At the end of the first session, I often offer some "First Aid"; this is a small collection of coping skills that I have found most useful as immediate relief from stress, worry and anxiety.  Here is a selection of my "First Aid:" tips - some or all might apply to you.

1. The 3 P”s – PATIENCE  -  PERSISTENCE AND POSITIVITY
   You will need to have patience in the process, be patient with yourself and others. Persistence is essential, keep working on the techniques that are given to you and you will have success. Positivity is an attitude to cultivate in all things.  It helps in everything you do and helps lower stress and build self-esteem.
   
   
2. THOUGHT STOPPING - Relief from worrying and/or intrusive thoughts.
   Thought stopping is a simple technique from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. It really works, but like all these techniques it takes the 3 P’s – especially persistence. Ask yourself – “What is it that is being bothered by these worries”?  The answer is simple – YOU – your essential self, consciousness, ego, whatever you want to call it – It’s that part that should be telling the thoughts what to do – not the other way around. 
   
   So be strong – and tell the worries/intrusive thoughts the following phrase very loudly and firmly inside your head – STOP! - GO AWAY! - I DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH YOU NOW!!!! The thoughts will come back again and again – and each and every time you will say this phrase to them until you push them out of your consciousness. Don’t change the words in any way – say them exactly as above every time.
   
   
3. SELF-AWARENESS/MINDFULNESS.
   Cultivate an awareness of the self, where you are at, what you are thinking, - feeling - the environment around you (how are you responding to it?). When we are mindful we can catch our emotions from the beginning. For example the ‘wind up’ when we begin to feel stressed or anxious – the ‘wind-down’ when we are starting to become depressed. In this way we can stop distressing thoughts and emotions quickly before they get out of hand.
   
   
4. POSITIVE THINKING.
   With mindfulness and self-awareness comes knowledge of what we are saying to ourselves and how we are feeling about ourselves.  Then we can catch ourselves with some of the following and turn them around.
   
   Not “i can’t’ - “I CAN”.
   Not “I have to” or “I must” or “I ought to” - “I CHOOSE TO” or “I NEED TO”.
   “Melanie doesn’t like me" to “If Melanie doesn’t like me – so what?  It’s not the end of the world – that’s the way it is – now what can I do to make myself feel better now” (MAKE A LIST OF PLEASANT DISTRACTIONS)

For every “What if “– say  “SO WHAT”.

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