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I begin every client’s first session with creating a safety plan – a list of coping skills you can utilize between sessions. I will tailor this to your needs, but here is a general idea:
COPING PLAN
- Notice triggers. If you are unsure of triggers, it may be helpful to use a mood-monitoring app such as Daylio. This can help to keep track of activities, days, times of day, etc. that may cause triggers.
- Use coping skills:
- Re-framing: Am I thinking in “worst case scenarios?” How I can I change my thinking into imagining best-case scenarios?
- Rationalizing: Is this a rational worry? Do you have control over this situation? If so, what can you actively do to change the situation? If not, move to other coping skills.
- 7-8 breathing: Take a deep breath in for 7 seconds, hold it for a second, and let it out for 8 seconds.
- Drink a glass of water.
- Muscle relaxation: Actively tense each muscle, then gradually release the tension one by one. Notice what it feels like to be tense, and what it feels like to be relaxed.
- Mindfulness and meditation: YouTube has several guided meditation videos that you can explore.
- Yoga: This can be a good way to combine muscle relaxation, stretching, and mindfulness/ meditation. I recommend Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. She has free videos for all skill levels, and for different issues (yoga for back pain, for core strength, for sleep, for those who work at a desk all day, etc.) Plus her dog joins her in some videos!
- Alphabet game: Pick a category that you know a lot about (anything at all! Sports, Harry Potter, animals, Disney, Netflix shows, flowers, possibilities are endless!) and try to think of one thing within that category beginning with each letter of the alphabet.
- Grounding: What can I do, using my five senses, to bring my focus to things that are positive or neutral? What sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and textures calm me?
- Participate in hobbies.
- Write: journal entries, poetry, blogs, whatever helps you to express and release emotions.
- Research: local resources and service providers in your area, topics you are interested in, ways to connect with others
3. Talk to supportive person
