Cambier Consulting

Co-regulation as a Concept of State-Shifting

Co-regulation is when one person helps another’s nervous system settle and organize through their presence, tone, and behavior. It is “borrowing” another person’s calm to regain their own.

Co-regulation is about helping clients settle back into a less activated state rather than staying in the intensity or getting stuck.

Examples:

Make breathing more overt, lean back in chair. Clients will often follow.
“Oh man, this game is challenging!”
"Whoosh, we got this!”

The concepts behind state-shifting work together like a set of gears. While each client’s skill areas vary, when one gear turns, it will help the others turn. Together, each concept makes state-shifting possible.

Ready to connect the dots? Visit my website to learn more!

Often times, clients have learned to fix, minimize, push through, distract, and/or dismiss their "big" emotions as a means of avoiding them. Learning self-compassion allows them to feel their emotions while recognizing that they are real, appropriate, and worthy of being embraced.

Self-compassion is knowing that whether their outcome is favorable or not, they will be okay.

"I might be wrong but I will be okay."
"You're supposed to feel sad when you lose."
"I'm uncomfortable waiting for my turn but it will be here soon."

The concepts behind state-shifting work together like a set of gears. While each client's skill areas vary, when one gear turns, it will help the others turn. Together, each concept makes state-shifting possible.

Ready to connect the dots? Visit my website to learn more!

Duality as a Concept of State-Shifting:

In the beginning of our work together, it is common for clients to believe that their emotions exist in isolation. Learning and embracing duality teaches clients that they can experience more than one emotion at a time, bringing dimension to their understanding of feelings: they learn to attach their somatic experience to an emotion, adding value and true meaning to each one.

Being excited and nervous at the same time is a frequently experienced duality of emotions that can lead to overwhelm. By identifying these two emotions happening at the same time, clients can develop a sense of self-awareness, turning gears towards state-shifting.

The concepts behind state-shifting work together like a set of gears. While each client's skill areas vary, when one gear turns, it will help the others turn. Together, each concept makes state-shifting.

Ready to connect the dots? Visit my website to learn more!

Self-Awareness as a Concept of State-Shifting:

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize internal thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Practicing self-awareness allows clients to explore their inner world and their reactions to the external world, making state-shifting a possibility.

There are a number of everyday opportunities to work on self-awareness. This is an important step in recognizing a situation for what it is, encouraging us to navigate our way to a more ideal state (state-shift).

"I have to make choices."
"I'm excited; I'm going too fast."
"My hands are clenched."

The concepts behind state-shifting work together like a set of gears. While each client's skill areas vary, when one gear turns, it will help the others turn. Together, each concept makes state-shifting possible.

Ready to connect the dots? Visit my website to learn more!

Low-stakes, interactive tools help set up clients for success in low-stakes situations. State-shifting is the goal!

State-shifting is the ability to shift from one state to another. In this context, a state is a familiar, felt sense of an embodied emotion. Each client has a unique set of internal states that they can identify, including both comfortable and uncomfortable.

State-shifting is used to guide clients back into their window of tolerance and resolve prediction errors by learning the skills and concepts of prediction, self-awareness, self-compassion, duality, orienting, and co-regulation.

There are 6 concepts of state-shifting:

The concepts behind state-shifting work together like a set of gears. While each client’s skill areas vary, when one gear turns, it will help the others turn. Together, each concept makes state-shifting possible. Practicing these concepts helps clients understand their emotions, how they feel in their body, and ultimately how to shift states.

Games as a Conduit:

Using games is just one of many ways to play with the concept of state-shifting in a low- stakes, interactive way to prepare clients for real life experiences. State-shifting is about getting back to choice (prefrontal cortex), and in using games as a conduit, clients will slow down and learn that they have choices regarding their emotional states each step of the way. In doing so, they will learn that experiencing a variety of emotions is a normal part of life.

Concepts Working Together:

The first few months of sessions is about learning the individual and meeting them where they are at. Over time, using conduits such as the matching game helps clients learn how to navigate their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions at a low-risk level to prepare themselves for larger ones they will experience in life. Low-risk exercises help to build resilience and rewire the brain, making real-life experiences more manageable.

Ready to connect the dots? Visit my website to learn more! elizabethcambier.com

The goal of Elizabeth's work is to create lasting behavioral change through a neuroscience lens.

There are two areas of the brain responsible for behavior: the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala.

The Prefrontal Cortex...
• is the area of the brain involved in thinking and decision-making
• helps to pause, plan, solve problems, and control impulses
• When it’s working well, it can help calm the overwhelm, helping to think clearly instead of reacting. It helps us slow down big emotions

The Amygdala...
• helps the brain notice what matters, focusing attention and mobilizing energy to respond, especially when predictions don’t match what is happening
• can contribute to fear when protection may be needed, but also to excitement, motivation, and energy
• because predictions are shaped by each person’s history, felt safety is subjective
• when intensity is high, the brain narrows its focus, limiting flexibility as a way to reduce overwhelming input

We cannot control all of the stimuli around us or our initial reaction. But when we predict wrong and our amygdala narrows our choices and budgets our body’s resources, we can reframe with our prefrontal cortex.

Ready to connect the dots? Visit my website to learn more! elizabethcambier.com

Elizabeth works with support teams to connect the dots between the body, brain, and behavior in neurodivergent individuals.

👉Meeting clients where they’re at and accepting them for who they are:

Unlike in ABA, clients are not expected to conform to “normal” behaviors. Elizabeth’s work is about reframing behaviors as communication and working with the concept that bodies communicate just as much as words.

There is no reliance on verbal or neurotypical communication patterns (there is no need to speak in complete sentences). This work is based on individual needs. We are all unique in the ways our brain, body, and behavior interact.

👉The who and the why:

In a neurotypical world, there are many more stressors for neurodivergent people as environments are not often considerate of their needs and sensitivities. As a result, neurodivergent people tend to have more sensitive nervous systems and therefore a more narrow window of tolerance.

By developing awareness, implementing skills, and using individualized tools, they can learn when stressors are hitting and how to handle them, this increasing their window of tolerance. State shifting is agency!

👉 Transitions:

Elizabeth works with the parents, caregivers, and supported living teams of clients to effectively integrate her impactful methodology into the systems that already exist with the goal of creating a sense of ease for all involved parties in daily life at all life stages, and throughout each phase of a client’s transition, whether that be:

• transition such as moving from elementary school to middle school l

• living at home to moving out as an adult

• or even a small transition such as a cancelled plan.

Ready to connect the dots?Visit my website
to learn more! elizabethcambier.com

✨ New on the blog! ✨

Why do I use words like “uncomfortable,” “weird,” or “activated”?🧠💛

Why do I use words like “uncomfortable,” “weird,” or “activated”?

Because these sensations don’t come with a learner history, and your prefrontal cortex might not know what to do next and that’s actually wonderful news! 🧠✨

In my latest post, I share how noticing these sensations, co-regulating, and using simple tools can help you respond instead of react, and build more self-awareness and independence.

👉 Check out the full post on my blog [link in bio].

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https://bsky.app/profile/elizabethcambier.com

Telling someone “You’re safe” might actually feel like gaslighting — at least at first. 🌀

Discover why safety isn’t declared, it’s built — and how trust and presence help the body truly feel secure.

Read the full post on the blog. ✨

https://elizabethcambier.com/safety-isnt-declared/




Elizabethcambier.com