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Smooth Sailing Through Life’s Changes: Mastering Emotional Regulation During Transitions

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SMOOTH SAILING THROUGH LIFE’S CHANGES: MASTERING EMOTIONAL REGULATION DURING TRANSITIONS

As we delve deeper into 2024, emotional regulation is a prominent theme that goes hand in hand with supporting transitions.

Understanding Transitions

Transitions in life are inevitable. Whether it’s starting a new school year, moving to a new home, or experiencing changes within the family dynamic, transitions can be challenging for both parents and children alike. During these times of change, emotions can run high, leading to stress and uncertainty.

What is Emotional Regulation?

Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to recognise, process and act upon the emotions that they feel within different situations on a regular day. It is one’s ability to adjust and control their energy level, emotions, behaviours, and attention to allow for success in connecting with our loved ones and engaging in our daily lives. We provide even more information on our “Tools to Support Emotions” blog.

Emotional regulation is a skill that is developed over time. Emotional regulation is essential for healthy emotional development and well-being throughout life. There are two stages to emotional regulation.

Co-regulation is the foundation for emotional development, allowing children to explore, learn and understand unfamiliar situations while parents support them by providing a safety net. 

Self-regulation involves the ability to notice and change/control one’s own feelings and adapt to surroundings. Emotional regulation is essential for healthy emotional development and well-being throughout life. To find out more information, refer to our “Emotional Regulation” blog.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

Transitions can evoke a range of emotions, from excitement and anticipation to anxiety and fear. Children who thrive on routine and stability may feel their sense of security disrupted, leading to vulnerability and insecurity. Similarly, parents may experience a mix of pride, worry, and doubt as they navigate unfamiliar territory. With the right tools and support, families can navigate transitions more smoothly, fostering emotional regulation and resilience along the way.

Strategies for Emotional Regulation

So, how can we help you support your child emotionally regulate during transitions? As Occupational Therapists, our role is to enable children and parents to recognise, understand and manage their emotions during times of change. Whether they are transitioning from breakfast to getting dressed or from home to school, navigating our emotions is a difficult task and can depend heavily on our sense of safety within ourselves and others and our connection to place, person, or thing. 

Here are some practical strategies and tools:

1. Transition Time: Allow ample time for transitions, providing a buffer for individuals to adjust mentally and emotionally.

2. Observation: Pay attention to the child’s body language, affect, tone of voice, and overall demeanour to gauge their emotional state.

  • Are we slouching our shoulders or dropping our head?
  • Are we smiling, and are our faces lit up? 
  • Is our tone of voice low, high-pitched, or fast-paced? 
  • Do we appear frazzled or disinterested?
  • Do we seem tired or overwhelmed from something that happened earlier?

3. Tools and Techniques we utilise, and you can too.

  • Visual schedules for predictability and routine. This also provides a point of orientation. 
  • Visual timers to set task timeframes and provide visual information of how long the task is.
  • Therapressure brushing is a technique for grounding and calming.
  • Therapeutic use of self for connection, following their lead and co-regulation.
  • Breathing exercises such as belly breathing or blowing bubbles.
  • Incorporating vestibular input through activities like wobble boards.
  • Providing oral input with stretches, cold drinks, or chewy foods.

Setting the Body Up

We call this process ‘Setting the Body Up’ as this prepares the body with sensory input and transition time to ease into daily activities.

Once our body is adequately ‘set up’ and we’ve allowed ‘transition time’. Transitions into daily activities won’t be as overwhelming. 

Emotional Continuum

We use cognitive-emotional strategies to support the emotional continuum. Strategies like sensory processing and cognitive strategies can help refine knowledge and apply skills in social situations. To learn more about how we use the above techniques as well as “Zones of Regulation,” “Size of Problem vs Reaction,” “The Alert Program,” “The Incredible Flexible You Series,” and “The Social Thinking Detectives” refer to our “The Emotional Continuum” blog. 

Embracing Change Together

Transitions are unpredictable, and allowing yourself grace in navigating them is essential. Understanding your own triggers and emotions is key to understanding how to emotionally regulate yourself. As parents, showing vulnerability can help model to our children that, YES, change can be scary, but you can do this as a TEAM.  Encourage open communication about challenges and solutions, empowering your child to take ownership and responsibility for the transition process.

Ask your child and yourself what is challenging about the transition to school/work or what makes it hard to go to soccer training or out for a catch-up with a friend in the afternoon, and what could we do to make it easier? This collaboration provides a sense of ownership and responsibility for our child and can result in increased adherence to routine, reducing the risk of emotional dysregulation.

Ready to embark on a smoother journey through life’s transitions? Start implementing these strategies today to foster emotional regulation and resilience in your family. Remember, every small step counts towards a smoother sail!

By implementing these strategies and fostering a supportive environment, families can navigate transitions more smoothly, fostering emotional regulation and resilience along the way. Contact us today if you would like to chat about transitions and how we can help.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Molly

PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

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Parenting – You’re the expert; we are here to support the transition!

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PARENTING – YOU’RE THE EXPERT, WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT THE TRANSITION!

As the sun rises on a new week, we hear the hum of school routines resuming, marking the return of familiar patterns.

During the past week or so, many of our families will have returned to school and the routines that it brings with it. For some of our families, February is a transition period where new routines and ways of balancing life are being forged as their child starts daycare or preschool, kindergarten or high school or even a child not being back at school because they have finished or commenced in a type of employment.

How do transitions feel for parents and children?

This transition period can be a daunting time – a rollercoaster of emotions not only for our children as they learn their new environment and the expectations that go along with it. But it is also a rollercoaster as a parent as we navigate a shift in our role; a moment of letting go but also sometimes the fear of the unknown. Our journey into parenthood commences with dreams, hopes, and a multitude of expectations, but from the moment we commence on our journey to become parents, the road ahead is filled with dips and hollows that we can genuinely not prepare ourselves for; however, acknowledging and recognising the transitions within our parenting journey allows us to adapt and grow.


What types of transitions are there?

Some of those significant transitions that we can anticipate during parenting might include:
● Bringing your newborn baby home for the first time
● Starting at daycare or preschool
● Starting kindergarten or high school
● Puberty
● Our child starting their first job and seeking more independence.
● Our child turning 16 and seeking to get a driver’s license.
● Finishing school
● Moving out of home.

But there are also many transitions that we do not anticipate happening during our journey as parents – a child becoming unwell, a diagnosis that wasn’t expected, a death, a separation. All of these heart-wrenching trials require us as parents and individuals to stop, pause, reassess and pivot in our roles and in our way of doing things. Explore & Soar stands as a beacon, acknowledging and respecting the unique narratives of every parenting journey. We recognise that transitions can be tough, change can be challenging, and the journey is as diverse as the individuals embarking on it, so no one’s story or journey is the same, and we respect that here at Explore & Soar.

How, then, can we, as OTs, stand beside you and support you as parents on this rollercoaster?

A Holistic Approach to Transitions

During our university studies, we learn in-depth about the interaction between how, where and why we do things and the positive and negative impact this can have on an individual’s overall health. When we work with a child and their family, we consider the whole person; we consider what strategies, interventions and approaches we are going to use. At Explore and Soar, we want to be able to support you just as much as your child in their journey towards their goals! Sometimes, therapy sessions can provide that space so that you can take a breath, sneak a quiet cuppa in the corner, and recharge while the therapist is working with your child.

It’s also important to ensure that, as parents, we are scheduling our own self-care time – it’s the flight safety briefing message – you need to put your oxygen mask on first before you can help those around you! Checking in with ourselves, noticing our own regulation patterns and adapting our responses also helps to show our children different strategies or ideas they can use when they feel overwhelmed, exhausted or touched out.

Empowering Parents with Self-Care

Next time your therapist recommends some home program exercises, consider them as not just a task for your child but as opportunities for you to connect – Try to do them with your child! See how they make you feel before and after completing them. Talk to your child about them and compare feelings.

At times, we do have those uncomfortable conversations around things we have noticed or ideas on what could make a difference in helping your child with their goal. Our therapists are noticing things from the outside and through our trained eyes. It is not from a place of
judgement but rather a place of working alongside you to build you up. As a parent, you are your child’s biggest advocate and teacher. You have the expertise in your child; it is our role as OTs to help refine this, adjusting and adapting to different transitions across your parenting journey.

Embracing Change Together

As we navigate the ebb and flow of February’s transitions, let’s remember that parenting is a continuous journey of learning and growth. Embrace your experiences, connect with others sharing similar paths, and let’s soar through these transitions together. Share your stories, seek support, and revel in the collective strength that arises when we navigate as a community.

May your journey through 2024 be filled with resilience, adaptability, and the unwavering support that Explore & Soar offers. Here’s to embracing the rollercoaster of parenting with open hearts and a community that understands that every twist and turn is a part of our unique and beautiful story.

If you’d like to chat more, please don’t hesitate to contact us today! Call us on 0477 708 217 or email admin@exploreandsoar.com.au

Until Next Time,
Lori

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 2024

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Self Care with Structures and Routines

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SELF CARE WITH STRUCTURES AND ROUTINES

This month’s theme is self-care – which works in conjunction with our 2022 theme of self-awareness and growth. Self-care encompasses many different aspects of well-being. Last year we spoke about the occupation of self-care, the tasks involved and how to break them down. 

This year I’d like to speak about self-care routines and how we can implement daily, weekly and monthly habits to ensure greater wellbeing. Optimal self-care is achieved through structure and routine. In doing so we are able to maintain balance, complete day to day activities and achieve goals.

There are so many positives to having a rhythm, structure and routine within our daily lives such as; comfort, security and safety, productivity and achievement. Our routine forms the structure and basis for everything we do. 

So, I’d like you to take a look at your daily routine. How do you spend your days? Is your daily routine supportive of you and your family achieving your goals? Does it give you a healthy and balanced structure? One that reduces stress? 

Take a moment to write down what a typical week day looks like for you and let’s discuss the ways in which you could enhance it moving forward.

The most important thing about establishing a routine is to remember that it needs to be tailored to your individual needs. Every single person on this planet is different. There’s no one size fits all, or right way to do things. The best place to start is with your value set. Identify what’s most important to you and then work backwards from there – are your routines supporting your values? If for example one of your values is family – what are your day to day routines doing to support and cultivate a strong relationship with those in your immediate and extended family? Can you do simple things like ensure that your family eats together each night with phones / technology removed to ensure open communication and connection?

Routines and structures that we put in place are vital, but life doesn’t always stay the same and we need to still allow for these movements and alterations as well. You have to be mindful of being somewhat flexible with your routine and remembering that life is about balance. 

Try to ensure that you follow routine 80% of the time and allow for movement within the other 20%.

Another key element of routine is timing and establishing structures. We live in a fast paced world that is ever changing. Finding structure in day to day life can actually promote a sense of calm in not only your life, but the lives of those around you. Establish clear boundaries within your structures eg: when you arrive home allot a time to check emails from work if needed but then switch off and remain present with your family – to ensure that you are tending to your value set. 

We aren’t perfect, things don’t always go to plan and you aren’t always going to maintain a routine. It’s important to be kind to yourself. Nothing is gained from you being hard on yourself if structure is not met on a certain day or even week. As occupational therapists, helping our families develop routines to support their goals is a vital part of our job. Doing so creates a sense of ease in daily life. If that’s something you think we could help you with, please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask. 

When I began writing this blog, I was reflecting on my own routines and structures. These have changed and continuously evolved as I have moved locations, matured, started my business and transitioned into different phases of my life.

I want to talk to you about the three different levels of routine that I have experienced in the first 30 years of my life to date. 

Right now, I have had to rely on my ‘back bone routine’ due to each day being different with work, either traveling, working from home or seeing clients and increased demands over the last few months. This routine and structure is my bare minimum, it’s not enough to keep on top of everything, but it’s enough to maintain my sanity and organisation. I want to make it very clear that it’s fine to have times in your life where the ‘bare minimum’ is quite ok. 

The next level of personal structure would be my ‘mid level routine’ – this level for me involves basic self-care routines, structured in a more organised and less chaotic way. I am able to have my morning/evening routines, exercise and regular stretching routines, time to cook and structure my week with lists and goals. In this  structure, I am still busy but more of my own individual routines and needs are being met to increase my energy to be engaging in daily life demands more proactively. 

Lastly, my ‘Ideal level of routine’ involves establishing and adhering to almost complete structure within my day. It’s when I am able to achieve all required tasks and allow for sufficient time to tend to goals that facilitate my value set. I do want to make it clear that this is a rare occasion, as life doesn’t allow for it on an everyday basis. Within this state, there is more intention in each action throughout the day. 

I often get asked about people that are creative or thrive off a lack of routine, how do they find balance and ensure that their values and goals are being met? Structure is effective even for the creatives of the world – I am one of them. The most important element in this instance is to structure time for creativity itself and allow for freedom of choice. Maybe if you sit down to structure your day / week, give yourself an allotted time where you get to choose from a couple of activities – allowing for space and the freedom of choice.  I also like to have the freedom to complete the activities and jobs that are required of me in my own time. I will meet the deadlines required but how and when it gets done, I like to be in control of. I like the time and space to sit, create and develop to turn an idea to a task and complete it. But at the core of how I live my day, I still establish routines and structure that help me get through the day itself. This backbone and core routine is paramount, even for us creatives. 

So my challenge to you this month is to think about what routine means to you. Answer these questions and develop a new routine for you and your family…

What routines do you have daily, weekly and monthly? On a good day for your children, what do their routines look like?On a not so good day for your children, what do their routines look like? Is it different every time?

If there was one part of your routine at home that you would like help with, what would it be? Think about it, talk to us at Explore and Soar about it. We can help! We will support you, help establish a routine and structure unique to your needs and goals. 

A final note and friendly reminder, it takes 30 days to cultivate a new habit. 

Are you up for the challenge? Are you looking to make a positive change to your health – physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually. 

This is your sign to start a new routine today.

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 3, 2022

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Mindfulness for Parents and Carers

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MINDFULNESS FOR PARENTS AND CARERS

A new school term and managing busy schedules is never without its challenges. The new year means building and establishing new routines that will work with your families core priorities, needs and wants whether it’s work, school, sports, social or education centred. At times this can feel like an uphill battle. Please know you are not alone in this. We see you, we hear you and we acknowledge all the effort and work you have put into the start of this year. The flexibility, patience and even changes parents have made for their children’s appointments is amazing to see. 

As Occupational Therapists and Therapy Assistants, we visit your home to provide intervention solutions to support your child’s release of emotions and to promote emotional regulation, social awareness, sensory processing and overall well being. 

Our parents work incredibly hard to maintain routines, be present and continue to support ongoing therapy within the home. But what I’d like to reflect on today are some coping strategies for our parents. To offer some suggestions that allow you a moment to ground yourself and recharge.

Most of us struggle to prioritise time for ourselves but it is essential for our wellbeing to take a few minutes each day to increase and support a positive mind-body balance. The way in which we can achieve this is through mindfulness practice. 

Mindfulness has several key characteristics:

Mindfulness is defined as a state of being in which individuals bring their attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, in a non-judgemental or accepting way. 

  1. It involves a receptive awareness and registration of inner experiences (emotions, thoughts, behavioural intentions) as well as external events. 
  2. Mindful information processing is pre-conceptual. Meaning, in a mindful state, individuals are purely noticing what is happening rather than evaluating, analysing, judging or reflecting upon it. 
  3. Mindfulness is also characterised by a present-oriented consciousness where individuals focus on moment-to-moment experiences rather than thinking about the past or fantasising about the future. 

There are many benefits to mindfulness that include:

  • Stress reduction 
  • Increasing working memory 
  • Increase focus 
  • Reduced  emotional reactivity 
  • Increased cognitive flexibility 
  • Enhance self awareness 
  • Increase intuition 
  • Reduce fear modulation

This also supports the notion that mindfulness training addresses a basic skill in self regulation capacities. This is a vital skill as a parent who is often providing an example of healthy emotional regulation to their children.

In order to become more mindful, I thought I’d give you some specific strategies that you can try. These include: 

  • Setting intentions or positive affirmations each morning.
  • Keeping a gratitude journal. Think of all that you are grateful for in the present moment, this can make difficult periods of time easier.
  • Grounding your body by stepping outside for 5 minutes with bare feet. You can also practice grounding yourself by paying attention to the soles of your feet as you walk. With each step notice how your weight shifts from the center to the ball of your foot. Maintain steady breathing throughout this exercise. This is called “earthing”. 
  • While the kids are asleep or busy being kids, find a place where you can be alone and savor the silence just for a moment. 
  • Square breathing. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold with a count of 4 at each stage. This type of breathing supports deeper and slower breath. It works by distracting your mind as you count to four, calming your nervous system, and decreasing stress in your body
  • Colouring in is a way to focus your thoughts, focus on the current moment and decompress. 
  • Completing 5 senses work. Notice the world around you, via sound, sight, touch, taste, and smell. By doing this, you are grounding yourself by increasing your awareness of your body and your environment. 
  • Completing a body scan. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Close your eyes to reduce the number of stimuli. Start at the top of your head and work all the way down to your feet. Pay close attention to what each area of the body feels like, giving yourself increased awareness and bringing your focus to your own body and what it needs. 

It’s vital that we take time out to be mindful each day. Looking after your wellbeing only affects your child’s in significantly positive ways. We want each of our parents and carers to know that we are here to support you as well as your children – as we are always family focused. For any more information please don’t hesitate to ask your therapists or assistant any time!

References 

Davis, L. W., Strasburger, A. M., & Brown, L. F. (2007). Mindfulness. An intervention for anxiety in schizophrenia. J Psychosoc Nurs, 45, 23-29.

Hülsheger, U. R., Alberts, H. J., Feinholdt, A., & Lang, J. W. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: the role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of applied psychology, 98(2), 310.

Until next time,
Maddie

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MAY 4, 2022

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Health Promotion for our Families

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HEALTH PROMOTION FOR OUR FAMILIES

As occupational therapists we are trained to provide support to all our clients and their families, in order to increase their independence, grow their confidence and to live a happy and healthy life. 

More often than not, this is first done or activated when someone is starting to experience discomfort or challenges in certain areas of their life. For our children, self-care, play, schooling and their social interactions with their peers are where areas of concern often arise. As we’ve spoken about previously, when these challenges occur, they manifest in behaviours. For our children, the way in which they behave is in fact their method of asking for help. They are in turn telling us as adults, that something internally doesn’t feel right and they require extra help. It is then our role to determine what is going on and how we can provide effective support. 

But what if we could actually reduce these areas of concern and the amount of worry that comes along with them but being proactive rather than reactive? 

This is an area that as occupational therapists we are so very passionate about. Through health promotion we can bring awareness, education and support to all families and communities about child development, patterns to look out for and access to support services when you have questions. This should be readily accessible to every person in each of their communities. By having access to services that offer advice and support, promoting health and wellness for both the parent/carer and their child, inadvertently increases well being and reduces the risk of mental health. 

From an OT perspective; the definition of health promotion from the World Health Organisation is “the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. To reach a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, an individual or group must be able to identify and realise aspirations, to satisfy needs, to change or cope with the environment. Health is, therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. Therefore, health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond health lifestyles to well-being.” (1986, para.2). 

Something that we do as a company outside of providing intervention strategies and support to our clients and their families, is also providing them with a range of essential health promotion strategies to positively influence, empower and educate in order to further reduce the inequalities in our health industry. Therefore, significantly supporting positive interactions and emotional connections in our client’s support networks. 

Each of our OT’s provide strategies and supports to our clients, such as:

  • Teaching positive ways for your child to move their body that feels good for them, to increase control and awareness.
  • Teaching them to feel safe and comfortable sharing their emotions and sitting within their feelings.
  • Providing as many possible positive social interactions with other peers who are presented with similar challenges in group program settings.
  • Conducting skill based training for self-care so that children can be successful on school camps or overnight trips.
  • Teaching your child how to plan, organise and sequence activities or thoughts together, to help with positive inclusion in school – this makes them feel clever, smart, successful and allows them realise their worth. 
  • Providing strategies and support to be successful and confident in navigating their local communities.

Additionally, each of our OT’s provide strategies and supports to our clients parents/caregiver’s such as:

  • Providing connections and relationships within the Explore and soar family; other families, clients or health professionals.
  • Taking into account every parent’s well-being when working with their children, giving them emotional support, and interventions that are based both on the child and the parent, so as not to overwhelm and contribute to more stress.
  • Running parent groups, where like minded parents are present to talk about their own situations, so that they feel heard and they are able to build connections around them without feeling isolated, increasing their support network outside of health professionals.
  • Utilising parent coaching strategies to teach them how to do the interventions; positively reshaping their confidence in order to be able to manage all aspects of their lives with their children. 

Within Explore and Soar, we support and provide strategies to our local communities for health promotion such as:

  • Education nights at preschools for the parents and their educators. This is a regular offering as a part of our service to build awareness and health promotion for development – it’s one of the most consistent things we do. 
  • Work within our local schools; teacher professional development courses that support them in the classroom and the playground. This differs from early education nights, as rather than identifying areas of concern at a younger age, it’s more about working with difficulties that have already been identified and enveloping the right strategies.
  • Remaining very community orientated by sponsoring and supporting sporting events or team members. We do so, so that the community knows there is a point of access, that if information or support is needed, there is a place to ask questions. We always seeking to create a presence in the community to bridge the gap and get people openly talking about behaviour, emotion or social skills.
  • Promoting safe access within the community, so as to eliminate anxiety and stress.

This brings us to an exciting event happening at the end of this month in support of the Hunter Region! We are participating in the Hunter Disability Expo this May! We participate in local expos in the community to bridge the gap and bring awareness to the support that is offered.

The Hunter Disability Expo is open to anyone that would like to attend and it is on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd May at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. 

Participants get to see all the different supports and companies within the Hunter that offer assistance to our kids, all the way through to adulthood, from allied health professionals to general support services. 

On a personal note, growing up, this level of awareness, education and events to support our local communities and families simply weren’t available. This is often still the case in our regional communities. So participating in events like this to share with others within a safe space, is and will always continue to be a passion of mine. 

So, if you have time and want to see us and many other local health professionals, join us at the Hunter Disability Expo and don’t be afraid to say Hi! We would love to see you there. 

Until next time,
Jess

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MAY 5, 2021

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