Glitter Jars & Panic

With my clients, especially the younger ones, I like for us to be doing something while we talk, such as a purposeful craft, going for a walk, drawing or mindfully coloring. This serves multiple purposes -- it allows the client to avoid eye contact during difficult conversations and it allows me to quickly shift the conversation to a neutral topic when I sense the client is feeling uncomfortable. If I choose to work on a craft with my client, it is always to create a final product that they will use for whatever challenge we are working on.

I truly believe that preteens and teens can handle way more information that most adults think. This is why you will frequently hear me teaching a client about the evolution of anxiety or how the different parts of the brain work together and how that changes during puberty. If I am there to help a girl work through challenges that involve thoughts and emotions, she deserves to know why she is responding a particular way and why I think the strategy I am suggesting will work.

One of the purposeful crafts I often do with my clients is to create a calm down glitter jar. I use the glitter jar as an educational and coping tool primarily with girls who are struggling with anxiety and/or panic. A clam down glitter jar is essentially a jar with water, glue, various sizes, shapes and colors of glitter and food coloring. At rest, the jar looks clear with a layer of color and glitter at the bottom. When you shake the jar, the clear liquid turns to a vivid color and the glitter swirls around. This shake allows the color and glitter to overtake the calm, clear liquid, just like anxiety overtakes our ability to calmly and clearly think about a problem.

As we watch, the smallest glitter, which represents our heightened emotions and stress response settles first, followed by the larger pieces of glitter which represents our ongoing ruminating thoughts. It is not until the color also makes its way to the bottom of the jar that we can clearly see through the jar once again. What a beautiful visualization of a panic response and its ongoing anxiety!

So, that is the educational aspect of the glitter jar, but it is also a wonderful calming coping tool for a panic or stress reaction. The glitter swirling around is beautiful with certain pieces of catching the light and sparkling. It is pleasing and calming to watch. It is also a meditative act to watch the glitter and color fall to the bottom of the jar. The girls can shake and watch as many times as they need.

The best part of these jars is that the girls create them and every jar is unique to them. Recently, my client, Charlotte (all names have been changed to protect privacy), took our entire hour to perfect her jar. We adjusted her color multiple times, we added more larger pieces of glitter, then more small and we changed the glue/water ratio to get the speed of descent just where she wanted it. And guess what... at our next session, Charlotte told me that not only had she used the jar, but she had taught her parents what is represented and how it works! I'd call that a well spent and successful session.

There are many "recipes" on how to create these jars online. Parents, I'd encourage you to make one for yourself, as well.