News Article

A safe scene visualization enables an individual to nurture and soothe himself or herself and to practice effective control over the feelings and thoughts.  

A safe scene works to utilize an individual’s natural talent for dissociation.  When doing SPV an individual chooses to experience internal stimuli that is safe, soothing, and nurturing over internal stimuli that is unsafe, traumatic and/or revictimizing.  With practice, individuals can soothe themselves at will and can exercise control over the spontaneous dissociation and flashbacks that survivors of trauma often experience.  

To create an effective safe scene, it is important to incorporate all of the senses.  The more senses involved, the more functional the scene will be.  Examples include: 

 ·         Visual – seeing colors, distance detail, and features of the safe scene.

·         Hearing – soothing sounds with varying volumes.

·         Smell – a variety of pleasant smells.

·         Touch – a variety of safe and pleasant textures.

·         Kinesthetic (Movement) – standing, walking, sitting, lying down.  

Focusing inwards and internally visualizing a safe scene can help an individual to  relax quickly.  There are no limits to the creativity or imagination an individual may employ in their safe scene work.  A safe scene can be an actual place, an imaginary place, or a combination of the two.  Safe scenes can be inside or outside, on this planet or another, and include beaches, islands, meadows, forests, or any other setting that the person would find safe and soothing.  

Safe scenes may include items that can contribute to an even greater feeling of safety and security, such as walls, moats, containment images, and safe animals.  It is best not to include real people because the security and soothing derived from the safe scene should not be dependent on others and should not reinforce dependency for safety and soothing on others.  Rather, SPV reinforces this individual’s ability to take responsibility for his or her own soothing.  

Once an individual has developed a safe scene, there are many things he or she can do to reinforce their safe scene and increase its effectiveness.  The first step in this process is to write out a detailed description of the safe scene, including the experience of all of the senses in the safe scene as described earlier.  This should then be shared and processed with others in order to receive feedback, comments and suggestions.  Then it is often helpful to make an art representation of the safe scene.  This, of course, is not to be an artists’ rendering of the safe scene, but rather a representation of it through colors, images, etc.  Most importantly, the safe scene should be practiced at least three times daily, when the person is calm and relaxed.  Safe scenes increase in their effectiveness the more they are practiced.  

Two Rivers Psychiatric Hospital (Paraphrased)