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Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW) 2021 may be over, but the education and advocacy efforts won't stop! Together, we will continue to educate the general public and work to make a difference in the lives of those managing food allergies and allergic conditions. As part of this community, here is my ongoing commitment to this effort:
I commit to continuing to be a change maker regarding food allergy mental health - having the conversations, building the relationships, identifying the gaps and then helping to fill them! In the meantime, if you've missed any of the 2021 FAAW tips offered this week, you can review them all below, including the additional guidance offered for each one. DAY 1 - Sunday, May 9th, 2021:  In honor of all of you amazing allergy moms, and the first day of Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW), here are the results from the 1st question on the "2020 Food Allergy Mom Experience Survey". What do you think of these results? Why do you think 57% of moms surveyed felt allergy moms don't speak up about their experiences enough? (Full anonymous survey answers will be shared in an upcoming blog post). Check out Exploring Food Allergy Families podcast episode 15 for full results from the moms' survey. Find it on the Podcast page or on any podcast app - Apple Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, etc DAY 2 - Monday, May 10th, 2021:  Today's FAAW tip is focused on reframing anxious allergy thoughts. Let's start with some helpful reminders about anxiety:
You can find the following worksheets (and more) to help manage allergy anxiety and worry in the "Worksheets" section:
DAY 3 - Tuesday, May 11th, 2021:  Today's FAAW tip is all about the urge to control when we feel overwhelmed, anxious or fearful of allergies. This is usually triggered by the unpredictability and uncertainty that comes along with food allergy life. Wouldn't it be ideal if we could always control every risk possible? Unfortunately, that's not a realistic goal, nor is it actually helpful! While trying to control things may decrease the discomfort you feel from the worry, it's a temporary relief which usually leads to increased and growing anxiety over time. More and more energy goes into trying to stay ahead of everything, and when that gets too hard, avoiding people, places and things will start happening. Trying to control also robs you of opportunities to learn and grow - to focus on figuring out what you need to confidently get through tough situations (or thoughts/feelings). Rather than AIMING TO CONTROL, think about HAVING INFLUENCE OR IMPACT on situations, especially daunting ones. COMMUNITY CHALLENGE: The image below is just an example to help you process your own list for yourself, or if you're a parent, for your child. Grab a sheet of paper, draw the image below, and have fun exploring just how much impact you have on your ability to decrease anxiety and increase confidence! COMMUNITY INPUT: What else would you add to this list, in either section? FAAW BONUS - New "Urge to Control" worksheet, which can be found in the Worksheets section on this website:  DAY 4 - Wednesday, May 12th, 2021:  Wednesday's FAAW tip focuses on your food allergy mindset, because it matters! Ask yourself these questions to help assess your allergy mindset:
These questions relate to your mindset, or whether you believe the qualities you possess make you capable of handling situations. People can have a "fixed" or "growth" mindset. Think of these as the type of glasses you're wearing - the lenses with which you see things. When wearing "fixed mindset" glasses, you're more likely to believe that you're not able to deal with whatever you're being faced with. With "growth mindset" glasses on, you're better able to envision yourself getting through roadblocks that are standing in your way. Our mindset may change depending on situations we're in or experiences we've previously had. You may feel confident navigating some parts of life with food allergies, while feeling incapable of managing the aspects that you're most fearful of. But by subscribing to a growth mindset, you're allowing yourself the ability to grow confidence, manage anxiety, and essentially handle even the hardest of situations. Community Challenge: Pick one allergy-related thought to try and reframe into a growth mindset-focused thought. If you're a parent, help your child use growth-mindset language - "I'm not comfortable with this, YET!" or "I'm still learning by practicing with my epi!" To help practice this concept, you can download the "FA Mindset Matters" worksheet from the Worksheets section. To read more about growth mindset, look up Carol Dweck and her books. DAY 5 - Thursday, May 13th, 2021:  Thursday's FAAW tip offers a problem-solving method that's helpful for when the fear and anxiety feel overwhelming. When you need to make a decision but your emotions are taking over, having a problem-solving tool to help navigate the scenario can be beneficial. That's where the I.D.E.A.L. Method comes in! This technique helps define the main problem in a situation, and guides you through creating and evaluating solutions. Essentially, it helps you look at things more objectively. Benefits of the I.D.E.A.L. Method:
Community Challenge: Choose something you feel stuck navigating lately and use the I.D.E.A.L Method steps to help you feel less stuck and better able to consider potential solutions. The "I.D.E.A.L. Method " worksheet can be downloaded from the Worksheets section. DAY 6 - Friday, May 14th, 2021:  Friday's FAAW tip has to do with processing the emotions associated with yours or your child's food allergy diagnosis. Avoiding allergens is helpful, but avoiding emotions isn't! Of course you can recall the feelings you felt the day you learned about the food allergy, but have you connected with the stories that came out of it? When we experience something as emotional as a life-changing diagnosis, there's often a narrative that our mind attaches to - sometimes so quickly that we don't even notice it. It just sort of sneaks in and we don't take time to acknowledge it, let alone process it. In the case of food allergies, we immediately jump into action - doing, learning, avoiding, protecting. We may