How Interoception Changed My Approach with Clients
As an OT & mental health professional, I’ve always been drawn to supporting the self-regulation needs of my clients—self-regulation in a variety of areas, including anxiety, sensory needs, sleep, pain, toileting, and so forth. Many times, dysregulation in these areas is often misunderstood and mislabeled as so-called “challenging behaviors”—yuck! Let’s banish that term, shall we?
These so-called “behaviors” (that are deemed inconvenient by others) can sometimes be a risk for the client themselves—yelling, aggression, elopement, self-harm, meltdowns, shutdowns, addictions, and so on. Self-regulation has major implications on long-term mental health and thriving in our clients, so it becomes very important to correctly understand the underlying mechanisms that support success in this area.
The Importance of Improving Self-Regulation
In the past, to support my clients’ regulation needs, I would try implementing strategy after strategy. I would teach coping skill after coping skill, read book after book, and take course after course. My clients were definitely making gains, but I knew there was still something missing—something that was preventing them from achieving the level of self-regulation they desired for life-long flourishing.
I was trying so hard to help but just couldn’t get it quite right, and I didn’t know what to do. My clients could memorize specific regulation strategies, but they were struggling to use them “in the moment.” Or their emotions would seemingly go from 0 to 100 in a matter of a few seconds, and they wouldn’t have a chance to use any of the strategies we were trying together. It was heartbreaking. My clients were trying so hard and wanted to do so well, so when things didn’t go the way they wanted, it resulted in deep levels of shame and guilt.
Has this ever happened to you? If so, just know that you’re not alone.
Interoception for Professionals: From Research to Practical Application
Interoception has been widely studied for decades but is only now making its way out of the research labs and into practical applications in daily life. This includes learning about how interoception supports improving self-regulation and promotes mental health. Thankfully, interoception research is rapidly improving our ability to understand dysregulation, which is driving more effective (and kinder) supports that honor each person’s unique inner experiences.
Educators
Dysregulation is a big impediment to educators at all levels. Students who are struggling social-emotionally might have outbursts, meltdowns, or refusals. Interoceptive-based resources can help you support your students in noticing and understanding their body signals, providing them with a foundation of self-understanding that can help you both work together on a more effective learning experience.
Speech/Language Therapists
Interoceptive sensations are useful for communicating biological needs like thirst or hunger. Still, they are also key to communicating emotions like frustration or confusion. How can children communicate their needs and emotions if they struggle to recognize and understand the signals from their bodies? Interoception can help support speech and language therapists
Occupational Therapists
As an occupational therapist myself, I seek out ways to help clients in meaningful and empowering ways. Interoception has completely changed the way I approach my client’s needs. Stress management, emotional regulation, and self-awareness of all kinds can be aided by honing interoceptive abilities. Interoception can improve toileting, eating, healthcare management, and sleep hygiene.
Mental Health Providers
We think of body signals as being largely regulatory – are we hungry, sleepy, or thirsty? But emotional states are also communicated via interoceptive signals that keep us in tune with our mental health as well as our physical health. Interoception does not receive much focus in mental health practice, even though this brain-body connection offers precious insights into our mental well-being.
Will you join me on this interoception for professionals journey and help to make things better for the clients we serve?
For the last few years, we have been passionately developing a solid foundation of interoception-based supports that can be used with a wide variety of learners. These supports are never meant to change a client and are always used in a way that honors and validates their unique experience in the world.
The overall goal of our interoception supports is to help you enhance your clients’ level of self-understanding—to help them to gain a better understanding of their own body signals, their own unique emotional experiences, and connect with the things in life that promote feel-good sensations within their body.
The “Big Deal” Known as Interoception
And then, one day, I had a “lightbulb” moment while reading an article written by a well-known neuroscientist, Dr. Bud Craig. In the article, Dr. Craig described a sense called interoception—and at that moment, my world completely changed.
I immediately wondered if interoception could be a big deal for my clients and how it might be affecting their physical and emotional states. So, being the ultra-curious person that I am, I ran right to my clients and their families to start asking a lot of questions. At the same time, I was reading all that I could get my hands on about interoception to educate myself on this sense further.
Between our conversations and extensive research, we discovered that interoception indeed was a really big deal for my clients. Many of them were completely unaware or very confused about how their bodies felt, thus making understanding and regulating their emotions nearly impossible.
Our interoception-based resources can help you effectively support growth in areas such as:
Identifying and understanding emotions in self
Recognizing building signs of distress (before a full meltdown or shutdown)
Independently using coping strategies during times of distress
Connecting with a wider variety of feel-good regulation strategies
Recognizing when hungry, full, or thirsty
Toilet training (daytime and/or nighttime)
Developing healthy sleep habits
Pinpointing symptoms of illness or injury
Describing the way certain body parts feel (verbally and non-verbally)
“Before learning about interoception and Kelly’s work, I knew there was a better way to support the regulation and so-called ‘behavior needs’ of my clients, but I didn’t know what to do differently. Kelly empowered me with practical, evidence-based resources that were easy to implement. My clients now understand their bodies better and can identify what their bodies need to feel better regulated. And my favorite thing about Kelly’s resources is that they build self-awareness while honoring each of my client’s experience.”
