How It Works

Healthy coping skills fall into various categories: 

• Physical: breathe, walk

• Mental: read, write

• Emotional: I am feeling

• Social: talk it out

And have various goals:

• Engagement: connection to self and others

• Distraction: taking your mind off your distress

• Occupation: giving a sense of purpose, accomplishment

• Emotional: decrease distress, improve emotional well-being

• Physical: lower hyper-aroused state

• Mental:  improve clarity of thinking, problem solving

The fundamental goal of all healthy coping is to promote our ability to manage stress and trauma in ways that restore and maintain functioning and preserve our and other’s safety, well-being and lives.

How to Use

Use healthy coping skills that are comfortable, accessible and effective. Be flexible: try one, if it doesn’t help, try another. Practice skills when you are not stressed. For example: practice breathing skills, training your brain and body how to activate your parasympathetic nervous system (see 5 Finger Breathing). When a stress or trauma event occur, you will already be equipped with that skill. The ones listed here are core skills. Build on these to create your custom set of skills.

When to Use

Keep card in view to reinforce healthy coping skills, to help you build your own coping skill repertoire.

What It Can Do

Healthy coping skills promote our ability to manage stress and trauma well

• to restore and maintain functioning

• to preserve our and other’s safety, well-being and lives

Having these skills visible for reference, for conversation starters, reinforces their validity and utility.