Parent Workshop (February 2022)
Please find below the resources and PPT that were shared during our latest Emotion Coaching workshop. If you would like any further information, please contact Mrs Schneider via the school office.
Emotion Coaching for parents (1)
Links:
Inside Out – Emotional Intelligence – YouTube
Lego version of hand model of brain – YouTube
Emotion Coaching
Emotion Coaching is a strategy that all staff at St Joseph & St Theresa’s are committed to using in order to help children understand, manage an regulate their emotions. We know that we all experiences a range of emotions, even in just one day, and for some children and adults, knowing how to manage these without them becoming overwhelming and taking over our day to day activities, can be a difficult task.
We recognise that all behaviour is a form of communication and as educational practitioners, it is our job to ‘look under the behaviour’ to identify the emotions and feelings that child is trying to communicate.
Emotion Coaching uses moments of heightened emotion and resulting behaviour to guide and teach the child and young person about more effective responses. Through empathetic engagement the child’s emotional state is verbally acknowledged and validated, promoting a sense of security and feeling ‘felt’. This activates changes in the child’s neurological system and allows the child to calm down, physiologically and psychologically. Inappropriate behaviours are not condoned in Emotion Coaching and when the child is calmer, incidents are discussed in a more rational and productive manner. Moves are made to problem solve and engage in solution-focused strategies. ” (Emotion Coaching UK)
We all have emotions.
Six emotions are identified as hardwired and universal to all by Eckman (1972). These are: Joy, Anger, Surprise, Fear, Disgust and Sadness. We all have to learn to recognise emotions, name these and know how these present physically and emotionally in ourselves and others, to accept that we cannot help feeling them and learn how to manage (self-regulate) them.
A key message here is that all feelings are normal and natural but may need to be regulated into more socially appropriate behaviours.
How it all works.
There are four stages to the process of Emotion Coaching.
Stage 1
Recognising the child’s feelings and empathising with them. It is really important within this stage that we empathise and not sympathise with the child.
Stage 2
Labelling the feelings and validating these. All feelings are beneficial to us and are part of our primitive survival, sometimes we just need a little help recognising these. You may say ‘I wonder if you are feeling… I would feel…if that happened to me or ‘That must have been really ….. for your…. It’s normal to feel like that about …..’
Stage 3
Setting limits of behaviour (if this is needed). The next two stages of emotion coaching should only be completed once the child is fully calm and is able to think and plan.
It is important that we recognise and normalise these feelings but also set boundaries for our behaviour. ‘I understand that you may have felt … but in order for us to all stay safe, we need to….’
Stage 4
Problem solving with the child. This stage helps the child to plan and use strategies to help manage and regulate these emotions when they feel this way in the future providing them with a type of emotional toolkit. In this stage you may choose to talk through the strategies, mind map or draw. “Let’s think about what we could have done instead,” or “Let’s decide together what we could do next time.”
All of these stages are supported fully by an adult so the child feels safe, secure and a sense of belonging. They are able to recognise their emotions and feelings, know how these present and are able to devise strategies, which work for them, when knowing how to deal with these. The child should never feel a sense of shame or worthlessness.
Below is a short clip showing how Sadness, from the film Inside Out, is using the stages of Emotion Coaching.
emotion coaching clip – YouTube
For more information visit Emotion Coaching Resources for Professionals (emotioncoachinguk.com) or contact Mrs Schneider through the school office.