by Heidi Lowell MT-BC
Supplies:
Lyric sheets for song
Distress tolerance hand outs 3&4
Guitar
Recoded music
Egg shakers
Intervention:
1. Set room up in circle.
2. Distribute handout 3 and briefly discuss crisis situation and the negative coping that many often engage in. Explain that there are crisis survival skills to help manage short term pain and get through these crisis without using harmful behaviors.
Explain there are a few tools but today we will learn the STOP skill.
3. Then therapist hands out lyric sheets and sings this song
Set to the tune of You Gotta Be by Des’ree
STOP
Verse
Things may often upset you,
Pain can be hard to see through,
Strong emotions Make you want to end the pain.
Bad habits appeal to you,
But they won’t fix it for you,
Just remember that there is a skill to use.
You gotta stop,
Chorus
you gotta stop, to slow your mind,
Take a step back,
You gotta observe, to help your choice
And not jump to conclusions,
Then use wise mind to stay calm and
Proceed mindfully
All I know, all I know can fix my pain.
Repeat chorus
4. After completing song, distribute handout 4 and explain each part (stop, take a step back, observe, proceed mindfully).
5. Then to practice stop and take a step back give group egg shakers and have them shake along with recorded music and periodically stop it and have them physically take a step back and breath each time it stops. Have group discuss difficulties or ease of stopping and how the stepping back helped.
6. For observe have discussion about what to observe ( thoughts, urges, emotions, body sensations, surroundings, environment, other person) and how stopping and stepping back aid in calming emotions so the observation can be helpful at determining options.
7. Proceed mindfully, again explain concept and questions to ask one self and reiterate importance of wise mind and provide a role play example for the group.
8. Then replay STOP song encouraging group to sing to help strengthen retention.
9. Give assignment of identifying 2 times they used the STOP skill before the next session (assuming one week in between).