What is a Psychologist

Care Kits

Our care kits foster healing beyond our therapy sessions through play, connectedness, self-care and comfort. They are given to families who participate in the services Reaching HOPE provides, as well as members of the community.

Play is an important element that can be beneficial to adults and children alike as it can:

Help us release stress and release endorphins (feel-good hormones) into the body
Improve brain function and prevent memory issues
Stimulate the mind and foster creativity
Improve relationships and connectivity within the family
Aid in development of social skills and improve family communication
Help us heal emotional wounds within ourselves and our families

All of the Items in the Care Kit have been carefully selected and designed by our Reaching HOPE team. Each item is meant to help you learn to find connection, safety, and fun within within yourself or together with your chosen family.

Because trauma can make it hard to stay in the moment you are actually in, you will find that the items in this kit will help you come back to this moment and remind your body of all the amazing ways you are able to take back power over your own thoughts and feelings, and ways you can connect and feel comfortable with people who are safe.

Click on the tabs above for ideas on how to use each item!

To request a care kit, or learn more about how you can help us get more kits into the community, contact info@reachinghope.org

We love using this emotion magnet lots of time throughout every day! Being able to identify and talk about emotions is a very helpful way for us to learn how to handle our emotions. Emotions are part of who we are as human beings, so don't hide from them! Learn to talk about them and how to express them in healthy ways.

For all ages:

Hang this up in a place where people can see it. Each morning, use the square or just point to share the way you are feeling with people you feel safe with. As those emotions change throughout the day, move the square or share with people the new emotion you are feeling!
Grownups-make sure you check in on this magnet. Sometimes kids have a hard time saying their emotion out loud, but they almost always want a safe grownup to know what they are really feeling! Give them the opportunity to show you how they are feeling through these emotions.
Pick an emotion that you hope to feel during the day. Talk to one another about how you can create that emotion in yourselves and how you can help everyone else feel the emotion they picked!
At night during dinner or as part of a bedtime routine, pull this out and have each person name 3 emotions they felt that day and what was happening when they felt that emotion. Talk about how they handled feeling that way and the ways they stayed in control. This goes for positive emotions, too! Feeling happy is awesome, but when our happy gets too big, we often feel out of control and can make mistakes. How can we keep all of our emotions in check so that we keep control of our bodies?

Feeling Magnet sheet with diverse people representing different common emotions

These therapist created questions are meant to help you think about things in a different way, and help you talk about things that are important. You can do this on your own or together with your chosen family.

With your chosen family:

These cards can be used just about anywhere! It can be fun to all answer the same question and learn the ways you are alike and different. Some places you might pull out the cards:
- As you are eating a meal together, take turns pulling cards and reading and answering them aloud
- As part of your family bedtime routine, ask one question and give everyone time to answer. Make sure everyone gets a turn and everyone gets a positive response!
- While driving in the car
- At the grocery store to keep everyone entertained and connected
- While doing chores at home
Sometimes it's hard to answer questions out loud. Use the included journal and write the question at the top of the page and then let each person write their answer down on that page. Decide together if you want to read the answers out loud, or if you each want to read the other person's answers. if someone does not want their answer read aloud, honor that! It's ok if you each have different needs and some of you feel comfortable sharing out loud, and others want to share more quietly.
Make sure you give one another lots of positive feedback on their answers. This is not about judging other people, it's about learning about each other! Use this time to uncover something new about someone you love.

On your own:

Use the included journal and let the card you pull guide you. You can start by answering the question on the card, but then let your mind go and write down whatever comes up. As you do that, you can decide to let the paper hold the thoughts in your brain so you don't have to! It's also ok if nothing else comes up and you just answer the question!
Pull the card in the morning and then let yourself think about it all day. If something in your day feels stressful, go back to that question and think about how your answer might be changing as the day goes on or as your mood changes. What does that tell you about yourself?
As you pull these cards, discover something new about yourself! Had you thought about this before? Is this something you share with other people? How does this answer link back to your values and how you show up in the world?

