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2024 Bondi Junction Attack: Wellbeing support guide
Are you experiencing unexpected and overwhelming emotions following the Bondi Junction attack? You’re not alone. In this support guide, you’ll find information and resources for understanding why it’s okay to feel how you’re feeling as well as ideas for taking care of your wellbeing.
5 minutes
Helps with
Trauma
Overwhelm
Grief
If you’re feeling distressed and overwhelmed by the 2024 Bondi Junction attack that took place on the 13th of April, you are not alone.
This traumatic event impacted Australians far and wide, leaving us with a range of different emotions and reactions to process.
In the wake of an attack that happens in such a public space, victims and their family members, bystanders, first responders, emergency services, and those living or working in the vicinity, commonly and understandably experience shock, fear, panic, sadness, anger, and grief.
But for those who were not directly impacted yet are also experiencing responses like these, it can feel unexpected, uncomfortable, and confusing. We want you to know that it is completely normal to have a strong emotional response to an event like this, even if you weren’t there.
Regardless of how you experienced this tragic event, it’s okay to be upset by what’s happened and to reach out to someone for support.
Remember, we at Lifeline are here for everyone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure that no Australian has to face their darkest moments alone.
How you might be feeling
While an event like this impacts us all differently, there are common feelings that a lot of Australians are experiencing right now.
For example, you might be feeling:
- Flat or sad
- Fearful or afraid
- Worried or anxious
- Angry and irritable
- Isolated and lonely
- Helpless or hopeless.
Sometimes it will make sense why you’re feeling the way you are. Other times, these feelings might catch you off guard.
You may also notice that these feelings come and go, creep up on you unexpectedly, or vary in levels of intensity. This is normal.
Helping kids cope
We know a lot of Australians are struggling to know the best way to talk to their kids about the Bondi Junction stabbings.
If this is you, here is a helpful guide on how to have conversations with your children about what has occurred.
Understanding your reactions
When we have big emotional reactions or feel overwhelmed following traumatic events, especially if it didn’t directly impact us, it can be common to:
- Not understand why we’re having such a huge emotional response
- Feel undeserving of support and, as a result, sit alone in our distress
- Feel ashamed of reacting in a way that seems out of balance with our experience of the event.
It doesn't matter how close or far you were from Bondi when this attack occurred, Australians are collectively experiencing trauma.
Even though these reactions are normal, they can still feel isolating and overwhelming.
Thoughts like ‘But I wasn’t even there!’ can make you feel like you don’t deserve to be feeling the way you do.
Remember, what has occurred is incredibly traumatic and you do deserve to feel upset by what has happened. You also deserve to feel supported.
What you can do right now
It’s important to remember that feeling on edge, short-fused, sad, unable to concentrate, having trouble sleeping, being all-consumed by the news, and/or just generally feeling overwhelmed, are completely normal after such a traumatic event.
When awful things like this happen, it’s important that we’re turning to techniques and strategies that help us pull through and feel better.
Keep in mind:
- You are allowed to feel however you’re feeling
- You’re allowed to care for yourself, even when so many others are in pain
- You’re allowed to not know where to start or what to do to deal with the hard emotions that come in the aftermath of an event like this.
What occurred at Bondi Junction is a tragedy that has impacted many Australians in many ways.
No matter who you are, what your experience is, or how this has and/or continues to impact you, remember that every single person deserves support.
Lifeline is here and you don’t have to face this alone.
Editor's note
Shortly after the publication of this support guide, another suburb in Sydney, NSW faced a traumatic attack at a church.
If you're feeling upset and overwhelmed by this event and would like to speak with someone, Lifeline is always here - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You may also find the following support services helpful.
Support services
Along with Lifeline, there are a number of organisations who can offer support. You can contact the NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 or scroll down to learn more about: