"Giving yourself options - Emotional Regulation"

There are a lot of buzz words and keywords floating around in research, academics circles, and newsletters that relate to "Emotional Regulation". While I focus on providing services to pediatric persons (young teens through young adults), emotional regulation is applicable to many people beyond such ages. Our performance at work, outside of work, family life, solitary tasks, new tasks, routine task...all require some level of mental attention. Regulating our emotions can reduce hinderances in our performance of such tasks.

Most people are familiar with the anxieties of public speaking. Training one to reduce anxiety with public speaking is a traditional example of how emotional regulation can be used to achieve better performance. There are other examples: What about attending field trips or grocery shopping with children who experience sensitivity to lights/crowds/confusing social norms? Things that ought to be enjoyed might not be. As a clinician, I assist with training pediatric persons and family/hired caregivers to figure out the tools and tweaks necessary so that you can give yourselves options to make daily tasks easier.

One of the amazing things about children is the opportunity to watch them grow. This also means that they experience different environments, transition to work with different persons, and change as people. Training in emotional regulation is beneficial to pediatric persons because it enables them to be more flexible. It enables them to generalize their learning to different people, places, and tasks. As parents, we watch them grow. As clinicians, we assist in the transition, for when they grow out of one form and into another.