Cards with questions including "How would I describe myself to someone who has never met me?" Questions are in English and Spanish.

Coloring helps calm and focus your brain, allowing your body to relax. This can be done on your own, or with someone safe. You can choose to make this a calm activity or a silly activity. Either one is great!

For a calm activity:

Sit quietly, or with quiet music playing
Use the colored pencils in your kit (or use crayons, markers, chalk, or whatever feels good to you!)
Focus on what the pencils feel like in your hand and the way they color the page. Do you want the color to be dark or light? Feel the muscles you use as you are pressing the pencil on the page.
What does each color make you feel? As you color your page, what emotions are represented on the page? You can use this to help get clear on what all you are feeling, or as a way to work through those emotions. Put them on the page and let the picture hold those emotions for you-let them go as you color.
If you are coloring with someone (for example your child), talk about what you are seeing them color, help them identify the emotions they feel as they use certain colors.

For a silly activity:

Do all of the above, but add laughter!
Play fun, silly music that makes you want to dance and sing along as you color.
If you are doing this with another person, pick colors for one another and talk about why. For example, you might say, "I picked that color because it makes me feel happy when I look at it, just like I feel when I look at you!
Color with your eyes closed! The goal of this activity is NOT to be perfect. It's to let go of some of the emotions swirling around and get you focused on this moment. With your eyes closed, you can really focus on what the pencil feels like as you color, and get your brain to remember what the picture looks like as you try to color without your eyesight!

Small activity book that says "My Awesome Activity Book" and a box of small colored pencils

Writing things down can help our brain let go. If we write it down, we know that it exists somewhere int he world, and therefore our brain doesn't have to be responsible for it! Journaling can also help us make sense of our feelings and work though hard things. Journals can be used with your chosen family or on your own.

With your chosen family:

Use the journal to communicate about good and hard things. Take turns writing things down and giving it back to the other person each day. Make sure you take time to read and respond so that you all know that your feelings will be heard. You might use it to ask questions, or just have a space to share things, or maybe both!
Pair this with the empowerment cards and let the card you pull guide what you write about together. Take turns answering the question and learning about one another!
Draw pictures that tell a story about your day. You can do this together or take turns drawing pictures to share with one another.
Make a list of what you love and appreciate about one another
Write down a wish list of things you want to do together. Make sure it has a wide variety of things-fun things, silly things, calm things, but that all of them are full of connection!
Write a list of all of the things that help you all feel safe. Include everything! This might be the lock on the door, the windows, a blanket, your dog, the lights, a stuffed animal. There is no right or wrong answer-just list all of the things that help you feel safe!
Track how everyone is feeling. Each night, write down how everyone felt all day. See if there are any changes.
Write down blessings. What went well in your day? Share that with one another and write them all down. Use those when you all are struggling-read back through them and see where those things still exist.
Give some compliments! We all need to know what we are doing well. Go around and have everyone say out loud or write down 1-3 things they appreciate or love about everyone else. Write them down so when people are feeling down or hard on themselves, they can go back to their page and remember the things that people love about them. These do not have to be big things, they can be small-"You smiled at me this morning and it helped me feel loved." or "You did the dishes and it made the kitchen feel so clean and gave me some time to relax. Thank you!" Every single person has done something well each day. Make sure everyone is paying attention so you don't miss those moments!

