Behaviour as Communication
Behaviour as Communication
It is typically easier for us to identify other people’s behaviour versus reflecting on our own. However, all behaviour including projection is communicating something. What is that something for you? What is that something for the people around you? If you have children what is their behaviour trying to communicate to you? Many times it is not clear what our actions or others actions are trying to communicate. By taking the time to check in with yourself and others you can better understand, acknowledge and identify what the behaviour is trying to say. The article below shares more in depth information about behaviour as communication.
Health anxiety and safety behaviours
Health anxiety and safety behaviours
To worry about your health is a normal human experience. Health anxiety refers to the excessive concern that there may be a threat to your health which triggers your anxiety (fight/flight) response.
Health anxiety is problematic when it is excessive, out of proportion to the realistic chances of having a serious problem, persists despite negative tests and reassurance from health professionals, leads to excessive unhelpful behaviours such as body-checking and medical test-seeking, and causes you significant distress or impacts on your functioning.
Health anxiety can exist in people who are “healthy”, in people who are experiencing real yet unexplained medical symptoms, and in people who have an existing and diagnosed medical condition.
In health anxiety the issue is not whether your physical symptoms are real, but whether you are responding to and coping with your symptoms in a helpful or unhelpful way.
Info Sheet (PDF) – What Are Safety Behaviours
Mindful Practice
Mindful Practice
- Take a seat: Find a place to sit that feels calm and quiet to you
- Set a time limit
- Notice your body: Make sure that you are stable and in a position, you can stay in for a while
- Feel your breath: Follow the sensation of your breath as it goes out and it goes in.
- Notice when your mind has wandered: When you get around to noticing this – in a few seconds, a minute, five minutes – simply return your attention to the breath.
- Be kind to your wandering mind: Don’t judge yourself or obsess over the content of the thoughts you find yourself lost in. Just come back.
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Children’s Frustration
When children become frustrated they can act out or become silent. Parents may be the first people to recognize that something is different or become the first responders to an acting out incident. How can we work on recognising what is happening to our bodies as frustration begins to build? A tip for parents is to practice breathing techniques or creating breaks in the day where you can blow bubbles or blow a balloon and let it go when your child is calm. Throughout the day practicing these fun activities encourages breathing and becomes more natural during moments of frustration. Below is a link to a great resource where you can read more about helpful strategies to prevent or to reduce the feelings of frustration. When children and their parent is calm then they have an opportunity to talk about the experience.
https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/how-to-teach-frustration-tolerance-to-kids
Guardian Information to Help Attune to their Youth During COVID-19
The Canadian Psychological Association has posted a Fact Sheet: Helping Teens Cope with the Impacts of the Restrictions Related to COVID-19, such as reactions to expect and how to help support and validate their experience as to the issues at hand. One aspect in establishing and maintaining healthy relationships with children and adolescents is attunement. A person who is well attuned to their youth will respond with appropriate language and behaviors based on the youth’s emotional state. Recognizing moods and emotions and adapting your response can create safety, comfort and stability, especially during times of unease and overwhelm. Below you there is a link where you can connect with specific information that pertains to your family situation.
Kids in Control – Video Series
The video below is designed to help children learn strategies to take care of themselves, covering topics from our Kids in Control groups. They are intended for children ages 8 to 12 who have a family member with mental illness, but they are helpful for other children as well.
Reference: Kids in Control ‘Caring for You’ Series
Puppets with Giggles Webinar
“You are invited to join this webinar and bring along your own puppet if you have one! A common theme noticed among people with a puppet or those who want to get one is they
have no idea how to use it in a “useful” manner or make it come “alive”. In this workshop adults are supported to help children learn how to expand imagination play using puppets!
You will explore the do’s and some don’ts of working with puppets, how to overcome your own fears and develop a variety of different applications from education,
therapy, teaching, storytelling, imagination play, expressing feelings, and much more.”
THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2020 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Healthy Families Maintaining a Schedule
COVID-19 has thrown many of us off of our daily routine. Daily routines look different for all of us, and even those who believe they do not have a schedule or routine may still feel a shift in their “normal.” We cannot underestimate the importance of maintaining or creating a schedule for ourselves and our loved ones during the many changes.
Strategies for Creating and Maintaining a Schedule based on Mindtools https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_07.htm
It is important to understand what you can realistically achieve with your time. You know you best. Give yourself the time to sit town and brainstorm how things look like for you in your current situation and what is realistic for you to take on. Be kind to yourself, and ensure you give yourself time for what is considered essential in your life.
Always plan for the unexpected to happen, so that when it does you can breathe and move forward with what is necessary. Sometimes when we schedule things we become overwhelmed with the amount of activities or essential tasks we have scheduled them for the day or week. Avoid taking on more than you can handle and always remember to be compassionate towards yourself and continue to work at things slowly and steadily.
Fentanyl Safety Information
With everything going on in the news lately we felt it would be good to share this with our community:
https://www.fentanylsafety.com/
Please share this information so more people can be aware and stay safe!
HEAL Program Video
The HEAL (Horses Empowering Authentic Living) Program is making a difference for many ladies, and we are honoured to be a part of this healing organization. The difference these horses make in the lives of the women that meet them is amazing.
You can view the video here:
Want more information about the HEAL program and the organization? Visit their website here: