Coping Skills for Everyone
- tempbcba
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Hi everyone! It has been a loooong time since I've mad a blog post! Life has been pretty difficult in the last year, with some mental health issues, but even more a variety of physical health issues. I'm on the way to healing, but I still have a long way to go.
One of the few advantages to being so sick is that I have very little that I can do, and a lot of free time, so I have been working on a project that I've been dreaming about for at least 4 or 5 years.
It is a manual for professionals who work with people with mental health issues as well as a intellectual and developmental disabilities, and/or, are on the autism spectrum. As far as I can see, no one has ever written a book like this, and it is desperately needed. I am including one of the skills from the book here so that you can see what it's all about.
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Skill - all of which are adapted from Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavior Therapy:
Observing the Breath
As you could probably ascertain from the title, this skill is about paying attention to your breath and taking control of it. As I’ve discussed, breathing slowly is so important to calming anxiety, and finding the right strategy is just a little bit different for everyone.
The exciting part about this skill is that our clients can do it themselves. They don’t need someone to count or demonstrate It every time. Once they have learned to do this, they can do it on their own.
They are going to breathe in and out alongside a song they like. My recommendation is to have them breathe to a slow song. Just have them listen to the words and music and just breathe in and out at the pace of the song. The song that works for me is “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, but if they have a favorite song, that would be even better. It just needs to be slow and with an even tempo. Once you find the right song, demonstrate it a few times and then let them do it on their own. Practice when they are not in a state of anxiety first, so that they are prepared when the time comes.
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I'm aiming to get it professionally published so that it can reach more people, and that takes a lot of time and money. I am asking anybody that can to make a small donation to help this dream become a reality. Please know that your donation could help children, adolescants, adults, and caregivers within these populations, and will absolutely be spent wisely. Please let me know if you have any questions, and if you would like to make a donation, click on the link below. Thank you, Liz