Many clients, SO's of providers, and even some providers themselves have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as a result of having been in combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, or earlier US conflicts.

I found that several vets were helped by my putting down the following thoughts in writing, so they can be reminded of them more easily.  One vet has printed them and keeps them in his wallet, so that he can pull them out from time to time as needed.

Some of these ideas may also be helpful to people who have been victims of sexual assault or other forms of assault.

The idea here is to think about what happened in a way that would use clear reasoning.  Reasoning clearly would mean not falling into reasoning errors that would make a person come to faulty conclusions.  Here are some of the reasoning errors that would lead you to a false conclusion:

Failure to recognize that different decision-making "rules" apply when time is precious than in situations that allow more time to think about your options.  Later, when you have more time, you can make the mistake of second-guessing yourself without realizing that you didn't have that time before.  It doesn't make sense to second-guess yourself.

Weighing the merits of actions taken against options that only came to mind later on.

Weighing the merits of actions taken against ideal or fantasy options that did not exist.  If those options didn't really exist at the time for you, there is no way you could have taken them.

Focusing only on the "good" things that might have happened if a different action had been taken.  How do you know for sure that bad things would not have happened if you had taken that different action?

Tendency to overlook benefits associated with actions taken.  Did anything good come out of the action taken?

Failure to compare available options in terms of their perceived probabilities of success before outcomes were known.  How do you know that the other action you wish you had taken would have been successful?  Are you just assuming that it would have been successful?

Ignoring the totality of forces that cause traumatic events. There are a lot of forces in play that cause events to happen the way they do, and your actions were just one piece of it, and maybe a small piece when you really think about it.

Equating a belief that you could have done something to prevent an event with a belief that you caused the event.  Just because a person could have stopped something from happening doesn't mean that they made it happen.  It was other things that made it happen.

Confusion between responsibility as accountability and responsibility as power to cause or control outcomes.  Having been given a job or "put in charge" does not mean that one has complete control.

Tendency to conclude wrongdoing on the basis of the outcome rather than on the basis of one's intentions (before the outcome was known).

Failure to realize that strong emotional reactions are not under voluntary control (not a matter of choice or willpower).

Failure to realize that when all the available options have bad outcomes, the least bad choice is a highly moral choice.

Anyhow, these may be some things for a person to consider thinking about, so that they are reasoning clearly.