Three Sanctuary tools you can use every day as Yorganop Carers.
We are now approaching the end of our third year of Sanctuary at Yorganop. How are you using Sanctuary at home with yourself and the children in your care?
A Community Meeting which has three questions that you can ask each other in turn before kids go to school.
“How are you feeling?”
“What are your goals?” and
“Who can you ask for help?
Asking these questions helps you to connect with the children in your care and give them a sense of support and safety. By using this tool every morning, you can work out how the kids are feeling and how to successfully communicate with them about getting ready for their day at school. It is also a good way to talk with kids about who they can check in with at school if they felt unsafe.
A Calm Down Plan for yourself and for each of the children. A Calm Down Plan is a visual reminder of activities that we can do ‘in the moment’ to come back to a calm state or ‘remain regulated’ when we are feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. The reason we have a Calm Down Plan is so we don’t participate in behaviours that hurt ourselves, or anyone else.
You make a Calm Down Plan by identifying what strong emotions you find hard to handle and to write a list of your own favourite ways to calm down. Practice using your Calm Down Plans and keep them close at all times – remember you can keep it on your phone!
A Wellbeing plan for yourself as a carer. Older children might also like to create their own Self Care Plan.
This is a written plan where we identify daily practices and activities that we can make the time to use, so that we are building up our ability to cope in the face of stress, as well as to stop burnout and vicarious trauma.
Self-care practices include activities such as exercise, healthy diet, adequate sleep, time connecting with others, and ‘mindful’ and relaxing activities such as hobbies, creative arts, and participating in community events .
How we can help you:
- Sanctuary at Home
- Little Book of Sanctuary
- Calm Down Plan
- Community Meeting Graphic
- Self-Care Plan
