1. Dealing with Distress

2. Introduction Who is this material for Exclusions -immediate risk
-influence of substances

3. Crisis is an opportunity for change…
Identifying gaps is coping skills/maladaptive coping
Learning and implementing new skills
Integration requires practice practice practice

4. History is a good predictor of future behaviour
Recent history of crisis situations provides invaluable information about a person's emotional and behavioural reactions to crises

5. Relationship Project Match Attributes of relationship
Validation & empathy
Role plays

6. States of Mind
Emotion
Mind
Wise Reasonable
Mind

7. Reintroducing the Wave
Factors that lead to emotional distress
Why is knowing about the wave helpful?

8. Maladaptive Coping Strategies
Survival skills learnt early
Become habits
They work but….
No longer useful as an adult

9. Dealing with Distress Strategies
Crisis survival strategies:
Distraction
Self soothing
Pros & cons
These strategies help us get through difficult feelings, to tolerate the things we can't immediately change
The objective is to find skills that work for you, to practice them until they are part of your everyday life and you can use the, whenever you need them

10. Distract brief respite from the distress
Activities: to get involved with and distract from distress i.e. Hobbies
Contributing: Takes you away from your pain and puts your attention on someone else i.e volunteer work etc
Comparisons: compare to someone doing the same as you or less well i.e compare yourself to others suffering
Opposite Emotions: read, watch or listen to things that have an emotion opposite to one you are feeling i.e if you are sad or angry watch comedy
Pushing Away: push away a distressing situation leaving it mentally
Build an Imaginary Wall: block the situation in your mind, each time it comes up tell it to go away or put some ugly in its place
Other Thoughts: effective in an emergency i.e counting to 10, stars
Other Sensations: strong stimulus can shake connection to pain i.e hold ice cube, rubber band on wrist, loud music, hot shower

11. Self Soothing Techniques: Be mindful of your senses
Vision: give all your attention to nature, art, flower etc
Hearing: give all your attention to beautiful soothing music, sounds of nature
Smell: Give all your attention to different smells around you i.e bread
Taste: give all your attention & mindfully taste i.e. Hot chocolate
Touch: Give all your attention to the feel

12. Pros & Cons of tolerating vs not tolerating distress

13. Practice, integrate, automatic
Difficult to learn and new coping strategies
Requires practice practice practice
Objective is to identify what doesn't work as well as what does
Look at motivational techniques

14. New skills require practice
Strategy
Distress before
Distress after

15. Managing a Crisis…. Objectives: - To reduce emotional distress
To replace maladaptive strategies with effective coping strategies
To build competence in dealing with distress
Partnership
Collaborative
Recognising automatic use of established patterns of behaviour during a crisis
Crisis Management Plan

16. Crisis Management Plan
Document
Role of professional is to coach
Crisis management plan is living document that needs to be adopted through praxis

17. My Crisis Plan
When I am in crisis and feel like , I will attempt a distraction strategy , and then a self soothe Skill . If I still feel in crisis I will then contact ,