One of trauma’s most insidious effects is how radically and completely it can take away someone’s sense of safety.
That’s why it’s crucial to create a safe space when working with patients who have experienced trauma.
But that’s only part of the equation.
According to Peter Levine, PhD, there’s a very important follow-up step – it’s about resourcing patients with techniques they can use to help themselves feel safe – even when you aren’t there.
Peter shows us one way to do it in this short video. Check it out – it’s about 6 1/2 minutes.
What techniques have you found effective in helping patients feel safe? Please share your comments below.
Awesome,,, will,remember these … Felt good using them right now,,, my trauma was 8 years ago when I had major surgery in another province and our home with my home based business hair salon burned down,,, I was a basket case,,, most people didn’t get how messed up I really was,,, these tech would have been awesome! I will use it on my hairdressing clients who have issues! Thank you I really can feel the need to be safe when everything is taken away your brain is just trying to maintain a tiny bit of normal…. And when it can’t it just short circuits and the dr give you meds to sleep that turned out to be tranquilizer ,,yikes… My hubby is gone my adult child will not speak I am at an all time loss,,,, God is my main strength amen
Thanks, this is so important, especially to set this up before leaving the therapist’s office.
Thank you.
I love these tangable, DOable, simple calming techniques; I will share them with clients starting today.
thank you so much
I am waiting for a mother of a 3 yr old to come into my office for the first time. The child reportedly had a birth defect in her kidneys and has had infections since birth. She is old enough for a surgery to rectify the situation, said the mother on the phone yesterday. Mom reports that her daughter is very anxious and has asked me to see her child. The soothing holding described (and shown by Peter Levine) will, I’m sure, be a very loving and useful way for mom to calm her own anxieties and to model for her child. The tapping is best utilized, I’ve found along with a song and can be a fun way to allow the energy to flow for a young child.
I have a client struggling with trau.a and eating disorders. Ive had her map out some of her feelings when she is feeling anxious, and she’s identified many areas that were discussed in the video. I’m hoping to use these techniques to help her gain some control between sessions. Thanks!
I am all about giving information and tools. We all need ways to care for ourselves… especially when we experience trauma. Thank you so much for these simple techniques. I can see they would be effective and easy to remember. Very helpful.
I find these quick easy body practices so useful. It’s a matter I think of giving a few different ones over time, so they can choose the one that most suits them or swap them as suited. This also gives a sense of agency.
Another good practice is: crossing arms over so that the hands are on the opposite upper arm and then patting oneself with the hands.
I Look forward to hearing other tools people use
A technique I often teach clients is to place one hand flat on the upper chest, the other on the belly. As them to breathe normally and observe which hand is moving most. If it is the chest hand, have them experiment and find a way to breathe with the belly (diaphragm) doing the work. Some have to work hard to do this. Teach them that they cannot hyperventilate if breathe with the diaphragm, it simply cannot move that fast. Preventing gasping and hyperventilation can help prevent panic attacks if started soon enough.
Have the client practice breathing with hands in place once or twice a day. Many find if very soothing and an aide to sleep.
great tip, thank you!
Thank you, very useful techniques.
I appreciate the techniques used in Peter’s video
I will use them with my clients immediately as well as with myself
Thank you again
Hi Ruth, I love Peter Levine and the simple way he demonstrates simple but profound ways of working with the body. I have worked with the body and the chakra system for twenty-five years and one of the things that I found very helpful to ground the body is to massage and squeeze the feet and push into them and into the ground. And then tap, and massage the legs, and rub them down as if you were soothing a frightened horse.
Another way to ground is to hunker down on the earth and put the palms of your hands flat on the earth or the floor and breathe rocking gently from side to side.
Another thing that brought me right back into my body was when the other facilitator I was working with got a group to work with dough, shaping it, tossing it in flour, moulding it, etc. Like children making patty cakes. It grounded me instantly and I felt safe and secure because my grandmother used to bake like that and I would play with the mixture. But any work with clay, clay and water, paint, etc. can be good as the material is outside the body when being in the body can sometimes feel overwhelming, focusing on clay, touching and shaping it can help the body to ground through the senses.
Thank you for all the work you do.
Ruth,
I would just like to thank you and your colleagues one more time for all your expertise. I have learned much and it has been reinforced in many ways that allow me to help myself live with my childhood PTSD. Thanks to Peter. I have his books.
I am a therapist, yoga and mindfulness teacher and acupressurist so I teach clients to focus on slow belly breathing with emphasis on lengthening the exhale to calm the nervous system. I show them Acupressure points similar to yours to calm the energy body, and gentle chair yoga or floor yoga poses for calming such as forward bends like child’s pose or seated forward bends or gentle twists all which calm the body and mind. I also love Faster EFT to quickly calm anxiety triggers and Jin Shin Jyutsu which is gentle acupressure and teaches holding each finger to calm each emotion associated with the energy pathway of each one. I have clients with panic disorders who find that just holding their index finger associated with fear in Chinese medicine helps them relax quickly! There are so many ways to help clients with calming their bodies and emotions! Thank you for all your work in this arena!