On your own:

Pair this with the empowerment cards and let the card you pull guide you. You can start by answering the question on the card, but then let your mind go and write down whatever comes up. As you do that, you can decide to let the paper hold the thoughts in your brain so you don't have to! It's also ok if nothing else comes up and you just answer the question!
Use this to write down your thoughts and experiences from the day. Don't judge what you write down! This isn't going to be published-or even read by anyone else. This is just a place to dump all of the things floating around in your head and body.
If you are having a hard time sleeping, write down all of the things that are filling up space in your brain. Then let it go! Those things will be there in the morning, but for now, you get to let go and sleep.
What are the emotions that are hardest for you? Start tracking those each day. On a scale of 1-10, how hard was that emotion today? 1 is not at all a problem, and 10 is the worst problem you have ever had. Pay attention to what changed those numbers, write down thing you think help those numbers come down.
Create a blessing journal. Write down at least 5 things that were blessings in your day. That might be that the sun was shining, a beautiful flower, someone smiling at you, you feeling peaceful for 3 minutes, etc. These are small blessings that always exist-make sure you are looking for them and paying attention to them!

Fidget toys are great for focus and to feel silly! Be sure to use them for both!

Squishy ball:

Use this to get calm and focused! How many of the bubbles can you push in before they start to pop back out? See if you can get one more next time! This means you have to go slow and carefully
Push in as many bubbles as you want, then squeeze it as hard as you can to make them all pop back out. Pay attention to the noises it makes and how it feels in your hand as the bubble pop back out.
Take a slow, deep breath. As you breath in, count how many bubbles you push in. Hold your breath for 4 seconds and pop all those bubbles! As you breathe out, count how many bubbles you push in, and try to push in 2 more as you breathe out than you did when you were breathing in. Hold your lungs empty as you pop all those bubbles again! Start over. Do this at least 3 times. Can you make your breaths even slower so you can push in more bubbles on each breath?
Play catch with someone safe. Each time someone catches the ball, push in another bubble. How many times can you do this before a bubble pops? You have to throw and catch very gently to avoid popping the bubbles!

Fidget Spinner:

Spin! Hold the spinner between your thumb and one of your fingers. Feel what it feels like as it spins. What sounds does it make? What colors can you see as it spins?
Spin it in one direction as you take a slow breath in. Stop the spinner and switch the direction it spins as you breathe out. Repeat at least 3 times.
Pick a color you see on the spinner. Give it a good spin and then look around the room to find as many things of the color you picked as you can before the spinner stops! You can do this on your own or with other people.
Give the spinner a slow spin. Can you make one breath (in and out) last the whole time the spinner is spinning?
Pair this with the feelings cards and act out an emotion, or list off ways to manage the emotion until the spinner stops spinning!

This Squishy Dough is a sensory experience-and that's great news! Our senses help us stay present in this moment, which helps us handle big overwhelming emotions. Most of our emotions are about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future. And most of our present moments are pretty calm and boring. If we can hep our minds get back to this moment, we can help ourselves stay calm. This squishy dough can be used to bring you back to this moment or help you and your chosen family have some fun, silly moments of play!

With your chosen family:

Take turns squishing the dough. Describe to one another what it feels like to each of you! What do you smell when you smell the dough, does it feel smooth or rough or sticky?
Break up the dough so everyone has equal amounts (you can also use play dough if you need more!). Use the fidget spinner as a timer, and see what everyone can create before the spinner stops! Take turns showing off your creation and giving one another compliments on their creativity!
Have one person pick something to make, everyone closes their eyes and builds it without looking! Use the spinner for a timer.
Everyone pick an emotion card and then build your emotion out of squishy dough!

On your own:

Squish, pull and roll the dough. Pay attention to how it feels, smells and how your body feels about playing with it. Is it calming, energizing, silly?
Create something silly!
Build something that reminds you of an emotion you are struggling with. What small changes can you make to turn that into an emotion that feels good to you?

7 containers of dough with flavor labels of Orange, Strawberry, Froot Loops, Blueberry, Razzberry, Cherry, Root Beet

These feeling cards have so many fun uses! Being able to identify and talk about emotions is a very helpful way for us to learn how to handle our emotions. Emotions are part of who we are as human beings, so don't hide from them! Learn to talk about them and how to express them in healthy ways. These cards can be used on your own or with people you feel safe with. There are 27 emotions and 2 of each emotion cards in this deck, along with a few blank card.

