Don't Blow Your Top! Rebecca Saltmarsh, Aimee Stimpson and Gary North
Balloon Alert!
Rebecca and Gary Work at Facing the Challenge with children and young people (0-18) who have learning disabilities and behaviours that challenge.
AimĂŠe Works in the Merthyr Tydfil Community Learning Disability Team with adults who have a learning disability.
Helping people to deal with anger Part of the work we do with children and adults
with learning disabilities is to help them deal with anger Sometimes we work with people on their own Sometimes we run groups and invite people to come together to talk about anger
We call the groups the ‘Don’t blow your top’ groups, because we try to help the children and adults who come, learn how to cope with their angry feelings so they don’t........
‘Blow their top!’
Feeling Angry Everyone feels angry sometimes and that’s OK. Some people are able to cope with these feelings and maybe even use them in a helpful way. But we all need to learn to control our anger so we don’t blow our top and; upset somebody, hurt our self, break something, hurt someone else or get into trouble.
In order to control our anger, we need to: •Know what makes us angry (the triggers). •Know when we are becoming angry. •Find ways to help us become calm.
What are the groups for? The groups run for 10 to 12 weeks. In the groups we talk about
what things make us feel angry.
how feelings of anger are normal.
ways to deal with situations in a better way and to
feel more in control.
We also involve people who support group members.
This means they can help them use what they learn in the group in everyday situations.
Types of things that make us angry
Someone took my things
Someone shouted or swore at me
Someone told me No
My things got broken
If people ignore me
Someone annoyed me
......................... Something else
How do our bodies feel when we are angry?
Sometimes lots of little things make us angry. We then may get angrier and angrier until we... Blow our Top!
Tell us some of the things that make you angry
My things got broken
Things we might do when we blow our top
cry
break something
hit someone
punch something
run off hurt our selves
shout nasty things
What can I do to stop blowing my top?
Things I can do to calm down 8 9 10 Count to 10 Go chill out Some where
Do some deep breaths Think about nice things Ask for Help
I ‘m angry
Go talk to someone else Do a different activity
Calmly walk away
Doing Something Else
Listen to music
Play Consoles
Play Games
Have a chat Have a cuppa
Watch TV
Don’t blow your top log
Blowing my top Gary
Saturday 2nd April
Where was I angry?
Home
With Friends
School
.......................... Somewhere else
Where was I angry?
Home
With Friends
School
.......................... Somewhere else
What was I doing before I got angry?
With friends
Games Consoles
In class Playing Games
On The Internet Chilling Out
.............................. Something else
Watching TV
What was I doing before I got angry?
With friends
Games Consoles
In class Playing Games
On The Internet Chilling Out
.............................. Something else
Watching TV
What made me angry? Someone hit me
Someone shouted at me
Someone told me No!
Someone bullied me
Something got broke something
I did not understand
!
Someone annoyed me
........................ Something else
Someone took my things
What made me angry? Someone hit me
Someone shouted at me
Someone told me No!
Someone bullied me
Something got broke something
I did not understand
!
Someone annoyed me
........................ Something else
Someone took my things
What did I do? I hit someone
Punched something
I cried
I broke something
BANG
I ran off
I shouted nasty things
I slammed doors
........................... Something else
Hurt myself
What did I do? I hit someone
Punched something
I cried
I broke something
BANG
I ran off
I shouted nasty things
I slammed doors
Pushed someone
Hurt myself
Who was I angry with?
Mum
With Friends
Sister
Dad
................................. Someone else
Brother
Teacher
Who was I angry with?
Mum
With Friends
Sister
Dad
................................. Someone else
Brother
Teacher
How angry did I feel?
How angry did I feel?
What did my body feel like? Red face
Angry things in my head
Scary eyes
Voice loud and shouting
Snarling teeth
Chest going BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Tight muscles
Not a nice feeling in tummy
Big fists
Other
Please tick
text box if felt
What did my body feel like? Red face
Angry things in my head
Scary eyes Snarling teeth
Voice loud and shouting
Chest going BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
Tight muscles
Not a nice feeling in tummy
Big fists
Other
Please tick
text box if felt
How well did I do?
How well did I do?
What could I have done? 8 9 10 Count to 10 Go chill out Some where I ‘m angry
Do some deep breaths Think about nice things
Ask for Help
Go talk to someone else
Do a different activity
Calmly walk away
Don’t Blow My Top Plan Gary
Sometimes things make me angry, like when people are rude and push in front of me I know when I’m getting angry because my heart goes fast and my tummy feels funny.
I can let someone know how angry I am, by showing them my anger scale.
I can ask for help and that person can help me to keep calm.
I could do something else, like talk to my friends, listen to music or go to see gran.
In this session today we hope that we have been able to
show you how we help people to control their anger:
We looked at what makes us angry (the triggers)
If people ignore me
Someone told me No
Someone shouted or swore at me
Someone annoyed me
We looked how we know we are angry.
We looked at what we can do to help us become calm.
8 9 10 Count to 10 Ask for Help
Go chill out Some where
Do some deep breaths
Calmly walk away
Relaxation
Thank you Rebecca Saltmarsh Clinical Psychologist Rebecca.saltmarsh@wales.nhs.uk
Aimee Stimpson Clinical Psychologist Aimee.stimpson3@wales.nhs.uk
Gary North Assistant Behaviour Specialist Gary.north@wales.nhs.uk