Thank you Peter and Ruth! I’m going to introduce the techniques Peter demonstrated with my trauma clients. So far I’ve used grounding and breathing techniques, and looking around the room they’re in to take a reality inventory of where they are, so that they reassure themselves that they aren’t actually back in the traumatized situation.
I am a reiki practitioner and work with a lot of ptsd and hospice issues. I am excited to share these techniques with my clients – thank you. I love the concept of reestablishing and remembering that the “container” has boundaries (even if they have been breached).
I like this presentation – it is new information to me. I will try it with some with high anxiety. I have tried tapping with my clients – some felt it was helpful.
Thank you for sharing these techniques.
I am a counsellor in a high school and I will be working with some of the children who were at the Manchester concert where there was a terrorist incident. I was worried what I could teach them to support themselves over the summer holiday period which is fast approaching and these techniques will be vital resource.
I like to use a breathing technique where you take one open hand and then take pointer finger of other hand and slowly trace open hand and breath in as you go up then out as you go down each finger .Also placing hands over heart and repeating ( 3 times each with deep breaths before beginning)I am calm,I am loved,I love myself,I am safe, breathing in between each group.I use these with preschoolers.
Thank you for sharing this. I recommend inviting Dr Richard Miller who wrote “iRest for healing PTSD” book. He shares so much wonderful and easy to follow tools there. Especially Inner Resource to feel Safe, Secure, and Wellbeing.
Would these work for children also after escalation caused by a fight flight response we often help children to reconnect and repair through a hand massage or feeding. It would be great to know of some simple techniques, for when they are already in fight or flight.
What if my patient is so traumatized that she is fearful of leaving her home?
Can I use these techniques over the phone?
As a 16-year Reiki practitioner, I very much appreciate the suggested hand positions. I had not previously thought of the left armpit variation but it makes a lot of sense.
Touch is so important in restoring a sense of wellbeing. In my own healing, progress was glacial until I learned the Reiki protocol. Safe space is the first requirement of any effective healing.
Thank you.
Wonderful combination of simple self care techniques with descriptions of why they are helpful ie “for traumatised people there is a hole in their boundary … these body oriented techniques help the body to remember that it is the container”. Lovely. I will be sharing this today.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the video and tools to offer traumatized clients. I use a tapping technique with little kids called the butterfly hug. They cross their arms in front of them (palms facing inward to form the butterfly and then give themselves a hug. I invite kids to try both a gentle and firm hug to see what their body likes. While still in the butterfly hug position, they tap each arm with their hand one at a time while quietly repeating I’m safe – I’m calm. I find little kids develop a natural rhythm or cadence while chanting and their body’s rhythmically move with the cadence. I have seen kids in my office become relaxed in their body, face, and voice. The kid then teaches the care-giver the butterfly hug, which facilitates co-regulation.
Good simple practices that I will use this week:)
Practical, easy and repeatable techniques that give clients a sense of boundaries, containment and comfort are all good ones to try!
B”H
this was wonderful. Along with SE I also work with Jin Shin Jyutsu and there are alot of self help tools to give over to clients. the breath, holding fingers… holding under both arm pits to calm the CNS
thank you
Thanks so much for this video – useful and insightful. The fact that it creates awareness of the body, the boundaries of which which can help restore & contain the effects of trauma and/or even just our run-a-way thoughts… this is super!
Thank you, that is very useful, very comforting and soothing I’ve found helping clients become really aware of their bodies very helpful, and staying fully present.
So grateful for this information
Very helpful.
Very simple.
Very useful.
Nice ideas, thank you! I teach some of my very anxious clients tapping techniques to help them self-soothe. What seems to be most effective is tapping right left, right left with middle three fingers on the pressure points on each side of the upper chest, about an inch below the collar bone. Or tapping the same way on their thighs. I also use a ‘container’ guided meditation that guides them to put their fears, concerns in a container to be accessed ‘as needed’. I will try your new ones. Thanks.
To take three conscious breaths:
Focusing on the breath, allow your belly to soften as you fill first your belly, then expanding your rib age, and your chest. Breath in for a count of seven, hold for three, then release anything that is ready to let go for a count of eight.
When triggered, I often ask the parts of my system that activate in reaction to the trigger to sit beside me, if they can and want to, to walk next to me, to be as near as they can and want to be in order to have a direct experience that I am here, right here, and right now. This often brings a sense of space opening or a sense of calm settling into me, and then I am on my way to more balance and deeper listening to myself and parts of me, as well as to whatever and whoever is around me.
Thank you!