With people you feel safe with:

For all ages:
- Pull out a card and take turns telling about a time you felt that emotion
- Use the cards for charades! Pick a random card out and act out that emotion until someone has guessed it! Decide together if you can use sound effects or words to help everyone feel successful.
- Pull out a card and then figure out where in your bodies you feel this emotion. We ALL feel emotions in our bodies. For some of us, those emotions show up in the same spot (in our chest, or our belly), but sometimes those show up in unique ways! What are those ways for all of you? How can you recognize these emotions in each other?
For young children:
- Play a matching game! You can make this easier or more challenging by choosing more or less emotions to play with. What are the emotions that are most important in your family? Pull those out and flip them upside down. Take turns flipping over two cards at a time trying to make a match. As you match the cards, share a time you felt this emotion and what you did with it. For example, if you match Sad, you might tell a story about a time you were sad, and then say "I needed some time by myself to cry, and then I went to my friend and got a hug. That helped me handle my sad feelings." If you match Loved, you might tell a story about a time you felt loved and then say, "When I felt loved, I told that person how good I felt and squeezed their hand. I think that made both of us feel loved."
For all youth:
- Go through the deck of cards and decide as a chosen family what emotions you most value. What are the emotions you use to communicate with one another and why are they important? As you do that, number the cards like a deck of regular cards (2-10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace). You will need two emotions to make 4 cards of each number. Decide which emotions are the clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades (clovers). For example, you might decide that Safe and Loved are worth a lot in your family, so you would label one Safe card a Queen of Hearts, one Safe card a Queen of Diamonds, one Loved card a Queen of Spades, and one Loved card a Queen of Clubs. Now you can use them like a regular deck of cards. What are your favorite card games? Teach them to one another and take time every day to play!
Did we miss an emotion that is important to your family? Use the blank cards to draw your own emotions!
Remember that identifying positive emotions is just as important as identifying negative emotions! If we focus too much on either positive OR negative emotions, we are missing out on important experiences. Talk about all the emotions you feel! We should value feelings like anger, sadness, uncomfortable, etc. Those are our warning systems and when we can learn to listen to them, we can use those feelings to help us build safer relationships!
Make sure you give one another lots of positive feedback when they talk about their emotions. This is not about judging other people, it's about learning about each other and learning to communicate with one another! Use this time to uncover something new about someone you love.

On your own:

Pull out a random emotion card and journal about a time you felt that emotion and either 5 ways you can manage that emotion when you feel it or 5 ways you can help yourself feel that emotion when you need a lift.
Pull the card in the morning and then notice each time you feel that emotion and where in your body that emotion showed up. Did you feel that emotion too much, too little or just right? If it was too much or too little how can you change that so you feel that emotion just right?
Pull out a card visualize it as a color and/or a shape. If it is an emotion you want to have, how can you start to see that color inside of you and help it grow? If it is an emotion you don't want to have right now, how can you find it and start to shrink that color or shape until it feels manageable?
As you pull these cards, discover something new about yourself! Had you thought about this emotion before and how it shows up for you? Is this something you share with other people? How does this answer link back to your values and how you show up in the world?

Deck of cards displaying each showing a diverse person with an emotional expression, including Brave, Safe, Loved, Angry, Anxious and Calm. In English and Spanish.

Snuggle in! Tea can and should be a sensory experience. The warmth of the glass, the smell of the tea, the taste of the tea. All of these things can help bring you back to this moment, calm your senses and help you feel more at peace. Enjoy this on your own or with people you feel safe around.

With your chosen family:

Plan a tea party! Make a big pot of tea, grab a few cookies you can dip and get as fancy as you want. Make this playful and silly-use accents and fancy clothes, stick your pinky out and have lots of silly conversations. Talk about how the tea tastes, smells and how warm the glass is. Talk about what makes spending time together fun.
Make a cup of tea for someone you love. Think about the things you love about them, and when you bring them the cup share those things with that person!
Before bed, make tea for everyone (or warm water and honey, warm milk, etc). Make this part of your bedtime routine-but put it at the very beginning so that no one gets woken up needing to go to the bathroom!

