My calm place

How it works

1. Choose a setting, such as a beach, a forest or a room with a window. Choose the time of day and the weather. Or start with an example, such as Rain on the roof.
2. Put things there: a little fire, a sleeping cat, a bench, birds, the moon. Drag them to a spot in the drawing, or move them with the buttons.
3. Turn the sound on if you like. Then you also hear the waves, the rain, the fire and the crickets. Each sound has its own slider.
4. Answer a few questions: what do you see, what do you hear, what do you smell, what do you feel, how warm is it? Your sentences come from this.
5. Choose Go there. Your place fills the screen and your sentences appear slowly, one by one. You can use a soft timer of 3, 5 or 10 minutes if you like.

Where it comes from

My calm place is similar to the ‘safe place’ or ‘calm place’ exercise used in care and support. In your mind, you make a place where you feel calm, and you go there now and then. My calm place is not therapy.

A place you know or a place you make up: both are fine. Some people prefer a place without other people in it.

Take your place with you

Print your place as a postcard. Your place is on the front, and your sentences and a space for your name and the date are on the back. Fold the sheet in half, and you have a card to keep with you.

Or save your place as a file. If you open that file again later on this page, everything is back: the place, the things, your sentences and how loud each sound is.

Good to know

• Does it not feel good, or do unpleasant things come up? Then stop. Open your eyes and look around the room you are in. Talk about it with someone you trust, or with your care worker.
• Are you thinking about suicide? Call or chat with 113 Zelfmoordpreventie (the Dutch suicide prevention line): 113 or 0800-0113 for free. In an emergency, call 112.
• The sound stays off until you turn it on yourself. Turn the sound on your device down low first. All sounds are made in your browser from noise and tones; no sound files are loaded.
• Is ‘reduce motion’ turned on on your device? Then the drawing stays still. Sound still works. You can also stop the motion yourself in Settings.
• Everything works with the keyboard. In the list In your place, choose a thing and move it with the arrow keys or the buttons.
• You can also follow the drawing without looking: there is a description with it, and everything in it is also in a list.

Your data

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

• The file is saved on your device, in the place you choose. Your place, your sentences, your name if you filled it in, and how loud each sound is are in it.
• The sound is made in your browser. Nothing goes to us or to anyone else.
• If you choose ‘Save as PDF’ when printing, your card is saved as a file on your device.