Wellness Tools

Wellness Tools

Go fishing
Shut down and think, what to do and what not to do
Get into a good book
Drawing
Focus on something other than negatives
Be aware of where I am mentally
Music
Kick back and watch the news rather than reading about it
Avoid the news
Taking care of my horses
Keep my hands busy
Go outside
Go into town
Make a to-do list
Helping other people who are having a hard time
Being around people you know can understand
Play with photos of family members and friends for fun (on the computer
with Photo Booth)
Not writing a journal
Call a friend
Do peer support
Quiet, silence
What I am like when I am well
Caring
Good sense of humor
Energy
Responsible
Interacting with other people
Regularly take care of personal hygiene
Wear better clothes
Things I need to do every day
Don’t worry about today-or next week
Live for today
Take medicine
Do something for myself
Go to a group
Stretching
Read a book
Things I might need to do on a particular day
Take personal time
Go outside, get sun on my face
Get vehicles serviced
Get animal feed
Get a hair cut
Take care of fishing gear
Back up the computer
Triggers
Loud sounds
Going back
Loud, threatening, controlling people
People treating me like I don’t count, like my opinion isn’t important
Crowds
Bloody scenes
Certain ethnic races
Hearing certain accents or language
Sirens, ambulances
People avoiding me
News
Being around people
Hearing a door slam
People approaching quickly
Movies reminders seen on the news
Triggers Action Plan
Self talk
Breathing exercises
Get myself grounded-know it’s just a flashback
Ask for help
Call friend or supporter
Leave an uncomfortable situation
Shut down, don’t say a work
Catch my breath
Focus on something pleasurable
Figure out why I was triggered
“It won’t last forever”
“This too shall pass”
Early Warning Signs
Start to isolate
Feel overwhelmed
Tunnel vision
Can’t hear too much or focus
Lack of motivation
Increased irritability
“”Nobody else cares” “why bother” stage
“Stinkin thinkin”
Using more caffeine
Increase in smoking
Doing “what if” in my head
Thinking about drinking or using
Overeating or under eating
Early Warning signs action plan
Groups at VA
Tell myself “winners never quit, quitters never win”
“What is try? You just do it or you don’t do it
go to Vet to Vet meeting
prioritize
go to a 12 step meeting
Daily Maintenance Plan
Call someone to talk
Peer support
Talk to my partner
Let my care provider know that I am experiencing early warning signs
Write in my journal-conversation with myself, can use this to explain what is
going on
Signs that things are breaking down
Start to get irritable and could get abusive
Racing thoughts
Days without sleep
Can’t shut down
Thoughts of self harm
Obsessed with negative thoughts
Thoughts of running
Spending excessive $
-anger-if I can’t catch it, it escalates
doing mental damage to my family
irrational responses to others
trying to get others pissed off so they leave
Things are breaking down action plan
Give partner car keys, check book, credit cards
Let someone know I need help and accepting the help
Sit down and tell my family-“things are breaking down”
listen to music
Find a small project I can finish
Get back to my routine-check Daily Maintenance
Take a break from what is flipping me out
Go out in the woods
Go to a safe place
Self-hypnosis
Meditation
Visualizations
Read
Physical and mental work
Signs that others need to take over for me
Being very verbally abusive to others for 24 hours-I am out of touch
Won’t talk at all-for a few days
Isolating, pissed off at the world
Could care less what anyone thinks
Find fault with everything
Sleep a lot-all day and night
Total loss of motivation
Won’t eat for days
Won’t do anything, then beat myself up for it
Stop coming to groups
Help from others
Talk me down, calm me, explain the situation to me
“These things you are upset about are not real…”
listen to me
be with me, even if I tell you to leave
advocate for my sons, so I stay in the area and work with them
food shopping and food preparation
bag of potato chips
hamburger
Cherry Garcia,
House cleaning, laundry, vehicle maintenance
Pay bills