Do you talk with clients about regulation and capacity?
I'm thinking about how regulation without capacity building becomes dependency. Dependency on us, dependency on external factors. Like taking a medication and getting results but watching the results diminish without the medication. And, if a client only feels safe with us as a clinician or support person… they haven’t built resilience, they’ve built proximity-based regulation, and dependence.
Are we helping clients regulate, to deal with this moment or that moment… or are we helping them expand their nervous system’s capacity to hold activation without collapse or avoidance? Are we helping them become free of needing external regulation? What strategies do you love using for capacity building? What do your clients find most useful?