Islands of Relief: Mindfulness and Resourcing for...

2015 Colorado Counseling Association Conference - Denver, Colorado

April 10, 2015

Copyright 2015 Holly Shaw PhD LPC 1

Islands of Relief:

Mindfulness, Resourcing and Art Activities For Children

Islands of Relief Mindfulness, Resourcing and Art Activities for Children with Trauma:

Gently Expanding the Window of Tolerance

By Holly Shaw PhD LPC RPT EMDR-2

Islands of Relief

These handouts contain about ¾ of information from presentation

And include: – Descriptions of

Bottom Up Interventions

– A summary of Befriending

Emotional Brain

– Descriptions of Top

Down Interventions

More information on art project ideas, therapeutic toys and books on www.pinterest.com/hollyshawphd/

My contact information: [email protected] Business webpage: www.hollyshawphd.qwestoffice.net

“islands of relief” – rare moments in time when client feels: - calm, grounded, and centered - able to feel some of own emotions and body sensations How can we help our clients to have more of those moments? When you see the symbol on a slide, it contains an

intervention meant to create an island of relief for the client Not all interventions work with all clients -- you’ll be discovering

with your client which interventions help him or her

Islands of Relief

Bottom Up Regulation*

Change client’s relationship to own body and body sensations

More awareness of

• Breathing patterns

• Heartbeat

• Body sensations

• Activities that calm the body

*Ogden (2006) , Siegel (2010), van der Kolk (2014)

Ocean Wave Breathing

Breathing in (the wave is building):

taking in air, a lot of air

Breathing out (the wave has crashed, the water is slowly going into the sand): breathing out very slowly to extend the outbreath

because the outbreath calms the body down

Shaw, 2011

http://www.pinterest.com/hollyshawphd/

mailto:[email protected]


April 10, 2015


Ocean Wave Breathing

The longer the outbreath, the more calming the deep breathing is

Calming down is something our body already knows how to do

It is something we can do anytime we want

Can be used as an island of relief in session

Shaw, 2011

Ocean Wave Craft

•Plastic tube with stopper (1/2” diam. can get from Amazon)

Child fills with: (leaving half inch unfilled at one end)

•Blue-green sequins

•Blue-green beads

•Multi-color sequins

•Teeny white beads

•Small shells (real) of various shapes and sizes

•Glue end shut

Shaw, 2015

Soothing Sights: Glitter Jar

• Called glitter jars, mind jars or meditation jars (MacLean, 2009) • Use jar with tightly fitting lid (Ball canning jars are great) • Fill jar 1/4 full with glycerin and 3/4 warm water (almost to top) • For full instructions on how jar can be used in session, see

MacLean’s book Moody Cow Meditates • Glitter swirls around but eventually settles • Like watching snow slowly fall • Child titles / labels jar

Many more ideas for jars on Pinterest At Holly/Ocean Wave Breathing

Original glitter jar by MacLean, 2009

Soothing Sounds:

Rain Stick

More rain stick ideas at Pinterest at Holly/Ocean Wave Breathing

Ingredients: Sturdy Mailing Tube (about 2” diam.) with ends

Nails (1 ¾”)

Outer Covering (Paper, Foam) Beans

Rice

Directions: Therapist (ahead of time) hammers nails around periphery to create look shown

Child adds outer covering, and beans and rice (about half full)

Glue ends shut

Regulating Movements

Instructions for four types of regulating movements All four activities: • Involve arm movement • Involve deep breathing • Have child pick which one is favorite • Movement can then be used as an island of relief in future sessions -- as

in pendulation (Levine 1997) or as breaks in trauma processing

Regulating Movements: Tootsie Roll Twists

• Stand straight with feet as far

apart as width of shoulders

• Will be twisting at the waist

• Breathing in: swing arms together as far as can to one side of body, letting far hand hit back hip

• Breathing out: swing both arms to other side

Do five times

Shaw, 2015


April 10, 2015


Regulating Movements: Brushing the Field

Tai Chi movement

• While breathing in

– Bring arms out to sides, palms up

– Life up to shoulder height

– Bring hands together in front of chest

• While breathing out

– Push hands down while bending knees slightly

– When hands reach mid-thigh, push each out to side

– As if brushing away or cleaning the air

Adapted from Martin, 2002

Regulating Movements: Angels in the Air

• From Daniel Yeager

• Like angels in the snow, only

you stand up.

• Make wide movements with arms to make angel shape, and then back down again.

• Breathe in as arms go up, breathe out as arms go down

Yeager, 2009

Regulating Movements: Rollercoaster

In this exercise you make large vertical circles with your arms

Breathing in: bring your arms forward and straight up and over your head and as far as they can go

Breathing out: reverse movement, arms follow path back down

Can bend knees slightly while do this Do five times

Adapted from Hanh, 2005

emWave

We won’t have time to go over today – device that can function as a “breathing coach” and record heart rate variability

emWave is made by HeartMath

See lots of info under “Breathing Pacers” on Pinterest site Holly/Ocean Wave Breathing, including emWave for smart phone

Befriending the

Emotional Brain*

In order for children to be more mindful, and

to be more comfortable

feeling their own body

sensations and emotions,

Need to do some

psycho-ed with kids

about the brain *phrase from van der Kolk, 2014

Brain on alert for danger

• “Smoke alarm of the brain” (van der Kolk): goes off when it detects a danger

• Makes us feel like we should do something

• Works 24/7 to protect (O’Shea, 2009)

• Sometimes goes off when there is no real danger

• It can “hijack” us – we forget what doing or thinking before


April 10, 2015


What we really need is a reset button! What should we do? We already know what to do! Calm our brain down-

– Ocean Wave breathing – Regulating Movements – Glitter Jar – Calming Activities (list) – see next two slides

What can we do?

