Toni Jackson
Counselling & Psychotherapy for the Misunderstood
Smiling Mind
Are you familiar with Smiling Mind? They are a non-profit organisation who teach and advocate the benefits of mindfulness for children, adolescents and adults. They run programs in schools and workplaces around Australia and internationally. Smiling Mind also has a fabulous, free app that my eight year old daughter and I both use regularly. As it says on their website,
“Smiling Mind exists to help build individual mental health and wellbeing through positive, pre-emptive tools based on mindfulness meditation. Co-developed with psychologists and health professionals Smiling Mind is accessible to everyone, irrespective of geographic location or socio-economic status.”
Research on the benefits of Smiling Mind programs, found that when used consistently, they can improve sleep, emotional wellbeing, stress management and provide feelings of contentment. These findings definitely fit with my own personal experience with using the app.
For further information on the Smiling Mind Education Program, please click here.
Video: Smiling Mind
Activities For Getting In Touch With Your Safe Place
Can you remember a time when you felt really calm and safe? Maybe as a child on your mother’s lap; spending time with someone you love; walking in nature; or snuggled under the blankets in bed. What is your safest, calmest or happiest memory? If you cannot remember ever feeling calm and safe, what is the most okay you have ever felt – even for just a moment?
If you will, allow yourself to pause and remember that time, place or person and notice how you feel in your body right now. What is your breathing like – is it shallow or deep? How do your muscles feel – are they tight or relaxed?
When we get in touch with our safe place, it can be an empowering experience, bringing us a sense of calm, safety and connection with ourselves.
Trauma and the Body
Recently, I had the privilege of attending some training on trauma and the body in Perth, Western Australia, with Body-centred Psychotherapist, Dr Andy Harkin. I’d like to share with you some of the key messages from that training.
What is Trauma?
Trauma, is any overwhelming and threatening experience that we are unable to integrate (Ogden & Fisher, 2015). Some people who experience dangerous or threatening situations do not go on to experience trauma, whilst others do. The range of experiences that can induce trauma are vast, from surgery, to a car accident, violence or neglect. Trauma also manifests in many varied ways, such as anxiety, depression, a mysterious illness, unexplained rage or a sense of having lost the self.
A large portion of our memory of traumatic experience is held in our body.
Toni Jackson 