Coping skills
What is a coping skill?
Something that can be used to manage a strong emotion in a healthy way.
What is the window of tolerance?
The window of tolerance represent how much someone can manage at a given moment before they become out of control because of strong emotions.
Thought, feeling, or action?
They bumped into me on purpose.
Several potential answers
True or false: If people try to forget difficult memories they won't bother them anymore.
False
True or false: Naming our feelings is helpful.
True: Our brains don't like uncertainty so naming our feelings can help us feel less anxious about them and increase our understanding of ourselves.
Name a strong emotion you might use a coping skill to manage.
Anger, anxiety, sadness, nervousness
play, speak kindly to others, help other, get school work or chores done etc.
If someone thinks "I'm never going to get this work done." What might they feel?
Frustrated, discouraged, overwhelmed
True or false: Moving toward uncomfortable feelings and memories with support helps people feel less distress from those memories in the long term.
True
True or false: Everyone feels anxious sometimes.
True: Everyone does feel anxious sometimes and some people feel very often and need help through therapy.
Name one coping skill you can use when angry.
-Take a break
-Move in safe ways (run, walk, ride your bike)
Name one behavior someone might do if they are outside of their window?
yell, hit, not respond to others, give up etc.
True or false: Our first thought about a situation (automatic thought) is always true.
Where on the window of tolerance do we have to spend time to grow our window?
One the edge where we feel challenged but not out of control.
Liam is driving to his friends house and another car stops quickly causing Liam to have to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting the other car. He's immediately furious. What other feeling(s) might he be experiencing underneath the anger?
Name one coping skill you can use when you are anxious?
-Write about your worry.
-Talk to someone about your worry.
-Draw
What are the three sections of the window of tolerance?
The window: Optimal arousal
Above the window: Fight and flight, Hyperarousal
Below the window: Freeze/ hypoarousal
How do thoughts, feelings, and actions impact each other? (Hint: it may help to draw this.)
Thoughts impact our feelings which impact our actions/how we behave.
Name one thing that can shrink someone's window of tolerance.
-Trauma/stressful experiences
-High anxiety
-Little or poor sleep
Everyone has certain feelings that they feel more or less comfortable addressing. Name 2-3 feelings that are uncomfortable for you to experience or address.
Several answers
Give one example of when you might need a coping skill and which you could use.
Several possible answers
What is the purpose of getting outside of our window?
To keep us safe with the fight, flight, or freeze response.
Ryan is worried and thinks to himself that if he joins the soccer team he'll be too anxious to go to the practices. What can he say to himself that might help him feel more confident about potentially joining the team?
-I know how to manage my anxiety; I've done it before.
-I can ask for help to make a plan for managing my anxiety about practices.
-Getting to play on the team is worth challenging my anxiety.
Share on way you've grown through the therapy process.
Several possible answers
Identify a situation, what you felt in the situation, and one physical cue of that feeling (tight jaw, stomach pain, feeling hot, etc.)
multiple answers