Sometimes cozy doesn't feel possible. The fear's too real and present. Affirmations and cozy both work for some folks, and that's great. But for some other folks, you gotta start with something that feels inevitable, first. Then, play it through. Tell the story of how you survived. (4/4)

Lots of therapies (pretty much all the ones I was actually trained in) suggested "letting the thought pass by," something that sounds kind, but can feel dismissive to folks still close to their trauma. So instead, I'd have us say what happened next. Together, we would tell how they survived. (3/4)

It was basically a dystopian storytelling game! Just, one that required a happy ending. We'd start with taking on the biggest fear. Could be as intimate as someone's family dying, could be as huge as nuclear war. Then, we'd play the whole thing through. (2/?)

When I was a cps, one thing I learned quick from the kids I worked with was that affirmations felt like lies for many folks working through some trauma recovery. So I made a game out of what comforted me, someone else for whom affirmations never worked. I called it "playing it through" (1/?)

i get they are separate classes buuuut my 1 year old is sleep regressing and my exhausted brain read this for a second as all the elements of a single class. which sounds like an Experience.

HA thank you! It's a vibe

I was decidedly unlucky, though I am so far Still Alive, and in terms of fun: wrote 2249 words during the forty seven minutes both sick kids were either asleep or preoccupied, so. Fuck yeah?