Coastal Child and Adult Therapeutic Services - CCATS

17/09/2024

This is a basic explanation of how our amygdala and hippocampus work together to help organise, store memories, and protect us, and what can happen during trauma when this connection gets disrupted. Thanks to heidipsychology.

04/09/2024

The Window of Tolerance is a model founded in Neuroscience (the scientific study of the nervous system), which helps develop good practice for improving and maintaining mental health and wellbeing. It offers a way of thinking about how we function optimally, in our various roles, and how to manage when heightened emotions begin to have a negative impact. Like everyone, children’s emotions fluctuate, particularly at times of stress and crisis and in the height of emotion, they find it difficult to express what’s happening verbally. Physiological and behavioural changes provide the information we need to understand and support them. Recognising the signs that a child or young person is struggling with their emotions, helps us to support them. Using the Window of Tolerance is one way of doing this.

14/08/2024

Phobias tend to stem from the same thought processes where your brain has accidentally labelled something as highly dangerous, so it does everything it can to stop you coming into contact with it.

With the right support and intervention, you can be helped to overcome phobias. Contact CCATS for more information.

02/08/2024

31/07/2024

27/07/2024

18/07/2024

The TIPP technique comes from Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. These tools work by making shifts in your physiology which feeds into your emotional regulation.

They don't change the environment or heal the trauma you may have experienced but regularly practicing these things means they might become an effective default coping strategy for you.

16/07/2024

Contact us if you feel you may need support, at info@ccats.org.uk

12/07/2024

SORC is an acronym for the four variables considered in behavioral analysis. The SORC is one method of functional assessment and is frequently used in examining behaviours (e.g aggression, self injury etc) before attempts are made to change them.

The SORC helps to determine how the presentation of certain stimuli leads to specific responses (perhaps influenced by individual, or organismic, variables), and which are followed by consequences that may then reinforce the elicited responses.

09/07/2024

04/07/2024

PACE is an evidence-based caregiving/parenting approach and stands for:

Playfulness
Acceptance
Curiosity
Empathy

Consistently having these qualities in your parenting is thought to facilitate the development of a secure attachment relationship, making you feel more connected with your child. It helps your child to feel understood and allows you to work through difficult situations together. Not only do these qualities of parenting enhance your relationship but they also support your child's emotional and behavioural development.

03/07/2024

The window of tolerance is a common theory coined by Dan Siegel and is said to be a type of 'zone' where we are able to process and respond to intense emotions in a 'healthy' way. Here we are able to self-regulate; we feel calm, grounded, and safe.

Every person's window of tolerance is different and unique to them. The window of tolerance also has upper and lower boundaries: hyperarousal and hypoarousal which comes with various responses (as shown on image).

If we have a large window of tolerance, we can tolerate a variety of different emotional experiences and are able to relatively maintain a sense of calm and safety. If we have a small window of tolerance, then many of our everyday experiences can feel unmanageable.

Experiences of trauma can lead to having a narrow window, where a large majority of situations often feel threatening and beyond our ability to manage internally.

CCATS can provide support to widen the window of tolerance - please get in touch if you feel this might be helpful.