Grounding is a helpful technique, but it is just a technique, not an end in itself. Grounding can be helpful, and it can also be unhelpful – when it is offered not in the client’s best interests, for the wrong reasons, or inappropriately.
This PDF poster provides a comprehensive list of the do’s and don’ts of grounding, and how a therapist needs to be in the green zone themselves in order to help a client return there.
This is a free downloadable PDF.
Page 1 is a full-colour poster.
Page 2 is a low-ink, print-friendly version.
When a client becomes dysregulated during a session, often a therapist will attempt to ‘ground’ them. Good plan! … except when doing so increases dysregulation because it feels misattuned, because it’s not actually what’s needed in that moment, or because it’s done for the wrong reasons.
In this PDF poster, one of the downloadable resources from my webinar series, I look at the overall principle that a therapist should look to ground themselves first, and the client second – because to help a client back into the green zone, you need to be there yourself.
Check out Webinar 3 ‘Working with trauma triggers and flashbacks’ for a comprehensive discussion about what grounding is and isn’t, and how to use it most helpfully.