I hope you follow the logic of Rule 1, "Do something!" Unfortunately, that by itself can lead us into very scary territory. It might even lead us to panic and that would not be a good outcome.
Obviously we need to know "what to do" - and that is where these bite sized blogs are taking us. However, even if I was to tell you right now what I believe you need to do - it may not help. Why? Three reasons:
Knowing what to do doesn't mean that you can do it.
In my experience people sometimes start doing "the right thing" but then have a crisis of confidence and desperately change track
A fear of doing the "wrong thing" - or fear of knowing how to start responding but not knowing how to finish.
Earlier in my career I had the opportunity to review a large amount of CCTV footage of violent encounters in a wide range of settings. The overwhelming impression was that those responding to the violence/aggression either didn't do anything or did too much. They had to have the last word, show that they were in charge, wouldn't let it go, kept arguing - or became submissive and pleading. These were not good outcomes.
So, where are we? We need to do something (Rule 1) but keep it really simple (Rule 2).
Before we move on, however, there is another Rule ...
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