Accepting our own vulnerability is made easier when give ourselves compassion. Use this self-compassion break with clients in session or encourage them to use it on their own when working with difficult or vulnerable emotions.
Positive journaling has been found to help improve feelings of well-being and self-esteem. With this self-esteem worksheet, your clients will be asked to record three daily statements related to their successes, good qualities, and positive experiences. This worksheet is great for clients who have difficulty generating ideas for positive experiences to journal about.”
Assign this as homework for your client for a week, and use the next session to reflect on their observations after journaling about their success and strengths for a week. How did this affect their view of self? Relationships? Mental health symptoms? Explore the Ct’s experience noticing their own strengths.
“Containment is a powerful skill for all of us. Containment allows us to give our nervous systems a break from distress and choose what and when we want to think about certain things.”
For a moment, I want to take you back to the start of the First World War, during the Christmas Truce of 1914 along the Western front when German and British soldiers fighting in the trenches declared their own official truce. For a moment, enemies came together for a moment to share in the Christmas spirit. Gunfire fell silent. The tune to the popular Christmas carol “Silent Night” could be heard from a distance on the battlefield, known in German words as “Stille Nacht” during the Christmas truce over 100-years-ago. It was a beautiful moment of peace during a time that was known as one of the bloodiest wars in history.
What CAN parents do:
Keep in mind, during COVID we need to be gentle with ourselves and perhaps allow for more screen time for our kids as that is often the way they are connecting with friends. This, more than ever, is a time where screens allow us to stay connected.
Everyone experiences cognitive distortions at some point; they’re really common! However, these ways of thinking can misinform us about reality and influence our emotions and behaviors in ways we don’t like. Review the list of cognitive distortions, identify cognitive distortions that are common for you, and try to think of ways to adjust the thoughts so that they are more neutral and accurate.
This mindfulness practice includes the defusion technique of imagining an emotion as an object, and a self soothing technique of imagining a healing light addressing that object.
Sometimes we can help ourselves feel better faster by increasing enjoyable activities and decreasing the number of stressors that have been piling up. Using the following table, practice recording how you feel before and after doing enjoyable activities and completing responsibilities. (Credit: TherapistAid.com)
Look at the following list of common negative and positive beliefs that people have about themselves. Identify which negative beliefs stand out to you, as well as any associated memories, emotions, and body sensations that surface when you acknowledge those negative beliefs. Next, go through the list of positive beliefs and identify the statements that you already believe about yourself and the statements that you would like to believe about yourself.
While thinking about our bodies, many of us focus on how our bodies look (especially in the summer for a lot of people), and sometimes we forget all the other wonderful aspects of our bodies. Complete the statements below to practice thinking about your body in more ways than appearance:
