COPECARD coping skills impact

COPECARD coping skills are clinically sound, trauma informed, and delivered in engaging designs. This approach supports coping skills acquisition and knowledge conversion from short-term to long term memory (memory consolidation). Two of the real life impacts are:

Retrieval and implementation of healthy coping skills under stress

Self-regulation: moving from one’s emotional/stress brain to one’s thinking brain, supporting healthy decision making

Some impact testimonials:

“I was really angry that I had to clean a room and didn’t want to do it. So I went back to my room, sat down, and the COPECARDs popped in to my head. I started looking around the room, seeing the TV, the frig, using the grounding card. Lord behold, it helped! I calmed down and was able to go clean the room.” - Kim

“I got real stressed out yesterday. I was on the verge of quitting the program. I went straight to the faces (Identify Feelings COPECARD). I looked at where I was and then where I could be. I started breathing. I calmed all the way down and I mean, I came way down because I was up to a thousand. I realized that I don’t want to quit this. I want to finish what I started.” - Mary

“Everywhere you look, there is an answer, a positive solution. The design draws you in – people start looking at the design and become less upset.”- Amanda, in using the ASK FOR HELP COPECARD

“One time, It was a rough night. I was done. It was after 10, I couldn’t go outside for a smoke. So I was packing up to leave. The cards were in my drawer. I picked them up. The one with the arrows was on top. (ASK FOR HELP COPECARD) The cards helped me center myself so I could think things through instead of making a rash decision. I decided to stay.” - Anna

“I was skeptical, I didn’t think it was going to work. I was upset after talking with my daughter. I started using the card. By the time I got to smelling, I realized, I‘m actually not upset anymore. I noticed I was thinking more than feeling. It switched me over to my thinking brain. I had no tightness in my chest and I wasn’t breathing rapidly anymore.” - Amanda, in using 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding COPECARD

What is COPING SKILLS training?

We have just published our CORE 8 Training Guide. What is Coping Skills training? The training walks you through fundamental aspects of eight coping skills, what we call the CORE 8 (see the COPECARD CORE 8 cards here). TIER 1 skills are identifying stress in your body, brain and feelings. TIER 2 skills are ways to manage (cope with) the stress by using body, brain and feeling coping skills: breathing, moving, progressive muscle relaxation, grounding, identifying feelings and giving and receiving care. Here is an overview from page 1 of the guide:

The training:

• educates about the stress/trauma experience

  • examines how stress/trauma can change us

  • addresses the daily life impact of stress/trauma on the body, brain, and feelings

• normalizes and validates the stress/trauma experience

  • brings awareness to the body, brain, and feelings response to stress/trauma

  • moves the question from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”

• equips the user with trauma informed coping skills

  • to cope with stress and trauma

  • to move us from our “stress/trauma/emotional brain” to our “thinking brain”

  • to restore functioning

• “Training You to Train Others”: outlines the value of learning these skills with the intent of training others

The guide is designed for:

• individuals and groups (e.g., family, friends, school, church, mental wellness groups),

• everyday settings to understand stress and build healthy coping

• stress/trauma survivors and providers (the guide can compliment any existing mental wellness program)

Pair the guide with the COPECARD CORE 8 Set of cards.