Coping Strategies ‘Tool Kit‘

’Do you have a go-to strategy to cope with stress, anger, grief or other challenging emotions? If you do, is it the same strategy for all emotions or do you cope with different feelings, well…differently? Many people by reflex, habit or through practice have different ways they respond to their emotions depending on what they are experiencing. For example, when angry do you walk away or do want to stay and confront? When grieving, do you cry, feel numb or go into task-mode? Do you practice breath or physical exercises? Other strategies include writing, drawing, talking to someone, or re-focusing your attention on sights, sounds, smells and/ or sensations. These are just a few examples of many ways we might cope with emotions when they come up. 

Counselling can help you describe and evaluate your ‘tool kit’ and help you strengthen and build effective coping strategies. When thinking about your go-to strategies it is important to ask yourself are they helpful or is change needed? It is also important to ask are there enough strategies or too many as either issue can influence how helpful they are. Coping strategies are not one size fits all and what has worked in the past might not work at different stages in our lives.  We all need to sort and clean out our tool kits (or other storage areas!) from time to time.