Davonte Green

The feelings wheel actually gives us some language to identify and pinpoint where we might be in our emotions.

I'll ask you how you're doing.

Somebody might say, oh, this is what happened to me today.

That is a story and that is not a feeling.

So wanting to really provide a tool so we can say I'm feeling depressed.

I'm feeling angry.

I'm feeling happy.

I'm ecstatic.

I'm overwhelmed.

There's a tool that was created by BEAM, which is the Black Emotional Mental Health Collective, that really helps with de-escalation.

And this tool is a strategy called PAWS.

Now, PAWS is an acronym, and I'll break down each letter for you, and hopefully it sticks and is something that you can share with your communities as well.

The first letter is P. Pay attention.

Think about a time that you were angry.

Might have been recently.

Might have been a while ago.

But what were the type of thoughts that consumed your mind?

Were they positive or were they negative?

Most likely they were negative, which kind of sustained your anger.

How was your body feeling?