A Safe Place to Reconnect with Yourself When Emotions Feel Overwhelming

We all have moments when emotions become too big to carry. Sadness that sits heavy in the chest. Anger that feels like it might burst. Worry that won’t switch off.
These feelings are human,  and they make sense. Especially when you’ve been through things that are hard to name or talk about.

This page offers a range of grounding tools, simple, creative ways to help you:

• slow down your breathing,

• come back into your body,

• feel safer in the present moment, and

• begin to make space for what you’re feeling, without shame or judgement.

Whether you are a young person navigating big transitions, a parent supporting a child in distress, or a professional seeking resources for school or therapeutic spaces,  you are welcome here.

What Is Grounding?

Grounding means coming back into the ‘here and now.’
When we feel triggered or overwhelmed, our nervous system can go into fight, flight, freeze or fawn,  making it harder to think clearly, stay calm, or feel safe.

Grounding tools help us reconnect with:

• our senses (sight, touch, sound),

• our breath,

• our body’s inner signals, and

• the world around us — one small step at a time.

They don’t “fix” feelings. But they make space for us to feel them safely, with more choice and less chaos.

Try These Grounding Tools

Each of these can be explored on your own, or with a trusted adult or therapist.

1. 5–4–3–2–1 Sensory Scan

A quick way to bring your mind into the present:

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can touch

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste or imagine tasting

Try saying each one out loud, slowly. Notice how your breath changes.

2. “Ocean Breath” (or Box Breathing)

Breathe in for 4… hold for 4… out for 4… hold for 4.
Repeat this cycle 3–5 times. Imagine the sound of waves coming and going with your breath.

You can even draw a box with your finger in the air as you breathe.

3. Hold Something Grounding

A smooth stone, a piece of clay, a favourite object.
Feel the texture. Squeeze it gently. Let it remind you: You are here. You are safe.

4. Draw Your Feelings

Don’t worry about being “good at art.”
Use colours, scribbles, shapes, anything that helps you express what’s inside, without words.

Ask yourself: Where in my body do I feel this emotion? What colour is it? What shape?

5. The “Safe Place” Visualisation

Close your eyes. Imagine a place where you feel safe, calm, and strong.
What does it look like? Smell like? Sound like? Who’s there (if anyone)?
Come back here whenever you need to.

You can even draw or write about this place later.

6. Barefoot Grounding

If it’s safe and possible,  take off your shoes and stand on grass, earth, or carpet.
Feel the ground beneath your feet. Press down slowly. Notice the weight of your body being held by the earth.

This is especially helpful after dissociation or panic.

7. Affirmations & Reassurance Statements

Softly say (or write) these truths to yourself:

• “This feeling won’t last forever.”

• “I’m allowed to feel what I feel.”

• “Right now, I am safe enough.”

• “I don’t have to figure everything out all at once.”

• “I am doing the best I can with what I know.”

Grounding Isn’t a “Fix” — It’s a Path Back to You

Some tools work one day and not the next, and that’s okay.
Grounding is not about being “better” or “braver”,  it’s about learning to be with yourself when things are hard.

Over time, you build your own toolkit: a personal, flexible way of finding your footing when emotions get loud.

At Alethos Therapies, we believe you already hold the wisdom within you,  our job is to walk beside you as you uncover it.

Downloadable Toolkit

Coming soon:
A free printable version of the Grounding Toolkit for Young People, with illustrations, journaling prompts, and creative ideas for use in therapy, schools or at home.

Subscribe to receive it first 

Want to Talk?

Sometimes, grounding tools aren’t enough, or we just need someone safe to sit with us. If you or a young person you care about needs more support, you’re welcome to explore counselling and therapy with us.

👉 Learn more about how therapy works

A gentle tool to help name and explore your emotions

Sometimes the hardest part of feeling... is knowing what we’re feeling.
Especially for children, young people, and even adults, emotions can feel tangled, fuzzy, or simply too big to describe.

The Feeling Wheel is a simple but powerful tool to help:

• build emotional vocabulary

• strengthen self-awareness

• support communication between young people and trusted adults

• deepen therapeutic or relational work

• develop emotional regulation over time

This printable version has been designed with care for use in:

• one-to-one counselling or therapy sessions

• classrooms or pastoral settings

• home conversations with parents or carers

• personal journaling or creative expression

What’s Included:

• A beautifully designed full-colour Feeling Wheel, breaking emotions into core and expanded feelings

• A black-and-white version for colouring in (great for younger children or creative sessions)

• A How-To Guide with tips for introducing the wheel in safe, developmentally appropriate ways

Why It Matters

At Alethos Therapies, I believe that naming what we feel is the first step to understanding ourselves more deeply.
The Feeling Wheel creates space for truth-telling, softly, safely, and without shame.

It can be used to:

• reflect on a difficult moment

• track how feelings change over a day or week

• open up tricky conversations

• anchor a grounding or regulation session

Download the Feeling Wheel Toolkit
Click here to access the printable pack

A gentle guide for parents, carers, and adults who want to support a grieving child.

Grief is not just one feeling - it’s a whole landscape.
Sadness, anger, confusion, guilt, silence, laughter… sometimes all in the same hour.

When a young person is grieving, whether it’s the death of a loved one, the loss of a pet, a separation, a move, or even a change in identity or belonging, they need more than explanations.
They need presence. Safety. Permission. Truth.

This guide offers a gentle starting point for talking with young people about loss in ways that are age-appropriate, emotionally safe, and deeply human.

First, Know This: Grief Is Developmental

Grief is not a “one size fits all” experience.
A 6-year-old, a 12-year-old, and a 17-year-old will all understand and process death differently, depending on their age, brain development, relational attachments, and life context.

Here’s a simple rule of thumb:

Young people often grieve in waves, not all at once. They dip in and out of the loss as their mind makes sense of it, and as their needs shift over time.

That means they might laugh one minute and cry the next. They might act out, withdraw, or ask surprising questions.
None of this means they’re “not grieving” - it means they’re doing it in their own way.

1. Use Clear, Honest Language

It can feel instinctive to protect children from pain with softened phrases like “gone to sleep” or “passed away.”
But vague language can confuse young minds, leaving them anxious or unsure.

Instead, try:

• “He died.”

• “She isn’t alive anymore.”

• “We can’t see him anymore, but we can still remember him.”

Pair clarity with gentleness. You don’t need to explain everything - but honesty creates safety.

2. Let Them Lead the Pace

Some young people ask lots of questions. Others go quiet. Some just want to play.

All of these are valid.

Let their responses guide the pace. Follow their cues. Don’t force deep conversation, but leave the door open with phrases like:

• “I’m here if you want to talk.”

• “It’s okay if you feel sad. Or angry. Or anything at all.”

• “You don’t have to have all the words - I’ll sit with you anyway.”

3. Make Space for All the Feelings - Even the Messy Ones

Grief can show up as tears, but also tantrums, tummy aches, silence, giggles, nightmares, clinginess, or even numbness.

Let children know that every feeling is allowed.

“Grief isn’t wrong or broken. It’s love that needs somewhere to go.”

Validate their feelings without trying to fix them:

• “That sounds really hard.”

• “I wonder if that made you feel really angry.”

• “You’re not alone. I’m with you.”

4. Use Creative Tools and Storytelling

Young people often process grief through play, art, movement, and metaphor more easily than through talk alone.

Try:

• Drawing memory pictures

• Making a “feelings jar” together

• Reading stories about loss (e.g. The Invisible String, Badger’s Parting Gifts)

• Writing a letter or message to the person who died

• Creating a “grief box” to hold mementoes and feelings

These activities allow expression without pressure, and can give grief a shape that feels manageable.

5. Remember the Person, Together

Keeping memories alive is a powerful antidote to silence and shame.

You might:

• Light a candle together

• Bake their favourite food

• Look at photos or tell funny stories

• Create a memory garden or art piece

• Share what you miss, and what you’re grateful for

Children need to know it’s okay to keep talking about the person who died — that they don’t have to “move on” or forget.

6. Model Your Own Grief - Gently

Children learn from how adults grieve.

It’s okay to let them see your sadness. Saying things like:

• “I feel really sad today, I miss her too.”

• “It’s okay to cry. I’m crying because I loved him a lot.”

• “We’re both figuring this out together.”

This models emotional literacy and gives permission to feel.

Just be mindful not to overwhelm them with adult grief, check in regularly, and make sure they’re not feeling responsible for your emotions.

7. Answer the Big Questions, Even If You Don’t Know

Children may ask:

• “Will you die too?”

• “Where did they go?”

• “Was it my fault?”

• “Why do people die?”

You don’t have to have perfect answers. But you can be honest, grounded, and reassuring:

“That’s such a big question. What do you think?”
“No, it’s not your fault. Nothing you did caused this.”
“I don’t know all the answers, but I do know I’ll always be here to listen.”

Final Thoughts

Grief doesn’t need to be fixed, it needs to be witnessed.
When we talk about grief openly, truthfully, and gently, we give young people the message that they are not alone, that their emotions make sense, and that love lasts even when people die.

Download Our Free Grief Support Toolkit

A printable pack of gentle grief resources for young people, including:

• A “Grief Word Finder” (for those who can’t find the words)

• Creative activities for remembrance and expression

• Grounding tools for overwhelming days

• Conversation starters for parents, carers, and professionals

Click here to download

Need More Support?

If you or your child are struggling with grief, you don’t have to face it alone.
Alethos Therapies offers gentle, developmentally-attuned counselling and psychotherapy for young people and adults.

👉 Learn more about therapy »

To access your free Alethos Sanctuary Journal, click here <limk>