5-
Developing
skills
and
strategies
GIVING
DIRECTIONS
Managing Emotions
Help the young person identify their triggers and how they experience these
reactins. Remember that triggers may be really obvious or they may be things
that a young person might not even realise such as a smell, noise or subtle sign
of rejection for instance. Exploring these after they have happened is a good
way to unpack it a bit further.
“In the last few weeks, when have you had a really strong reaction to something
or felt really distressed?”
“What is going on when this happened” Consider their thoughts, physical feelings
and emotions as well as what was actually happening in their environment.When
people are aroused they often look to engage in activities that are congruent with
their level of arousal. A lot of the time this means risk-taking behaviours. Always
try to remember that the way young people are managing difficult and stressful
situations is the best possible way they can. A good way to start to explore these
strategies is to ask how they are working for them at the moment.
“How do you manage difficult situations, or manage the way you feel?”
“How well is that working for you?”
“Do you want to keep using these strategies or ways of coping?”
“Do you want to think about some other ways to manage these reactions?”