Do you practice emotional first-aid?
Washington state recently implemented a new law requiring that all providers take a suicide prevention training course. Apparently some doctors were not happy with this new requirement...especially anesthesiologists. And sure enough, while I was taking the course, I noticed the anesthesiologists in the class doing crossword puzzles. I completely understand that in their field, they will not have the chance to use the suicide screening tools with their patients but as a member of society, as a human being in a community, I would still think this is very valuable info. So much so, a version of it should be taught in high schools as part of health class; learning how to deal with psychic/emotional pain and supporting others around you who are suffering from it are tools we should all be learning from a young age.
The week I took that course I coincidentally heard a brief audio clip of Guy Winch which lead me to read the transcript of his TED talk. He makes such a great case for practicing "emotional first-aid" and how it actually takes practice to manage our emotional distress: "Studies tell us that even a two-minute distraction is sufficient to break the urge to ruminate in that moment." How many of us mull/obsess over and re-live things from our past and worry about the future? How many of us can't stop our racing minds? It takes practice to not live with that sort of stress/anxiety and obsessive thinking.
The Virtual Hope Box is a nice little app I learned about from the suicide training workshop. We should be teaching our kids tools like this to build up their emotional resilience and keep them from needing anti-depressants/anxiety meds, alcohol or drugs to cope with emotional pain when they get older.