How It Works
Healthy coping skills fall into various categories:
Physical: breathe, walk
Mental: read, write
Emotional: I am feeling
Social: talk it out
And have various goals:
Engagement: connection to self and others
Distraction: taking your mind off your distress
Occupation: giving a sense of purpose, accomplishment
Emotional: decrease distress, improve emotional well-being
Physical: lower hyper-aroused state
Mental: improve clarity of thinking, problem solving
The fundamental goal of all healthy coping is to promote our ability to manage stress and trauma in ways that restore and maintain functioning and preserve our and other’s safety, well-being and lives.
How to Use
Use healthy coping skills that are comfortable, accessible and effective. Be flexible: try one, if it doesn’t help, try another. Practice skills when you are not stressed. For example: practice breathing skills, training your brain and body how to activate your parasympathetic nervous system (see 5 Finger Breathing). When a stress or trauma event occur, you will already be equipped with that skill. The ones listed here are core skills. Build on these to create your custom set of skills.
When to Use
Keep card in view to reinforce healthy coping skills, to help you build your own coping skill repertoire.
What It Can Do
Healthy coping skills promote our ability to manage stress and trauma well
to restore and maintain functioning
to preserve our and other’s safety, well-being and lives
Having these skills visible for reference, for conversation starters, reinforces their validity and utility.