Each month we will focus on a different Toolbox Tool and highlight that tool each week during the morning announcements. January's focus is the Quiet/Safe Place Tool and the following information has been taught and reinforced at South school.
Quiet/Safe Place Tool - “I remember my quiet and safe place”
Our second Toolbox tool is the Quiet/Safe Place Tool. When life gets stressful, each of us needs a place to feel safe — a place with some space between ourselves and what is happening around us. The Quiet/Safe Place, is a real location or a place in the imagination. This tool is about learning to focus on a memory of our safe place, which helps our body to relax.
Picture a happy place that can be visited again and again in your mind. (Maybe it’s the beach listening to the sounds of the waves, or outside up in your tree house, or it could even be the cozy couch in your family room). You can “go to” your very own quiet/safe place in your mind whenever you feel the need for comfort or to want to reduce stress.
Examples of when we can use our Quiet/Safe Place Tool:
- In the classroom, if a student is crying because they are upset, the teacher might ask them to close their eyes and picture their “quiet and safe place” to help them calm down.
- Before a presentation, a student who is feeling nervous about public speaking can use the quiet/safe Place tool to visualize a calming environment to reduce their anxiety.
- When transitioning from an active, outdoor recess back into the classroom to start a reading assignment, you can go to your quiet/safe place to focus and center yourself to begin your classwork.
