Healthy coping skills

Life doesn’t always run smoothly, and we are all faced with challenges, large and small, throughout our lives.

Often when we feel stressed, worried, sad or indeed any heightened emotion, it can be difficult to express or regulate our emotions. We are all human and we will all have days where we feel overwhelmed, and we may struggle to make healthy choices or choose helpful reactions.

However, if we practice use of healthy coping strategies and model these for our children, we can help them to develop healthy emotional expression and coping strategies for themselves.

Often it can be helpful to talk out loud about how we are feeling and what we are going to choose to do with that feeling. This shows our children that emotions are valid, useful and healthy and that the important thing is what we choose to do with them.

For example, after a difficult phone call we might say “I am feeling frustrated as that phone call did not go well. I need to help myself to calm down so I am going to go for a walk”

It is important here to work out what your healthy coping strategies might be. Personalise your strategies to suit your preferences and circumstances. Here are some ideas:

-Take a walk in nature

-Spend time with your pet

-Take a bath or shower

-Watch something funny or uplifting

-Practice some meditation or mindfulness (the Smiling Mind app is free!)

-Do some drawing or colouring in

-Talk to someone like a friend, partner, family member

-Write in a journal or write a letter

-Breathe (some smart watches have breathing exercises, or use youtube or an app)

-Have a google for ideas and make a list or a poster for you and your child with coping strategy ideas or speak to your school counsellor for resources

Thanks for reading, Sam – school counsellor