Emotional Regulation Techniques to Reduce Challenging Behaviors
You’re in. Start with the workshop below. As you watch, pay attention to the moments when behavior begins to make more sense. That shift in how we see what is happening is often where better responses begin.
Start here.
In this session, we’ll look beneath challenging behavior, unpack what dysregulation can look like, and explore practical strategies you can use when a young person is overwhelmed.
Six strategies can help. But the bigger shift is learning how to see dysregulation differently.
A technique is useful when it fits the moment. But no single calming strategy can tell you why one child escalates, another shuts down, or why something that worked yesterday does nothing today. That requires a fuller picture of the young person, the environment, the nervous system, the relationship, and what is happening before the behavior ever becomes visible.
Three ideas worth holding onto.
Before moving on, these are the shifts I hope stay with you long after the video ends.
Behavior carries information.
What we see is shaped by stress, development, environment, relationships, skill, history, and what the nervous system can access in that moment.
Regulation comes before reasoning.
When a young person is overwhelmed, adding more words, demands, consequences, or logic may ask for capacities that are temporarily harder to access.
The adult response matters.
Our presence, language, expectations, and ability to notice what is happening can change what becomes possible next.
The workshop is the beginning. Dysregulated is the deeper dive.
“I signed up for the course hoping I would get something out of it, but fearful that it might be a waste of my time. The class so incredibly surpassed even my highest expectations.”Timothy W. · Mental Health Clinical Director
You don’t need another list of tricks. You need a fuller picture.
If you’re supporting young people whose needs are more complex, whose behavior escalates quickly, or who do not respond to traditional approaches, take a look at Dysregulated and see whether the deeper course is right for you.
MyMensana 2026