Emotional Support
Welcome to the emotional support resources page for The High Five Movement. The resources here are intended to be educational and not a supplement for medical or mental health treatment. Learning about social and emotional health can be an important first step toward a successful and healthy life. Below are a collection of resources we found on-line to help educate our High Five Movement community.
The following set of skills that if mastered, can help you cope and adapt to a variety of experiences, feelings, and situations. These skills are a guide of how to check in with yourself and see what areas you’ve mastered and what areas you can improve. These skills and resources are a good starting point for overall health and wellness. So, what are you a master of?
11 Years Old and Younger—scroll down for links and more information
Become a Master of Breathing
Become a Master of Sleep
Become a Master of Feelings
Become a Master of Words
Become a Master of Behavior
12 to 17 Years Old—scroll down for links and more information
Become a Master of Breathing
Become a Master of Sleep
Become a Master of Feelings
Become a Master of Words
Become a Master of Behavior
Adults and Parents—scroll down for links and more information
Become a Master of Breathing
Become a Master of Sleep
Become a Master of Feelings
Become a Master of Words
Become a Master of Behavior
Parents & Adults
Master of Breathing
Breathing Exercise
Master of Feelings
Cognitive Distortions Sheet
Parents: How to help your child make friends
Master of Word
Parents: How to help your child make friends
Parents: How to help your child make friends
Master of Behavior
Motivation for Teens
Anger Management Worksheets
Teens turn to Peers more than Parents](https://youtu.be/thxlUme7Pc8)
Teenager Support
11 Years Old & Younger Emotional Support
Master of Breathing
When we breathe in (inhale) and when we breathe out (exhale) our body uses different nervous systems and muscles. Controlling our breathing helps us pay attention to something that is usually automatic, which helps us gain control of our body AND mind. When we are nervous, worried, or upset, our breathing often becomes shallow and fast. By taking deep breaths, we can calm down our breathing and get more oxygen in our lungs. This also helps calm down our mind. Breathing skills are useful for helping us deal with worry, anger, sadness, and nervousness.Master of Sleep
The brain is the computer of the body and is a highly sophisticated computer at that. The part of our brain that controls our sleep is a very primitive part of our brain with sensitive and basic bodily functions.
It’s important to have a bedtime routine, within an hour of the same time each day, that doesn’t change much. A bedtime routine helps inherently signal our brain that it is time to start to shut down and eventually, relax to fall asleep. Turn off all electronics (tv, phone, tablet, chromebook, etc.) a minimum of 30 minutes before bed. Electronics are sources of stimulation (audio, visual w/artificial light) for our minds that can disturb sleep patters. If it is hard not to use your phone before bed because you use your phone as an alarm clock, consider getting a regular alarm clock.Master of Feelings
What comes first? Thoughts or feelings? (.....)
It’s a trick question! Sometimes a feeling comes before a thought and other times a thought might come before a feeling. Either way, in order to master our feelings we must understand the thoughts that influence them. Everyone experiences automatic negative thoughts, just like everyone feels sad sometimes. When we start to lose control of our automatic negative thoughts, we worry more and more; or we feel more and more sad (stressed, out of control, etc). It’s a bottomless tank within our mind that can never be filled, no matter how much we worry or how sad we feel. It leaves us feeling worse. Twisted thoughts (cognitive distortions) are automatic negative thoughts that make us feel increasingly sad or worried. Understanding these types of thoughts and knowing what to do about them can help us improve the way we feel. What kind of automatic negative thoughts do you have and how do they make you feel?Master of Words
How often do you communicate what you’re really thinking or feeling? Who are the safe friends or adults in your life you can talk to about important things? Becoming a master of words is really learning how to express yourself in a way that is mentally/emotionally healthy. Words have power and they can bring peace, war, and every shade in between. Our words can be constructive by accurately communicating what we intend to communicate and resolving conflict with others. Our words can also be destructive by adding to miscommunications, conflict, automatic negative thoughts we express, and giving voice to strong negative feelings. When others ask you how you feel, is it easy or hard to answer them? Do you often find it hard to explain in words how you feel or what you think? Do you ever feel misunderstood because it’s difficult to express yourself in words? Is it easier to write things out? Have you ever written someone a txt or a letter to resolve a conflict rather than talk to them?Master of Behavior
We can’t talk about Behavior without talking about motivation first! Motivation is the reason(s) one has for acting/behaving in a particular way. There are two general types of motivators: intrinsic motivators usually come from inside ourselves through believing, feeling, and positive desire. You are motivated to do the activity because it is internally rewarding. Examples: playing sports because you like the energy high, choosing a topic for a school project because you feel it is an important issue. Extrinsic motivation is when we do something in order to gain an external reward in return. Examples: studying because you want a good grade, volunteering because it looks good on a resume, going to the same store because you benefit from membership/loyalty programs.
Some people struggle with a behavior called avoiding. Procrastination is a perfect example of avoiding. We put something off for a long time until finally we can’t put it off anymore. The biggest problem with avoiding is that it often makes us feel worse. Our feelings of anger (building resentment = avoiding!), worry, and sadness often go unresolved or worsen when we avoid dealing with them, coping with them, or talking about them. Coping Skills are really important behaviors that help us deal with problems, challenges, stress, and/or strong feelings. We often need different coping skills and different times- what works one time doesn’t necessarily work the next time. So, having a variety of coping skills is helpful. Think about making your own coping skill menu. What would be on it?
Youth Support
11 Years Old & Younger Emotional Support
Our body needs air like we need water. When we have strong feelings like worry, anger, or sadness, our body needs more air like after running hard on the play-ground. Take some deep breaths and count to 5 for each time you breathe in and count to 5 for when you breathe out.
Ocean Breathing
Breathing Exercise
Did you know getting good sleep helps our mind and body work the best they can? Good sleep means we get enough hours of sleep and we stay asleep throughout the night. Sleep hygiene is the routine or habit that helps us get good sleep.
An important part of falling asleep is being able to relax your mind and body. If you have a hard time falling asleep, learning how to relax and calm your body is important.
Are you getting enough sleep? Do you have a bedtime routine that helps you relax? If you are having nightmares or you wake up throughout the night often, make sure you tell an adult.
Sleep Hygiene
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
How do your feelings change your behavior? Do your feelings match your thoughts? What do you do when you feel sad? Mad? Who is a safe friend or adult you can talk to about how you’re feeling?
Sometimes people need an activity to help them deal with strong feelings like:Drawing a picture of what happened/how you feel
Writing a story or play about what happened or a make-believe story based on how you feel (it’s important to let people know if it’s make-believe)
Exercise like running in place, pushups, situps, or stretching
Breathing exercises
PBS Kids talk about Feelings & Emotions Guess the Emotions
Guess the Emotions
Learn names of feelings and words that help others understand how you feel. What do you want others to know about how you feel? What do you think will help you feel better?
Who are the safe people in your life you can talk to?
It can be helpful to become a master of words through journaling. You can journal about anything and everything but here are some ideas to help you get started with journaling.
52 Journal Prompts for Kids to Record Their Lives and Thoughts
Our behaviors can make us feel better or worse. How do you feel when you do something nice for someone? How do you feel when you show others angry behavior? When you’re mad, instead of yelling, hitting, or saying mean things- walk away to a safe place to have time to yourself. Once you’ve calmed down, try to help others understand how you feel with your words. When you’re sad, it’s ok to cry or show your feelings. Is there an activity you can do that helps you feel better when you’re sad? It’s important to make good choices about our behaviors when we have strong feelings.
For Parents: Angry Child
For Kids: Dealing with Anger
Stop - Think - Choose