Doable Dose of Kimochis

School-Based Mental Health

Week Two

Starting Your Day The Kimochis® Way with Individuals or Groups

• To start your clients’ day on the right foot, invite them to point to a feeling they want to have more of today. The clinician should also choose a feeling. I want to have more hopeful.
  • Note:You can choose a new feeling each day or each week.
• It can also be helpful to give a simple, age-appropriate definition of any feeling words that are chosen, since most children (and teens and even adults!) don’t have a very large feeling vocabulary or understanding of emotions. Hopeful is when you think something good is going to happen.
• Have clients share one way to create more of the positive feeling they’ve chosen for today. Again, the clinician will share too. I can create hopeful feelings by telling myself, “I can learn hard things today.”
  • Note: Some children – especially those who are young, whose temperaments have them leaning toward more negative moods, or who have developed unhelpful habits of negative thinking – may need you to offer several ideas to pick from as they learn ways to build more positive feelings and establish new habits.
• Invite clients to also predict and point to a “hard-to-have” feeling they don’t want to have today or this week but think might (or in some cases likely will) happen. It is once again helpful if the clinician can share too. I might feel disappointed if the rain keeps us from going outside for recess…I usually feel frustrated during geometry.
• Together, create a positive plan for what all will say and do, should this hard-to-have feeling happen. Role-play the plan for practicing positive communication, because practice makes better. If someone cuts you in line, and you feel angry, brainstorm ideas about what to say and do so you can communicate your mad without being mean.
• When you see your clients next, check in about how they were able to build more positive feelings and manage the hard-to-have feelings. All these strategies can continue to be used and practiced on a regular basis!

Be on the lookout for your next Doable Dose of Kimochis!