. Personal talk with your child and hubby privately. Spend some time to talk with them privately. Talk about their feelings for the day - how they are feeling, thinking about, do they feel scared? etc etc. Have them to release their feelings/thinkings so that they would not feel depressed all the time, and you also bond closer together to get over this critical period.
9. Form a support group. Put up some notices around your local community to form a support group. At this time of economic situation, there should be a lot of people wanting help and advice too. You could be the pioneer for this and get lots of respect for it ;) Helping others will shift our focus away from our problems - at the end of the day, we know that we are not the only ones with insolvable problems around.
10. Go out and meet people. Listen to them, talk to them. and see what problems they have. They might even offer you a job if they like you.
That's all for now - i hope you will find them useful and you are definitely free to change whatever technique is suitable to fit your situation and surrounding.
Remember - we are all human beings and none of us is perfect. Name me a perfect human being, I would like to meet him/her ;)
I wish you good luck in your situation and do not give up. We are here to listen...
~nickeldoor~
