Distraction Pack

The Options and Mental Health Teams at HMP Downview and the PIPE Team at HMP Send have put

together this distraction pack to help support you during this difficult time. We hope the activities

included will help you to both stay active, relax and distract you. We have also included some

psychological techniques that may help with some mental health problems such as anxiety, low

mood and emotion regulation.

In this pack, you will find:

Word searches - Find and circle all of the listed words that are in the word search. The

words can be hidden in any direction.

Crosswords – Use the clues to find out the words needed to fill in the crossword.

Sudoku’s - Fill in the grid so that each line (both straight and sideways) has all letters

from 1-9, and that all boxes also have all numbers from 1-9. Numbers shouldn’t appear

more than once in a line or in a box.

Dot to dot – Use your pen or pencil to join up the different dots following the order of

the numbers, to reveal the picture.

Hidden object - Try to find all of the parts of the picture that you are asked to (they’ll

be quite hard to see). When you find them, colour them in so that you remember where

they were.

Colouring – Different pictures for you to colour in.

Yoga – For you to try.

Anagrams – Unscramble the jumbled words to find out what they are trying to say. The

theme of the anagrams will give you a clue. Tip: try arranging the different letters in a

circle on another part of the page – this way of looking at it can make the anagram easier

to solve.

Spot the difference – Try and spot the difference between the two pictures.

Mazes – Find your way out of the maze.

ZENTANGLE

Use the picture outlines below to create your own zentangles. Split each picture up into small sections, and

then fill each section with a different pattern (as you can see has been done with the picture of the hand

below).

The advice from experts in mental health, for coping with time in isolation, is that it helps

to:

This Weeks’ News

The public must stop meeting in groups in parks, beaches and markets since the pubs,

cafes, restaurants and schools have closed.

Chains including McDonald’s, Waterstones, Primark and Patisserie Valerie said they would

be closing their shops from Monday (23/03/2020).

ITV said it would stop filming Coronation Street and Emmerdale as broadcasters

continued to adjust to the crisis.

The Queen has moved from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle since Thursday, to be in

contact with less people.

A Zoo in Chicago decided to close its gates to the public and while the zoo was closed,

the staff let the penguins roam free to explore the zoo.

Acts of Kindness

Beauty Banks, a charity that supplies essential toiletries to people in poverty, launched

an emergency virus-related appeal on Sunday. "Since just after noon yesterday we've

raised £60,000 to pay for soap, hand sanitiser, washing powder and so on to help people

who don't have the money to stockpile."

Ali, from south London, said her two daughters, Scarlet, 10, and Grace, 12, posted

handwritten notes to the houses on their road. "They are pretty caring girls," she said.

"We live in a really lovely neighbourhood which is full of great community spirit."

A cafe in Glasgow's Southside is delivering soup to the elderly and people with

underlying health issues, while a shop in Stenhousemuir is dropping off packages of hand

gel to local pensioners.

Mindfulness Skills What skills

‘What’ skills are about what you actually do when trying to be mindful.

They are:

▪ Observing - Observe, but don’t do anything with what you are seeing, hearing, smelling,

tasting or feeling! Be a spectator! Notice the experience, but don’t get caught up in it;

notice it and let it go

▪ Describing - Put words to what you are experiencing. When a thought, emotion or urge

arises - label it and acknowledge it with a description. Call a thought a thought, call a

feeling a feeling and notice whether it is a physical feeling or an emotion

▪ Participating - Fully enter into the experience. Focus your attention on the here and now –

on what you are doing in this moment and practise!

How skills

‘What’ skills is what you do and ‘how’ skills are how you do this.

They involve:

• Being non-judgemental - Do not evaluate, but try and recognise judgements and use

facts. Focus on observations and descriptions of behaviours and situations, instead of

focusing on labels, stereotypes, beliefs, predictions and other judgements.

• Doing things one-mindfully - Do one thing at a time! Focus all your attention on the one

thing that you are doing (e.g when you are eating, eat, when you are walking, walk).

• Doing things effectively - Focus on what works! Do what needs to be done, whether this

may be to stand back and accept or to work on changing things.

Relaxation technique: Whole body tension and release

1. Tense everything in your whole body, as hard as you can.

2. Hold it as long as you can without feeling pain.

3. Slowly release the tension and very gradually feel it leave your body.

4. Repeat three times.

Dot to dot

Breathing to relax Breathing too quickly, and deeply, can make you feel dizzy, faint or even more

anxious. Taking slow, regular breaths can help you to control anxious thoughts

and feelings, and make you feel calmer.

To control your breathing:

1. Place one hand on your chest and the other over your stomach. You want your

stomach to move more than your chest as you breathe

2. Take a slow, regular breath in (through your nose if you can). Watch your

hands as you breathe in. The hand on your stomach should move and your

chest should not

3. Breathe out slowly through pursed lips

PLEASE MASTER

Treat Physical illness – take care of your physical health

Balance eating – three balanced meals a day

Avoid mood altering drugs – legal and illegal drugs

Balance sleep – not too much and not too little

Get exercise – move every day

Mastery - Once a day, do something that makes you feel positive and that you are

moving forward

Sudoku

Mindful breathing

Being mindful includes ‘training’ our minds to focus on what we choose to focus on.

Practice focusing your attention on your breathing.

Sit or lie comfortably and bring your attention to your breathing.

1. What does is feel like?

2. Is your body moving as you breathe in and out?

3. Is the air hot or cold?

After a while, your mind will probably wander to something else.

When you notice that this has happened, gently bring back your attention to your breathing.

Your mind will probably wander again, and when it does, notice what has happened, and

bring your attention back to your breathing.

What can you control?

What can you not control?

Visualisation exercise

This exercise involves using an image as a way to focus the mind. Create in your mind an

ideal spot to relax. It can be:

• Real or imaginary

• Somewhere you will find restful, calming, safe and happy

• A place you would want to return to whenever you feel the need to relax

Imagine it in as much detail as you can – use your senses to make it as real as possible – and

see yourself comfortably enjoying this place.

Now close your eyes and take a slow, regular breath in through your nose. Become aware

of your breathing. Focus on your relaxation place in all its detail and breathe out through

your mouth.

Emotions are like waves – they come and go

To fully get to know your emotions and to test out your predictions about them, it is important

to ‘ride out the wave’.

The 5 stages of describing an emotion cover the whole ‘wave’ from start to finish. It starts at the

trigger of the emotion and ends at the after-effects.

Some poses are a little harder than others, so don’t worry if you can’t do them all. Just

improvise and do what you can. You may find this routine calms you down, helps you sleep or

makes your sore back feel better. Try it out and see if it works for you.

Radical Acceptance

Instead of resisting the pain and the emotional distress:

Accept Accept, non-judgementally that what is happening is happening, that what you feel is what you

feel and that the situation is the situation. Only then can you look at what you can change.

Remember: accepting isn’t the same as approving!

The key concept here is:

Radical Acceptance

It is letting go of fighting reality. It is the way to turn suffering that cannot be tolerated into

pain that can be tolerated.

Trying to avoid pain or solve it is not effective. It actually makes it worse. So everyone has to

tolerate and accept distress at times.

Remember: Pain x Resistance = Suffering

Checking In and Checking Out

It is tough to be away from our friends and family, especially when there is a

lot to worry about.

If everything was as normal, we would be in small group and workshops and

checking in and out.

It might be a good idea to check in and out at the beginning and end of

every day, just like we do in small group and workshops. We all need to work

very hard to protect ourselves and our mental health during these difficult

times.

You could use this sheet to help you check in and out.

There are some questions for you to answer in the morning and in the

evening.

Spot the difference

Colouring

What am I feeling today?

Happy Calm Anxious

Sad Hopeless Disgust

Content Confused Angry

Worried Fearful Lonely

Frustrated Uncomfortable Hopeful

Circle what you feel when you wake up:

Drop your anchor mindfulness

Close your eyes, if you like, and place both your feet on the floor. Breathe in through your

nose for the count of four, and out through your mouth for the count of six. If you drift off into

your thoughts, gently escort your mind back to the present moment and anchor yourself there.

Notice the feeling of your feet on the floor, your body as it moves with your breathe, and the

experience of gently breathing. You have the capacity to soothe and ground yourself in times

of stress.

Something positive I would like to do today for myself:

Circle what you feel this evening, before bed:

Write positive thing

you could do for

yourself today:

Examples:

Some exercise for my health.

Listen to my favourite song.

Watch a good film.

Read old letters.

Look at old pictures.

Think of a happy memory.

Write a letter.

What am I feeling today?

Happy Calm Anxious

Sad Hopeless Disgust

Content Confused Angry

Worried Fearful Lonely

Frustrated Uncomfortable Hopeful

Something positive / something I enjoyed from today:

One Positive thing

from today:

1st Stop

Stop: do not just react. Freeze!

Take a step back from the situation

Observe and notice what is going on

inside and outside you

Proceed mindfully and act with

awareness

Sense Countdown

Think of:

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can touch

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

Wise Mind ACCEPTS

A good way to remember distraction techniques is to think:

Wise Mind ACCEPTS

A Activities

C Contributing

C Comparison

E Emotions

P Pushing away

T Thoughts

S Sensations

Distract yourself from negative thoughts and feelings. Engage in exercise or hobbies; call or visit a friend.

Refocus your attention onto what you can do for others. Do something for another person.

Compare your situation to others less fortunate than you, gaining a new perspective on your distress.

Leave the situation or block it from your mind. Build an imaginary wall between yourself and the situation; put the pain on a shelf, box it up and put it away for a while.

Distract yourself by finding other thoughts to concentrate on. Count to 10; count colours in a

Distract yourself with intense sensations. Squeeze a

rubber ball; stand under a hot shower. Change the

temperature of your face with cold water or an ice

pack for 30 seconds, it changes your body chemistry.

DBT Skills Word search

ACCEPTS AFFIRMATIONS DBT

DEARMAN DESCRIBE DIALECTIC

DISTRACT EFFECTIVELY GIVEFAST

HOW IMPROVE MINDFULNESS

NON JUDGEMENTALLY OBSERVE ONE MINDFULLY

OPPOSITE ACTION PARTICIPATE PLEASE

RADICAL ACCEPTANCE SELF SOOTHE SKILLS

VALIDATION WHAT WILFULNESS

Function of emotions

Emotion Trigger Function Physical response Action urge

Anger Threat Defence Hot, sweaty, tense,

adrenaline,

heartbeat up

Fight / Attack

Sadness Loss Processing and

adjusting

Tearful, heavy,

withdraw, go quiet,

empty, pain

Hide or seek support

Joy Gain / Connection Rewards / social

strength

Smile, light,

energetic, flushed

face, feeling open,

excited

Smile – get closer-

talk

more

Shock/Surprise Threat Be prepared Freeze, tense,

heartbeat up, eyes

wide, alert

Be vigilant

Disgust Offense and

contamination

Prevention of

‘pollution’

Nausea, withdrawal,

gagging

Move away

Fear Threat Protection Breathlessness,

tense, adrenaline,

heartbeat up

Flight/Freeze

Shame/Guilt Breaking of social

expectation

Repair / stick to

social norms

Hot red face,

jitteriness,

suffocating, heavy

chest

Hide

Jealousy/ Envy Threat and loss Holding on to

something

Fast heartbeat,

breathless, tension

Attempt to control

We have a lot of different emotions and different names for them, but their aim is the same:

1. To tell you that something is going on for you (communicate something to yourself)

2. To communicate to others

3. To motivate us to act (which can be both helpful and unhelpful)

Urge Management Plan

1. Identify the urge and rate the intensity from 0-10

2. Use a ‘15 minute’ rule and start your timer (delay the urge)

1. During your 15 minutes you can:

A. Use ACCEPTS, e.g. do something incompatible with the urge; do something to

create a different emotion/urge or to decrease the urge.

B. Make a list of Pros and Cons

2. Re-rate the intensity of the urge from 0-10. If the urge is the same or higher, repeat

numbers 1-4. If the urge has decreased, move on with your day

Pros and Cons

1. Make a list of the pros and cons of TOLERATING distress – coping by using skills.

1. Make another list of the pros and cons of NOT TOLERATING the distress – coping by doing

something impulsive. Focus on: - long-term goals - positive consequences of tolerating

the distress. - negative consequences of not tolerating your distress

Pro of tolerating

distress

Con of tolerating

distress

Pro of not tolerating

distress

Con of not tolerating

distress

e.g., Getting used to

emotions, won’t lash

out, won’t lose my

job, ............

e.g., Uncomfortable, I

won’t know what to

do, no release .......

e.g., release of

emotion

e.g., might lash out at

someone else, feels bad,

holding the tension

Try for yourself…

Interpersonal Effectiveness

How to get what you want

Within the context that you are in and without disrespecting other people’s boundaries and

needs

How to keep a good relationship

How to keep self-respect

Practice

Using DEAR MAN: work through a situation in which DEAR MAN could help you reach your goal.

1. Describe the current situation. Stick to the facts.

2. Express your feelings and opinions about the situation.

3. Assert yourself by asking for what you want or saying no clearly.

4. Reinforce the reward to the person ahead of time.

5. Mindfully keep your focus on your objectives.

6. Appear confident.

7. Negotiate by being willing to give to get.

Crossword

Metaphors

Metaphor for willingness

Life is like a game of cards – You never know what hand you may be

dealt, but you play with that hand anyway.

Metaphor for DBT

Having a personality disorder is like when a house has been built with wonky walls, a crooked

roof, bad plumbing and dodgy electricity. Learning DBT skills is like getting builders to train you

how to make the walls straight and how to fix the electricity so you can go in and

make your own walls straight, fix the roof, the plumbing and electricity - bringing

warmth and love in to your home.

Metaphor for learning DBT skills

When you buy a tent you make sure to put it up in the garden first as a practice and

to make sure you have all the right parts for the tent. You wouldn’t wait until you were on the

side of a mountain in a storm to put it up as it would be very difficult. This is like learning DBT

skills it’s important to practice your skills when you are calm and in

a safe space so you can use them later on in difficult situations.

Metaphor for learning mindfulness

When you are teaching a puppy to learn tricks you don’t tell the

puppy off or judge the puppy negatively for wondering away and not being able to do the tricks

straight away. This is like learning mindfulness - don’t judge yourself negatively for finding

mindfulness hard at first or get annoyed at yourself if your mind

wanders just gently bring it back.

Hidden object

Maze

Managing Anxiety during the Current Health Crisis

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be stressful for people. Fear

and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults

and children. Coping with stress will make you, the people you care about, and your

community stronger.

Turn off the news. First, if it’s important, you’ll find out anyway. Secondly, a lot of

what is being shared isn’t true. If you find it hard to tune out of updates completely,

check in once or twice a day and no more.

Remember, we are prone to thinking negatively. Our minds are made to protect us. As such, we are prone to pay attention to potential threats.

When you find yourself swept up in thinking about the scary things that could happen, it’s important to remember this tendency to overestimate the likelihood of a bad outcome.

Anxiety is linked to fear. Humans are, of course, animals, and just as it pays a mouse, for instance, to think that a rustle of feathers might be an owl about to swoop down so it can run and hide, so it pays for us to think the worse so we can protect ourselves.

When statistics say there is a 1 percent mortality rate, we hear that much more loudly than we hear the fact we have a 99 percent chance of surviving.

Anxiety is often worse in the mornings so start slow and build up gradually. A ‘stress’ hormone and builds up in the body in the night so when you wake up, your body is full of it. Take it one step at a time, and not try to think too far ahead. Plan bite size chunks in your day. A lot of anxiety is related to overthinking about the future –

catastrophizing – and,

unfortunately, we can’t control what is going to happen.

Remember anxiety feeds on itself. One of the cruelest tricks of anxiety is that panicking about panic makes it much worse. It makes your stress hormones (adrenaline, mainly) go into alert state and then we can get caught in a big cycle of worry.

Attempt to distract yourselves by reading a book. Stories in all forms are a brilliant way of taking our minds off our worries – pick up a novel that will transport you away from the world of panic and your anxiety levels will naturally subside.

Don’t underestimate your resilience. Although dealing with a

pandemic is not an experience many of us have had, there have been times we have lived through a crisis and survived. Remember that you usually have more strength and coping skills than you imagine, particularly when you are stressed.

Last, but not least, remember that in feeling anxious you are not alone and what you are experiencing is completely normal. Anxiety is not permanent and the feelings will pass. You have the ability to help manage these feelings. We can’t change the situation we are in but we can take steps to change how we feel about it.