Square Breathing: How To Reduce Stress Through Breathwork

Square breathing is a type of breathwork that can shift your energy, connect you more deeply with your body, calm your nervous system, and reduce the stress in your body. It is also referred to as box breathing, 4×4 breathing, and 4-part breath. Here are instructions for square breathing and some ideas for when to…

ByStaffSeptember 9, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

Distract, Relax, and Cope: Distress Tolerance Skills

When faced with a situation that is outside of your control, it's easy to get bogged down in overwhelming negative emotions. In times like these, it may be helpful to turn to distress tolerance skills, a set of strategies that help you regulate your emotional response to stressful situations. One such strategy is Distract,…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

Big List of Pleasurable Activities

The Big List of Pleasurable Activities is a compilation often used in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) to help clients find something pleasant to do when negative thoughts become overwhelming. It’s a list that you can turn to and pick an option from without much thought. Many of the activities on the list of activities are…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

Using the “Anger Iceberg” to Identify Your Underlying Emotions

It happens just like it did to the infamous Titanic. You’re going through your day, life as usual, feeling just fine. You notice something, a feeling, a little sensation in the back of your mind. Then something happens – it could be something you see, an action someone else takes, or a thought that…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

6 Tips for Building Good Habits

Habits are the secret sauce to a healthy life – or the recipe for an unhealthy one, depending on what's in question. Habits are tricky little creatures in that they're easy to build when they immediately reward us, but feel near impossible to start when the benefits aren’t instantly obvious. Nearly everyone has a…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

How to Use a “Values Clarification Exercise” to Find Purpose & Meet Goals

Today’s world is fast-changing and dynamic – it seems that these days, nothing is what we expect it to be. So how are we supposed to make any decisions in this current state of mind? One way is to turn to your values: The guiding forces behind our thoughts and behaviors, those that are asynchronously…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

How to Use a Gratitude Journal

Thanksgiving. It’s not just an American holiday celebrated with stuffing and pumpkin pie – it’s also a practice shown to enrich psychological well-being and increase happiness. Giving thanks and expressing gratitude on a routine basis places your attention on the good things in your life, promoting positivity and decreasing the stress of the negative.…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

How to Use an ACT Values Bullseye to Find What’s Important to You

Through various avenues, we’ve been told that journaling is a great form of self-expression and a helpful tool in finding what’s important to you. Many journal prompts ask you to write about what’s going well in your life and what’s not. While journaling is a great tool for reflection and putting feelings into words, it…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

“Feelings Thermometer” Tool for Deciphering Kids’ Emotions

“Good, bad, happy, sad.” There are many ways to answer the question, “How are you feeling?” Often, we use broad and nonspecific words to denote a positive or negative valence in our emotions. Sometimes, though, we’re given the chance to share more about our feelings. A Feelings Thermometer is a great tool to use with…

ByStaffSeptember 8, 20230Comments

Therapy Tools

Negative Core Beliefs: What They Are and How to Challenge Them

Except for a few amongst us, most of our minds chatter constantly. These inner dialogues range in personality, even though they are our thoughts. Sometimes, our thoughts can be light, non-substantial, comical, even cheery. And sometimes, our thoughts are dark, all-consuming, or self-critical. Whatever they are, thoughts and mindsets follow our core beliefs, which are…

ByStaffSeptember 7, 20230Comments

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