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.”
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.
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.
Sometimes it is hard to understand why we react the way we do when we have big feelings. This video is a great way to teach children as a clinician or a parent how emotions can be linked to reactions, and it can help open conversation about what kinds of reactions they might be having as a child.
Media is a major stressor. This script (that reads like an exercise) helps its readers and listeners to engage more consciously with media. It is a mindfulness practice different than formal meditations. However, it offers us deeper insights into the way we engage with technology.
Despite what we’re often told, happiness is not the default emotion for humans. The reality is that we need to experience all of our emotions; they each have a purpose. Our emotions provide us information that logic alone cannot give us.
Hyperarousal, Hypoarousal, and the Window of Tolerance: Understandably many people right now are under tremendous amounts of stress. Our bodies have a natural system to handle stressful experiences, and when that system is activated we become hyperaroused (i.e., fight or flight) and/or hypoaroused (i.e., freeze). Knowing how your body reacts in each of these states can help you recognize your stress earlier, and therefore allow you to take care of yourself earlier
DEARMAN is an acronym to help us effectively advocate for ourselves and improve our interpersonal communication. Use this acronym to broach a difficult conversation with a family member, friend, or at work.
