Grounding that fits your body
and communication.
‘Name five things you can see.’ I can see about two.
What grounding is for, the assumptions standard instructions make, options to explore, and how to review whether they help.
What this is: a guide to adapting grounding.
Why it matters: standard grounding instructions exclude many disabled people.
The sharpest reframe: orientation is the goal; calm is optional.
One thing to take away: review what a technique actually does.
The short version
Grounding is meant to help someone orient to the present: where they are, that this moment is not the past. Many standard grounding instructions assume a particular body: stand up, press your feet into the floor, look around and name five things you can see, listen for three sounds, slow your breathing, notice sensations inside your body. A disability-informed approach offers choices instead of one exercise, and reviews whether each choice actually helps. Grounding is not proof that someone is safe, and calm isn’t its compulsory outcome.
You might recognise this
Illustrative statementsDrawn together from common experiences. They are not quotes from individual people.
What grounding is for
Established conceptGrounding techniques are widely used in trauma work to support orientation and contact with the present when someone is overwhelmed, flooded by memories or feeling far away. The aim is orientation, not necessarily relaxation.
Assumptions to check
Our frameworkDon’t assume the person can stand, press their feet down, see the room, hear instructions, tolerate attention to breath, or access internal bodily sensations comfortably. Each of these is a common grounding instruction, and each excludes someone.
Options to explore
Our frameworkOrganised by channel, so the person can start with whatever works for them:
Visual
A chosen object to look at; a short written orienting statement in a format the person can read; a familiar picture.
Auditory
A familiar song or voice recording; someone speaking the date, place and activity.
Tactile
An object in a pocket; a texture; the person’s own hand on something; a pet, if comfortable.
Communication-based
Stored phrases on a device confirming where the person is and what happens next; a pre-agreed sign or tactile signal from someone they trust.
Environmental
Adjusting light or noise; moving to a familiar spot; contact with a trusted person; a comfortable movement, if wanted.
Don’t assume which channel works. A Deafblind person, for example, may or may not use raised print, a particular signing arrangement or tactile signing; ask.
See also Grounding Without Standing and Soothing That Fits Your Body.
Eithne is 45, Deaf, and has low vision from Usher syndrome; Irish Sign Language is her first language. When memories of a hospital stay overwhelm her, standard grounding (“look around and name what you see; listen to the sounds in the room”) is useless. With her therapist and an interpreter, she builds an alternative: a smooth stone she keeps in her pocket, a card in large, high-contrast print with the date and place, which is what she can read, and a pre-agreed tactile sign from the therapist meaning “you are here, it’s Thursday, you can stop whenever you want.”
Eithne is a fictional teaching example, not a real person.
Reviewing whether it helps
PracticeA technique should be judged by its actual effects. It may:
- help;
- do little;
- increase discomfort, for example by focusing attention on a painful or numb body;
- cost too much energy.
Ask afterwards, in the person’s own communication method, and change it if needed. Use truthful orientation (where the person is, what is happening, what choices they have) rather than automatic reassurance that they are “safe”. And never make mastering a grounding exercise a condition for further help. Grounding doesn’t prove the present is safe. If the present isn’t safe, that matters more than the technique. See When the Threat Is Ongoing.
What needs attention here?
A standard instruction excludes the person
Possible focus: options that fit their body, senses and communication
Watch for: persisting with the standard version
Grounding increases distress
Possible focus: stopping, and asking what was missed
Watch for: telling them to keep trying
The person stays tense but oriented
Possible focus: orientation as the goal
Watch for: calm as the required outcome
The present is not actually safe
Possible focus: the present situation
Watch for: grounding as reassurance
Possible starting points, agreed with the person, not rules.
How you’d know it helped
- The person has at least one way to orient that works for their body and communication.
- It has been reviewed, not assumed.
- It doesn’t cost more than it gives.
Words you can use
For clientsQuestions worth carrying, as a therapist
Therapist Reflection- Which of my grounding instructions assume a body this person doesn’t have?
- Have I reviewed what the technique actually did?
- Am I treating calm as the goal?
Evidence & sources
Sources checked in October 2026, using targeted searches rather than a systematic review. “We have not located” means our searches did not find it.
Grounding as orientation to the present in trauma work: a widely used clinical technique; for the principles of choice and safety it serves, see SAMHSA (2014), SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach.
The options, the assumptions to check and the review questions are this site’s synthesis.
Eithne is constructed for learning. She is not a real person.
We have not located research on grounding techniques adapted for Deaf, blind, Deafblind or physically disabled people.
Last reviewed: October 2026.
How to cite this page: Donaghey, C. (2026). Grounding That Fits Your Body and Communication. Disability in Psychotherapy. Available at: https://disabilityinpsychotherapy.online/what-is-psychotherapy/trauma-informed-approaches/grounding-that-fits-your-body-and-communication/ (Accessed: [date]).
Shared under CC BY-NC 4.0, with an extra permission to teach from it on fee-paying courses. Credit the site. See Reusing This Material.