process the surface thoughts and feelings, but the deeper emotions and stories likely stay put because there's no time or energy for that work. But what happens when we don't make the time to process them? They find ways to come back up, especially when we feel vulnerable, such as after another reaction or during a life transition that leads to increased emotions again. And those stories we told ourselves about the early experiences with food allergies have the ability to impact our allergy mindset - changing how we manage it all in the future. Yes, it's uncomfortable to revisit that time in our minds, but it can help unhook you from unhelpful narratives that may keep you from moving forward in the way you want to on this allergy journey, especially if those narratives are focused on blame, guilt, and self-judgement. This image shows some of the emotions and diagnosis narratives that may be experienced. This isn't an exhaustive list, so use it as a starting point to help you identify your own. Use self-compassion and kindness with yourself as you process these, just as you'd offer a friend. Notice if you're still holding onto anything internally that's keeping you stuck, pushing you around or derailing you from being the allergic person or parent you want to be. If you feel you need the support of processing this with a licensed therapist, you can find an allergy-informed one via the Food Allergy Counselor Directory. DAY 7 - Saturday, May 15th, 2021:  Saturday's FAAW tip offers a post-reaction compass to help rebuild confidence and decrease anxiety after anaphylaxis through the T.R.A.C.E. approach. It's very common to feel like a reaction, anaphylactic or not, has set you back emotionally and decreased willingness to live fully due to fear of another reaction. This is a normal response to a traumatic situation, so allowing yourself to honor those thoughts and feelings is a part of the healing process. But once the initial overwhelm from the reaction settles a bit, it's important to create your game plan to build your confidence again. Without this step, you risk staying stuck, hooked by fear and catastrophizing thoughts that keep you unable to truly move forward in a way that benefits yourself and/or your child. T.R.A.C.E. is an easy way to remember the key components of this rebuilding process. It takes time to rebuild trust, getting back to a routine, reviewing with your allergist, practicing tons of compassion, and educating yourself on anxiety and to fill the knowledge gaps. Community Conversation - what has helped you and/or your child move forward after a reaction? You can find a free downloadable worksheet version of T.R.A.C.E. in the Worksheets section. I hope you were able to share or learn new things this Food Allergy Awareness Week. I'd love to hear from you - what were some of the best tips you learned or share this week? 
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Day 7: PDF Worksheet To Use or Share!Today marks the end of Food Allergy Awareness Week 2019. I've covered a lot within the last seven days, including the following topics (in case you've missed any):
Day 7 leaves you with a hands-on PDF worksheet to help you explore your Food Allergy Mindset. Many don't typically even stop to consider their automatic beliefs or how their mindset impacts feelings and actions. This activity is useful for adults and teens, and can even be adapted to use with older elementary kids (with a parent's help). It can be used for personal benefit, distributed at food allergy support group meetings, or even used during therapy sessions. (Visit the Worksheets Section for this and other worksheets).   So this officially means that it's the last daily food allergy mental health tip! But don't worry; there's always new posts/info popping up on the Food Allergy Counselor blog and frequent updates/additions made to the Food Allergy Mental Health Resource page. Plus, there's NEW content coming.... stay tuned for more on that soon! Thanks for reading these daily tips and for following the Food Allergy Counselor, Tamara Hubbard, MA, LCPC! Day 6: Fight Food Allergy Fears w/Facts (If sharing this image, please be sure the logo is visible and The Food Allergy Counselor and/or Tamara Hubbard, LCPC are credited) Fear is a present-oriented basic emotion that typically occurs as a response to a real or perceived danger/threat. Threats can be from:
When managing food allergies, real and perceived threats pop up often, sometimes daily. Additionally, it's common to be thinking about potential food allergy threats even when not currently dealing with one. So what can people do to help tame and manage food allergy fears? One Tool To Fight Food Allergy Fears Is...KNOWLEDGE! Is it truly that simple - knowledge takes care of food allergy fears? No. However, knowledge is an important tool in the Food Allergy Fear Tool Kit individuals and families need to build in order to fight back against and ultimately manage fear levels. Other crucial tools needed in the Food Allergy Fear Tool Kit:
For the purpose of this article, let's focus on building your knowledge tool. One caveat that needs to be made about this tool is that you want to be sure that it is formed primarily with material that is evidenced-based in nature. That is, the information comes from reputable sources within the food allergy community, such as allergists, healthcare professionals, or well-respected food allergy organizations or groups. (While information gleaned from health support groups can be valuable, it's best to confirm information with your personal allergist and evidence-based resources). Below are four links to information addressing common fear-producing topics, as well as a general list of reputable food allergy information sources.
Reputable Food Allergy Information Sources: In case you missed the other Food Allergy Awareness Week mental health-focused tips, find them via links here: Day 1 & 2 (FA Support Groups & FA Mindset); Day 3: FA Thinking Errors Connected w/Anxiety; Day 4: Food Allergy Anxiety Resources; Day 5: Problem-Solving Method When Fear Rules Your Mind If you find yourself needing support for food allergy-related psychosocial impacts, locate a food allergy-knowledgeable clinical behavioral healthcare provider
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