— Ann, Occupational Therapist, Australia
Evidence-Based Interoception Resources to Inspire Inner Curiosity & Discovery
Below you’ll find some of our most popular interoception resources for professionals that can help you inspire inner curiosity and discovery in your clients. Who knows, maybe these resources will inspire curiosity about your own inner experience as well! After all, building awareness of our interoceptive sensations is beneficial for all of us.
The Interoception Curriculum
Do you want to start providing interoception supports for your clients but don’t know where to start? The Interoception Curriculum provides an evidence-based, step-by-step framework for helping various learners discover more about their own unique body-emotion-action connections.
A Good Value: The Interoception Curriculum comes with a book containing 25 lesson plans, plus access to 600+ pages of downloadable instructional materials—aka, less prep work for you! The curriculum will help you empower your clients with a better understanding of their personal body sensations and emotions.
$199.00 USD
Interoception Activity Cards
If you are looking for creative, fun, and evidence-based activities to enhance interoceptive awareness in the clients you serve, these cards are for you.
Each card deck provides over 100 unique activities that require little to no equipment or materials. The cards can serve as a fun interoception activity during a session. Also, providing a deck for your client to use during daily routines can provide a quick way to get in more practice needed to enhance interoceptive awareness.
Interoception Activity Cards
$89.00 USD
Interoception Yoga Cards
$49.00 USD – $69.00 USD
Interoception Exercise Cards
$49.00 USD – $69.00 USD
Body Check Ring
Are your clients struggling to put words to the sensations they notice in their body during interoception activities? This convenient resource serves as visual and verbal language support that can help maximize your client’s results. Simply print the Body Check Ring and get started—or if you love to laminate…do your thing! This resource is great for a play therapist, pediatric occupational therapist, or other healthcare professional that may interact with people who need help expressing themselves.
Added Value: If you are looking for more engaging interoception activities, check out the BONUS that comes with this resource—a mini online course and booklet that gives you instructions and demonstrates five super fun and effective interoception games.
$59.00 USD
My Interoception Workbook: A Guide for Adolescents, Teens, and Adults
If you have clients that would benefit from exploring their current interoception levels, this interactive workbook provides a highly structured, concrete, and visual guide for doing so. This resource can be completed collaboratively with your clients, which allows you to gain valuable insight into their inner experience while empowering them with a higher level of self-understanding.
The 70+ strategies presented in this workbook can serve as a guided exploration where you can work together with your client to find effective and meaningful strategies to outsmart interoception difficulties. Although this workbook was originally intended for use with adolescents, teens, and adults, many professionals are breaking it into smaller sections for successful use with younger clients. The best part about the workbook? I co-wrote it with two self-advocates that have personally benefitted from the use of interoception supports—so much so that they felt called to write a book on the topic to help others. Hopefully, this can inspire your clients as well!
$39.00 USD
On-Demand Course: A 3 Step Approach to Nurturing Interoceptive Awareness
Are you ready to learn more about interoception but can’t find the time to gather all of the current research, let alone read it? Then this course is for you! You’ll have four hours filled with the latest interoception research and evidence-based strategies for nurturing interoceptive awareness. Watch the course all at once or squeeze small bits of it in during your daily commute or walk. All registrants have unlimited access to the course for 180 days from the time of purchase. The course is designed to give you the information needed to begin implementing interoception-based supports with confidence.
This course can also serve as a great introduction to The Interoception Curriculum (purchased separately) as it includes a solid overview of this step-by-step framework. If you find it helpful to listen to an author speak about a resource before you implement it, this course can be a great place to start. P.S. If you are supporting learners under the age of 3, check out our Interoception & Early Learner Online Course.
$149.00 USD
Live Online Courses
Our LIVE online courses are about two things: cutting-edge topics + fresh, evidence-based strategies. All of this to help you better support the clients that you serve. Connect with us LIVE each month for a dynamic learning experience filled with practical information you can begin using immediately in your practice. Can’t make the live date? No worries. All registrants will receive unlimited access to the recording for two weeks following the LIVE online course.
All courses are $69 each
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can I effectively use a combination of your resources for the best outcomes in my interoception for professionals journey?
A: Our interoception resources are designed to be easily adapted to meet a wide variety of client needs. So, in short, the process looks very different for each client. However, my best recommendation is to do the following:
- Watch the online course, 3 Steps to Improving Interoception.
- Collaboratively complete Section 1 of My Interoception Workbook with your client.
- Review the relevant emotion chapters in Section 2 of the workbook and support your client in implementing any desired tips.
- Move through the lessons in The Interoception Curriculum. Use the Interoception Activity Cards, Interoception Yoga Cards, and Interoception Exercise Cards as positive practice opportunities to support the work from the curriculum.
- Use the Bonus Games from the Body Check Ring to give extra fun practice noticing body signals.