On your own:

Make yourself a cup of tea. As the water is boiling, take 5 deep, slow breaths into your belly. Feel your feet on the ground or your bottom in a chair. Notice the room around you-how warm is it? are the lights bright or calm? where in this room do you feel the most comfortable? Listen to the sound of the water boiling, how it starts small and then gets more intense and loud. As you pour the water into your cup, listen to the sound. How does it change if you pour the water quickly or slowly? Give the tea a few minutes to steep and the glass to cool slightly. Smell the steam and feel how it feels on your face (make sure it's not too hot before you do this!), feel how warm the mug is. How does that feel on your hand? Bring your focus to that feeling and keep your mind focused there for 3 breaths. As you feel that warmth and smell the tea, take a small sip. How does the warm water feel on you lips? inside your mouth? How does it taste? Is it sweet enough, too sweet? Feel your body relax as you move thorough this. Keep your focus on the sensory experience as you drink.
Take your tea to go! Do all of the above, but drink it more slowly throughout the day. When you start to feel stressed, take a sip of tea and take a deep breath. Pay attention to the experience and bring yourself back into the moment.

A purple bag with a Tazo tea bag and 4 additional tea bags in various flavors.

These Warmies are meant to be a snuggly reminder that you are safe and cared for. It can be warmed up in the microwave, which will release more of the lavender smell, or carried around. These can be used on their own or with your chosen family.

With your chosen family:

Use these to help communicate. Sometimes kids have a hard time saying things directly to their grownups. Grab your Warmie and another stuffy and have a conversation through your little friends! If you want to make it silly, use silly voices or accents. Ask one another questions (you can use the empowerment cards if you need some ideas!), or just have a conversation about your day!
Let the Warmie talk about emotions. As the grownup, help the Warmie share their feelings and how they manage their feelings. Interact as if the Warmie is a person-using a different voice for the Warmie, ask and answer questions. Use this to talk about the things that have been hard to discuss as a family. Don't be afraid to bring up the hard things-your Warmie is helpful for you to talk about these feelings also!
Make this part of your bedtime routine. Is one of the kids having an especially hard time at night? Warm your Warmie up and as you tuck your child in, put the Warmie in bed with them. Tell them all of the things that keep them safe and let them know that if they feel scared or nervous, they can hug their Warmie tight and smell the lavender. As they do that, they can remember that you are there keeping them safe and loved.

On your own:

Warm up your Warmie and give it a hug. Smell the lavender, feel the way the warmth comes into your body, touch the soft fur and notice how it feels on your fingers. Feel your feet on the ground, or your body on a chair / couch / bed. Think about the things that keep you safe and the ways you are feeling empowered.
Give it a squeeze! How does the lavender inside move when you squeeze it? What does it sound like? What does it smell like?

A grey hedgehog stuffed animal with a white belly, face, arms and feet.

Hear from those who have shared care kits with their clients

“They added to the spirit of our own services in a complementary way, messaging that we are here to support you. Also the for stress relief is a good one for most clients.”

Sandy, Diversion Counselor

“They are amazing for Substance Use Clients because they helped them to practice regulation and soothing. They receive them with excitement and lots of appreciation.”

Alfonso, Diversion Counselor

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for Care Kits! I enjoy showing and sharing the kits with parents and helping them understand the importance of self – care.

Care Kits

​For all ages:​

Hang this up in a place where people can see it. Each morning, use the square or just point to share the way you are feeling with people you feel safe with. As those emotions change throughout the day, move the square or share with people the new emotion you are feeling!

Hear from those who have shared care kits with their clients

Sandy, Diversion Counselor

Alfonso, Diversion Counselor

Tricia, Forensic Interviewer

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For all ages: