Resources for the Holiday Season
For adult survivors who may have experienced abuse or neglect in your families or communities of origin and/or for whom this time of year may be difficult, please know you are not alone. Many survivors share this experience. Below are some holiday resourcing ideas put together for you by our Associate Director of Group Services, Sarah Eisenbud, LPC. We hope these strategies can help you navigate this time of year with more choice, empowerment, and resilience.
Themes
Making Choices
It can be helpful to remember that we are empowered to make our own choices about how, with whom, and for how long we wish to celebrate holidays. Planning these choices ahead of time and talking them through with someone you trust can help you feel secure. Another useful planning strategy can be “bookending” potentially triggering interactions with family with supportive or pleasurable activities. For example, planning a grounding activity before and a call with a supportive person for after a holiday party.
Rest/Take Breaks
Deep rest is a radical act and the foundation of the deepest healing work. At this time of year, using the momentum of the winter season to turn inward can be supportive. Slowing down can lead to sustainability in everything we do and allows us to restore our energy for future periods of growth and expansion. Encouraging breaks, naps, and dedicated time to feel feelings is important and deserved. Below are resources on rest.
- On Fierce Compassion & Reclaiming our Rest / Octavia Raheem – Nathalie Nahai
- Rest Reminder- You don’t have to have tons of time to rest. Sitting down for 5 minutes and shutting your eyes can be transformational.
- Here is a playlist of rest songs from author, Tricia Hersey.
Create New Traditions or Re-embrace Your Cultural Heritage
Individually creating new traditions to replace those that have not worked for us in our families or communities of origin can be a powerful experience. Reframing expectations around the holidays and tapping into what is truly valued and worth celebrating can be empowering. New traditions with yourself or chosen group could center around: giving thanks, creative projects, goals/intention setting, listening to music, silence/stillness practices. This may also include more thoughtfully examining holiday traditions of cultures that are different from your own, and/or it could include re-embracing traditions of your own culture that may have been lost to you at earlier times in your life.
Caring for the Body and Nervous System
Reminders to eat regularly, drink water, get enough sleep, engage in supportive movement, and do regular check ins with the body is always a cornerstone of healing. This can sometimes get lost in the whirlwind and excess of winter holidays. Take time to re-center, ground, center and “be” in your body. Listen to what your body is telling you. Taking aligned action with the messages it provides.
Contending with Isolation/Loneliness
For those who might find being alone during holidays daunting, here is a 24/7 “warmline” where you can call and speak with a trained peer to receive support. Home Services Support Line
Practices
The winter season can be a wonderful time to come home to practices that we have forgotten or set aside and to try out new things. Here are some activities/practices to spark remembrance in what feels right for you.
*Some practices may be triggering so please listen to your body when deciding whether to try something new:
- Unlocking Compassion: 8-Step Gestalt Empty Chair Practice – Mindful Leader
- Gentle & Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Sequence for Grounding and Upper Body Release
- Guided Meditations – Trauma-informed Grounding Practice
- Yoga Nindra can be a delightful and restful way to explore states of consciousness (note- Insight Timer is free but may require a sign-in)
- When focusing on the breath doesn’t feel available, a guided visualization can be supportive. Here is a grounding, tree-focused guided visualization that only takes a few minutes.
- Loving-Kindness (or Metta) practice can be transformational in times of stress. Here is a wonderful teacher guided traditional Metta practice. It does have breath prompts, if this is activating for you, please skip this one.