Shaw, 2015

Reset

Calming List:

What kids say is calming

• Drawing

• Reading

• Drink of water, a snack

• Going outside

• Going for a walk

• Listen to music

• Sitting or playing with

a pet

Help child to remember to use these islands of relief when he or she feels stressed

Make Your Calming List

Make your own calming list! What you know calms you –

1.

2.

3.

4

5.

Befriending the Emotional Brain

• Brain like a computer - takes information from many sources

• Outside, thinking part of brain

• Sensory information (see, hear, smell, etc)

• Body sensations (pressure, tightness, discomfort, butterflies, stomach in knots)

• Inside, emotional part of brain – an internal part of you (feelings are not external)

Brain Puzzle for Kids made by Ein-O Science Toys Outside Brain: yellow and red Inside Brain: blue Cerebellum: green

Details on where to get Brain Puzzle

*concept of Inside Brain and Outside Brain, Shaw 2015

Inside and Outside Brain*

Befriending the Emotional Brain: The Inside Brain

PLAY DOUGH Model of Inside Brain 9 year old

Other project ideas on Pinterest at Holly/Ocean Wave Breathing under “Brain Stuff”


April 10, 2015



Outside Brain:

Where we get ideas, able to create, plan, build,design, make something new

Inside Brain:

Where our feelings come from!

And a lot of our energy

Shaw, 2015


• Draw a picture of a time where you had an idea or felt creative, and also where you felt a happy emotion about it, and the great surge of energy you felt!

• Its so great when all the parts of our brain are working together!

Shaw, 2015

Feelings

Why do we even have feelings?

Feelings can be • annoying

• messy

• embarrassing

• hard to explain

Two metaphors for how feelings work


Feelings: Like a Ringing Bell Think of feeling as like a little bell ringing • We stop, and pay attention “There is something important here” “What should I notice?” • Then the feeling moves on • Like the sound of the bell, the feeling stops after awhile

Shaw, 2015


Feelings: Notice your feelings Knowing that feelings are not still They don’t last forever They are slowly moving through Like clouds across the sky

Feelings: Like Clouds across the Sky

Kabat-Zinn, 1994

Involves the medial

prefrontal cortex

(the watchtower

of the brain)*

Counterweight to amygdala

Watchtower allows us to take our time responding and consider options*

The essence of Top Down Regulation *van der Kolk, 2014

Top Down Regulation


April 10, 2015


Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be, as its simplest level, becoming more aware

Jon Kabat-Zinn:

• Paying attention

• In the present moment

• Without judging *Kabat-Zinn, 1994

Mindfulness

All of the remaining interventions in this presentation can increase mindfulness

– Awareness of feelings

– Awareness of body sensations

– Awareness of “watchtower” observing self actions

Dan Siegel would call this expanded awareness of ourselves “mindsight”

*Siegel, 2010

Mindfulness in Small Doses:

Awareness of Feelings Beginning of each session To child: “Pick feelings for what you’re feeling right now” “Tell me anything you want to about each ” Younger children: have them pick feelings again as they finish session

Information on Kimochi feeling pillows are on my Pinterest site under “Kimochi Feelings toys”

Kimochi Toy – “Cloud”

Allan Schore (1994): parent functioning as external emotional regulator for child Cloud’s pocket pouch is an intermediate level for child regulating themselves

Information on Kimochi feeling pillows and stuffed animal/cloud figures are on my Pinterest site under “Kimochi Feelings toys”

Making a Worry Box • Instructions – Part One (Inside)

– Start with inside of box

– So worries have a soft place to land

Shaw, 2015

Worry Box is an old and well-used intervention – sharing new modifications

Worry Box

• Instructions - Part Two (Worry Bag) – Talk about a bag to put worries in so they can be

transported if necessary

– Pick a color of fabric bag

– Or make a colored paper bag

Shaw, 2015


April 10, 2015


Worry Box

• Instructions - - Part Three (Finish) – Decorate top of box any way that you would like

– How do you want to use your worry box?

• Review box every few days, throw away expired worries

• Anything left, review it with (a parent/guardian) – when

would be a good time to do that?

• If anything won’t go away, bring it to me and we’ll figure

out how to get rid of that last worry

• Share with parent/guardian how child will use box (never a

punishment for an upset child)

Classic instructions for a Worry Box

Worry Box

Sandtray: Safe,

Calm or Peaceful Place

• In this next example, 8 yr old female client said her safe place was “All Points Island: A secret island where humans and mermaids live in harmony”

• Mermaid in water looking in mirror appeared to be part of client’s self

• Also elf fairy

• Both appeared in every subsequent sandtray

Sandtray: Safe, Calm or Peaceful Place

Directive: “Make a sandtray of a place that when you imagine yourself there, you feel calm or peaceful.”

Sandtray and

Book Project

Take pictures of separate

“scenes” in sandtray. Then child

adds a title, making a book out of

printed photos.

Nurturing/Protective Figures

What is your pet’s name? What does he (or she) look like? How does he (or she) like to play? What is your favorite thing to do with him (or her)? Where does he (or she) sleep? Ask them to bring a picture of their pet

Use picture and discussions of pet as “an island of relief” during future therapy sessions


April 10, 2015


Wise Figurines

Ask: “Think about the part of you that is wise and calm.” Have child identify their own wise self with a figurine.

Could be a spiritual figure, a magical/fantasy figure, an animal. Anything that the child identifies with as wise self.

Wise Figurines

• Goes with idea of brain’s watchtower, and child being able to observe self.

“Mindsight” (Siegel, 2010)

• Can take a picture of the figurine,

and then use it in art project.

• This child identified with her “calm,

caring, wise self”

See art project

“Wise Self Wheel” (Shaw, 2015) next slide

• Art Project – Wise Self Wheel

Shaw, 2015

Wise Figurines

Full instructions on www.hollyshaw.phd.qwestoffice.net

Participant Activity:

Somatic Resourcing Event

• Think of a time in the last year or so when you felt – Proud

– Strong

– Most like yourself

• Close your eyes and briefly think about what you saw, heard and felt during that event*

• While imagining, self-tap on thighs (left, right)

Or do butterfly tapping *Ogden, 2006; Maiberger, 2011



How did you feel in your body during that moment when you felt proud?

Identify a place in your body where you feel that feeling right now

– What color is the feeling

– What texture is the feeling

– What name or phrase would you give to the feeling* *Ogden, 2006; Maiberger, 2011

• Now imagine this color and energy from this body sensation radiating out from that place*

• Radiating into your head, chest, arms, legs • Stand up, and wiggle your fingers and toes • Show in your body how this energy has affected

you • How you hold your head up • Show it in your posture *

• *Maiberger, 2009, 2011




April 10, 2015


Some kids might have a hard time imagining the energy radiating out

Another approach: What is the stance, posture for that proud activity

• Have them stand in that stance –can add tapping, maracas, drums

Draw a BIG picture of yourself in the stance, at the event

• Client’s picture of client at dance performance

Picture can be an Island of Relief during sessions

Posture or Stance is an Island of Relief for child

Somatic Resourcing with Kids

Experience with: “Name it to tame it” Awareness of feeling Use of a container Creating Your Own Calming List Worry Box (similarities) Awareness of body sensation Awareness that emotions, body sensations can change Awareness of a version of wise self (proud self)

What you Experienced

with Activities Today

• Help your child clients identify their own unique islands of relief – Breathing – Regulating Movements – Calming Activities – Safe Place – Protective Figures – Time Felt Proud – Proud Stance or Posture

• So they know within themselves, they can always find a place of calmness

Final Thoughts Islands of Relief: References • Gomez, Ana (2012). EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches

with Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment, and Dissociation.

• Hahn, Thich Nhat (2005). Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being.

• Kabat-Zinn, Jon (1994). Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life.

• Levine, Peter and Frederick, Ann (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma.

• Liao, Waysun (2000). T’ai Chi Classics. • Maiberger, Barb. (2009). EMDR Essentials: A Guide for Clients

and Therapists. • Maiberger, Barb and Schwartz, Arielle. (2011). Somatic

Interventions and EMDR Therapy (workshop training at Maiberger Institute.)

Islands of Relief: References (cont.)

• Martin, Patrick (2002). Beginning T’ai Chi. • Mate, Gabor (2010). In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close

Encounters with Addiction. • Ogden, Pat, Minton, Kekuni and Pain, Claire (2006). Trauma

and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology).

• O’Shea, Katie (2009) “Early Trauma Protocol” in Robin Shapiro (Ed.) EMDR Solutions II: For Depression, Eating Disorders, Performance, and More (Norton Professional Books).

• Panksepp, Jaak and Biven, Lucy (2012). Archeology of the Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology).

• Parnell, Laurel (2008). Tapping In: A Step-By-Step Guide to Activating Your Healing Resources Through Bilateral Stimulation.

Islands of Relief: References (cont.) • Porges, Stephen (2011) The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological

Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology).

• Schore, Allan (1994). Affect Regulation and the Origin of Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development.

• Shaw, Holly (2011). Materials presented for graduate-level class Counseling Children and Adolescents, at the University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado.

• Shaw, Holly (2015). “Islands of Relief: Mindfulness, Resourcing and Art Activities for Children with Trauma” at the Colorado Counseling Association Conference.

• Siegel, Daniel. (2010). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation.

• van der Kolk, Bessel (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

• Yeager, Daniel (2009). Simon Says Pay Attention: Help for Children with ADHD.

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