I love these two techniques. I am grateful for the video demonstration, can’t wait to share with adult, teen and Kid clients!
Thank you! I really appreciate these helpful hints that can be used with clients. I also practice what I teach my clients and can see that these will be helpful!
I also like 3- second self-calming tools – great beginning self sooth skills for traumatized people. ( also grounding)here are examples:
• Three Deep Breaths – Close your eyes and take a deep breath, filling the bottom of your lungs for at least three seconds, then slowly exhale. Repeat twice.
• Pectoral Door Stretch – Place your elbow and forearm on the edge of an open door frame, making sure elbow is placed just shy of shoulder height. Stretch chest forward. Hold for three-five seconds and repeat twice with both arms.
• Posture Break – Sit up tall, focus on your shoulder blades and move them back towards your spine and each other, then push them down for five seconds, relax and repeat twice.
• Wall Angel Exercise – Sit on the floor against a wall. Lean your back flat against the wall, put your arms straight down by your side, then raise the arms up brushing against the wall and up making a ‘T’. You may lift your arms further up as long as you can maintain a flat back against the wall.
• Muscle Tension Release – Lightly roll a tennis ball where you feel tightness in your muscles for five seconds (don’t roll on bone or tendon). This works well to release tension in the shoulders. You can use a wall to expand your reach.
• Release Tension Headaches – Focus on the jaw to release tension headaches. Unclench teen, allow the jaw to relax. Small ice pack along the jaw can help reduce pain as well.
• Take a Little Walk – Get off your chair and take a quick deliberate walk. This will help increase circulation and get your body moving during the day.
• Music/Dance Break – Play 30 seconds of music and move or dance. Try to just let go completely if you have a private space in which to do so. This will put you in a great mood!
• Hand Massage – Use the thumb of one hand and press around the palm of the other. Then expand attention to the whole hand. You can do this in any venue. Add lavender-scented lotion for extra relaxation!
Thanks for sharing. I get a lot of this from JinShinDo. Very helpful here.
love it – and agree completely.
Thank you for this information. I plan on using it with the prison population with whom I work. I teach Trauma-Informed, Mindfulness-Based Yoga Therapy.
As always, so simple, but yet, very effective. Much needed tools to assist clients immediately in feeling sense of safety.
Awesome.
This is a part of the daily practice of self care for Reiki practitioners and meditators. There are many possible positions but I found two are especially helpful.
For people who have whirling thoughts placing your hands very lightly around the ankles or feet helps the mind to settle down.
Another way to create calm is to place one hand on the forehead and the other under the back of the head (occipital lobe).
Self care only begins with a position or technique. The next step is to notice where one feels the need for touch and to place the hands very lightly.
Thank you and everyone else for their comments and reminders of helpful, useful techniques to create safety.
Yes! Actually forwarding this email to reinforce what has been taught in therapy sessions. Sometimes I think my patients think I am woo woo making these body connections up. It’s nice to have experts affirming that trauma focused treatment is a little different from talk therapy. Thanks again for these snipets!
I’m a working actor and auditions and acting jobs can cause my mild anxiety to become high, subconsciously perceiving these situations as extremely or “unsafe.” I know in my mind that I’m perfectly safe, but my body often experiences some pretty serious stress reactions. I’ve been fairly successful in calming myself with breathing exercises in the past, but these touch exercises are immediately effective for me–literally within seconds. This will be very helpful in the coming weeks as I finish filming a feature length movie that addresses child abuse. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you-Very helpful- I love tools and strategies my clients can use independently! I will use these with my clients who have been traumatized by grief relating to a home invasion, murder, or suicide. I also have found “butterfly tapping” to be helpful (crossing arms so left hand is on rt. upper arm and right hand is on left upper arm, and then patting alternatively) seems to be helpful. Also the usual things such as imagery of a “safe, comfortable place- smells, tactile, sight, auditory senses used. I appreciate this information!!!
Love the reminder about the container and identifying the boundaries for clients. They are both helpful techniques.
I have used a couple of techniques that clients have expressed feeling soothed by. One is called Earth, Wind, Water, Fire. Earth is “where am I – sitting in chair, etc,” Wind is taking a belly breath and feeling your shoulders relax as you breathe out x 2, Water is finding the saliva in your mouth and swishing it around, and Fire is imagining yourself in a ring of fire, totally safe from all. I have substituted boulders/mountains etc for folks who have been traumatized by fire.
The other is the healing light visualization. Thank you so much for these two suggestions and the connection to containment and boundaries. I think it’s so empowering for clients when they can learn to self-soothe and be present.
Thanks. I paricularly liked the hand under the armpit technique. Very soothing. I used simple deep breathing technique of 7-11. Breathe in to count of 7 and out to count of 11.
Thank-you. I will try these with my son. Regards
tha k you very much for sharing this video.