Breathing & Grounding Techniques

Breathing exercises can be a quick way to alleviate anxiety immediately. 

• Box breathing: youtube video

• 4-7-8: youtube video 

• Mindfulness breathing cards

Grounding exercises can have a similar effect to breathing exercises, as they ground the individual to the moment.

• 5-4-3-2-1 

• Name 5 things you can see

• Name 4 things you can touch 

• Name 3 things you can hear

• Name 2 things you can smell

• Name 1 thing you can taste 

• 333 Rule

• Identify 3 objects

• Identify 3 sounds

• Move 3 body parts 

• A really helpful psychoeducational worksheet for grounding techniques

• More grounding exercises 

Circles of control, influence & concern

Similar to the oft-cited Serenity Prayer, distinguishing what is under your control and what isn't, and subsequently taking steps for the former and accepting the latter can be helpful for well-being. 

In the context of college counselling, you can remind the students that crafting a university application is within your control but actually receiving university offers are actually not.

• Flesh this out further with this worksheet, categorizing aspects into circles of control, influence, and concern. 

Plan worry time

You can plan your worry with 4 steps. This worksheet further elaborates it.

1. Plan Worry Time: Set aside a specific time each day to focus on your worries.

2. Log Your Worries: Note down your worries throughout the day.

3. Refocus Attention: After logging a worry, shift your focus away from it.

4. Worry Time: Review your logged worries and practice letting go of hypothetical ones through various methods, such as ripping, scrunching up paper, or deleting the notes.

More resources 

Here is a bunch more resources. 

• Anxiety workbook 

• Mindwell anxiety resources

• Anxiety Worksheets 

• CBT strategies 

Normalizing emotions

• Download a helpful worksheet in crafting statements that normalize emotions. 

3 elements of normalizing emotions:

Example of normalizing statement:

A model that helps you understand how emotions are triggered 

• According to the ABCDE model often referred to in counseling psychology, emotions are result of beliefs. Disputing beliefs can bring about a mental change.  

Understanding the range of emotions

Understanding the range of different types of emotions and subsequently naming them can help with emotion regulation.

• The feelings wheel is a great visual to help you do so. 

RULER method

What do you do with emotions? The RULER method identifies five steps, which are:

• Here is a visual that helps you understand the steps. An article about this and yet another article. 

Analogies to understand the mind

Thinking about difficult emotions & negative thoughts in intuitive analogies can help us regulate them better. 

• The following YouTube videos are ingenious ways of helping us visualize our minds. 

• Sushi train analogy

• Blue sky analogy

Regulating Emotions

Emotion regulation is the ability to exert control over one's own emotional state. Click the link for an article & a visual. 

This is a great article on 5 skills & 7 strategies that can help us regulate emotions. 

1. Create space
2. Notice how you feel 
3. Name what you feel
4. Accept the emotion
5. Practice mindfulness 

1. Identify and reduce triggers
2. Tune into physical symptoms
3. Consider the story you are telling yourself
4. Engage in positive self-talk
5. Make a choice about how to respond
6. Look for positive emotions
7. Seek out  a therapist 

A 5-pager pdf on emotional regulation.