Coping Skills
When should you practice coping skills?
When you're calm. Practicing when you're calm will help create patterns. If coping skills are not practiced, they are unlikely to help when you are experiencing strong thoughts/emotions
What is self-advocacy?
Self-advocacy is the ability to speak up for yourself, to understand your own rights and needs, and make decisions that shape your life, health, and school
Elena has a long three-day weekend. During it, she stays in her pajamas, plays video games, and skips showering for four days straight, assuming that because she stayed indoors and didn't exercise, she doesn't smell. On Tuesday morning, she rushes to school without showering. The girl sitting next to Elena in second period subtly moves her desk a few inches away and pulls her sweater collar over her nose. Elena catches a whiff of herself and realizes she smells musky. What should Elena have done?
Changed her clothes, showered, put on deodorant, brushed her teeth, etc
Should you accept random friend requests from people you don't know?
No.
Is crying is a healthy coping strategy for grief?
YES! Crying and expressing our sadness can help us heal.
Name three safe, trusted adults you can reach out to at school or home when life gets too heavy to handle alone.
-Parent figures (moms/dads, aunts/uncles, grandmas/grandpas)
-Friends
-School counselors/Social Workers or Zen Den Interns
-Teachers
-Coaches
-Therapists
-SROs
Things you are good at, which you should highlight when asking for support
Strengths, skills, etc
Nicole is confused about a grade that she got on a test. Her teacher marked down that a question was wrong however, she believes it is correct. She doesn't want to bother her teacher, but she is concerned about this effecting her grade. She ends up emailing her teacher about it. What skill is this an example of?
Self-advocacy
Marissa figures out her parental control password on her phone and uses it to unblock every app and website that is already blocked. One night, while she was watching YouTube videos, she accidentally clicked on a disturbing video that was misled her to think it was safe. Marissa cannot get the images out of her head now and is having trouble sleeping. Where did Marissa go wrong?
When she disabled parental controls.
True or False: Grief only happens when someone dies
False. Grief can also come from a breakup, moving, a friend group splitting up, or losing health
Can you name 3 unhealthy coping skills?
This strategy involves starting your sentences with a specific pronoun to express your feelings and needs without making the other person defensive
"I" statements
You are cooking with your best friend Sarah and she accidentally bumps into you and drops the cake you spent 7 hours making. How can you control your reaction?
Take a deep breath, go on a walk, listen to music, etc
Penelope gets added on Snapchat by a cute boy named Roger. Roger seems perfect. He is very polite and well spoken, but he never sends photos or gets on a call. Should Penelope be worried about Roger?
Yes, he could be fake
What are the 5 stages of grief?
denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance
What kind of coping skills are deep breathing, yoga, and paying attention to your surroundings?
mindfulness coping skills
This is the ability to manage your own energy, focus, emotions, and behaviors
self-regulation
Jessica is using Snapchat one night and notices her boyfriend, Maurice, left her on delivered for 4 hours. She keeps checking his Snapscore and notices that it keeps going up. How should Jessica react when she feels herself getting anxious about this situation?
Use a coping skill (box breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, journal, turning off her phone, meditation)
One night Bri is on Snapchat, and adds a person she doesn't know off of quick add. It says they have mutual friends so she thinks they are a person that can be trusted. However, after adding them, they begin to send explicit photos to Bri without warning. Bri keeps asking this person why they are sending photos and wants answers to why they are doing this. What should Bri have done differently? And what can she do in the future?
Bri should've never added the person if she didn't know them. She also should have blocked them when they started sending photos instead of looking for answers of why they were sending them.
In the future Bri should only add people she knows on Snapchat. And if she gets photos she doesn't like she has the option to always unadd or block people.
Name two healthy physical or creative ways to let out angry or heavy grief energy
exercising, running, punching a pillow, listening to music, drawing, or writing
How do you practice coping skills?
:)
This communication style is honest, direct, and respectful of both yourself and the other person
assertive communication
Samantha is having friendship issues. She found out her best friend, Louisa, has been spreading rumors about Samantha's family and other friends, and now Samantha feels like this could escalate to a fight. What could Samantha do?
You decide...
Lizzy and her partner, Jordan, have been dating for 6 months. Recently, her side of the friend group and Jordans side of the friend group got in a physical altercation, which has started beef between the two groups. Lizzy stayed out of it, trying to avoid conflict. Last night, Lizzy texted Jordan saying "Honestly, my friends are being so toxic and psycho lately. I'm completely sick of them." Jordan’s friends get ahold of Jordan's unlocked phone, screenshot Lizzy's text, and send it directly into their main friend group chat. The leader of the friend group is incredibly angry at you, and tells Lizzy to either dump Jordan or never see any of her friends again. What should Lizzy do?
You can choose Jordan, you can choose your friends, or you can choose yourself
Name 3 healthy ways to cope with grief and (3) unhealthy ways to cope with grief.
Your answers will differ but some healthy ways are:
- journal
- talk about it with someone that you trust
- listen to music
- think about positive memories with the person
Unhealthy:
- take your anger out on people around you
- fighting with others