Safety Wheel
Safety strategies for the trail.
Emotional and physical safety, the foundation upon which all other aspects of healing rest.
Stretch 4 · First ClimbThe Safety wheel has three hubs. Each hub holds four spokes, and each spoke is a small, focused practice you can try tonight. Read through the hubs below, find the spoke that fits the squeak you are hearing, and start there.
Rim: Trust and Assurance. The overarching sense of safety, security, and confidence from consistent provision of needs.
Personal and Environmental Safety
Ensuring the child's physical well-being and protection from harm.
Emergency Skills
Teaching a child what to do in a real emergency without turning the lesson itself into a new fear.
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Physical Boundaries
Teaching personal space and body autonomy in a way that feels like care, not correction.
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Safe Exploration
Letting a child try the world without setting up the next scary story.
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Household Rules
Short, fair, explained rules that help a child feel held rather than controlled.
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Emotional Well-being
Nurturing mental health, emotional resilience, and ability to cope with stress.
Emotion Identification
Giving a child a vocabulary for the weather inside them, starting with three or four words.
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Calming Strategies
Simple techniques to help a child regulate when everything feels too much.
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Emotional Literacy
Using books and pretend play to help a child meet feelings at a safe distance.
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Safe Expression
Giving a child permission and room to express hard feelings without fear of cost.
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Secure and Predictable Environment
Creating a stable, consistent, and reliable context for healing and growth.
Consistent Routines
Building daily rhythms a child can count on without turning your home into a schedule.
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Familiar Settings
Making a physical space the child can trust, with their own small corner inside it.
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Predictable Changes
Naming the next change before it arrives, so the surprise belongs to the calendar and not the child.
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Clear Expectations
Telling a child what is expected in words they can carry from room to room and day to day.
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