HALT!

HALT is an acronym used within addiction recovery programmes, but I think it is useful for anyone to have in their wellbeing toolkit.

The principle is that when we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired, we are more vulnerable to feeling triggered, which may cause us to drop into unhelpful coping behaviours. This is true for all of us. Depending on our personality and past experiences, however, these behaviours can range from doom-scrolling on social media to self-isolating or serious addiction.

The HALT acronym encourages us to STOP when we are feeling triggered (experiencing extreme emotion that is out of kilter with the situation). By stopping to consider what might be behind our strong emotion, we can identify the trigger and, ideally, make choices to deal with the root cause and step away from unhelpful behaviours going forward.

This is not always simple and can require expert help in the form of a therapist or a coach. DM me if you'd like help working on your behaviour patterns and creating new, more positive thoughts and habits.