Healthy adults model healthy behaviors for children. Our children are always watching what we do and are aware of how we manage stress!

"Personal Thermometer is a technique developed by Julian Ford (1999), an expert in the field of trauma and recovery, that helps children and teens build awareness about how distressed or calm they are feeling “in the moment” and how in control or “dysregulated” they are feeling on a scale of 1-10. Used as a visual cue, the thermometer can build emotional awareness and help teens scale the intensity of their emotions. This technique is often paired with SOS below.

SOS is a technique developed by Julian Ford (1999) to help children and adolescents feel more in control in the moment. The technique involves three steps that can help the individual focus and achieve clarity of their situation, what they are feeling, what to do next.

The steps are:

• Slow down (sit back, relax, take a deep breath, pay attention to breathing, one thought at a time).

• Orient (pay attention to where you are, what you are doing, who you are with)

• Self check (ask yourself how you are feeling and rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 for how stressed and in control you feel using the Personal Thermometer)"

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