Courage ladder

How it works

1. Choose what you want to dare to do. Take an example, such as taking the bus into town on your own, or type your own goal.
2. Make the steps: smaller steps, from easy to hard. Give each step a number from 0 to 100: how scary is it for you? The ladder puts them in order for you.
3. Start at the bottom. Take the step in real life, and then fill in a try: how scary was it before, at the scariest moment and afterwards?
4. Each step gets a small graph. If the scariest moment stays below your own limit a few times, the Courage ladder suggests going up a step. You set your limit under Settings.
5. When you reach your goal, the flag at the top goes up. Save your ladder as a file, or print it as a poster.

Where it comes from

This comes from cognitive behavioural therapy, where it is called exposure: in small steps, you seek out what you find scary instead of avoiding it. The ladder helps you choose those steps and keep track of them.

Tension goes up and down

Tension rises, reaches a peak and goes down again, even if you stay where you are. If you take the same step more often, that peak usually gets lower. That is why you fill in three numbers for each try, and see a small graph for each step.

Many people do something small to get through a scary moment, such as holding their phone or staying close to the door. This is called safety behaviour. It helps in the moment, but it makes it harder to notice that you can manage without it. With each try you can say what you left out.

Together with your client

Agree on which step your client will practise and how often. Your client saves the ladder as a file and brings it next time, or puts the poster up at home and writes the tries in the boxes by hand. In the Courage ladder, under Together with a care worker, there are tips and questions to talk about together.

Good to know

• Nobody keeps track of how fast you climb. You can fill in a try whenever you like, even a few days later.
• Everything works with the keyboard. You use the arrow keys for the sliders; you can move steps with the Higher and Lower buttons.
• The Courage ladder is not a treatment. It does not work for everyone, and not always equally fast.
• Do you have panic attacks or very intense fear? Talk to your GP or a care worker about it, and do this together with them. If you are thinking about suicide, call 113 (the Dutch suicide prevention line) or 0800-0113 for free. If you are in immediate danger, call 112.

Your data

What you fill in stays in this page on your own device. Nothing is sent and nothing is stored in your browser. If you close or refresh the page, everything is gone.

• The file goes onto your device, in the place you choose. Everything you filled in is in it, including your own words. Open it here again later with Open a file.
• If you choose ‘Save as PDF’ when printing, your ladder is saved as a file on your device.