Online Therapy Michigan: RAIN Technique

The acronym RAIN was coined by Michele McDonald as an easy-to-remember tool for mindfulness. I’ve taken this acronym and made a slight change when I talk to my clients. I find the acronym to be extremely helpful in helping build my client’s emotional base.

The RAIN Technique

R= Recognize the situation

A= Acknowledge, accept, and experience emotions

I= Introspection

N= Nurture your needs

RAIN in Action

Scenario

A coworker walks into your office and lets you have it. They ridicule you over a mistake that was made. They yell at you for 5 minutes before they storm out of your office while slamming the door. You're frustrated and angry about this experience.

Recognize

We start by recognizing the situation. We are looking at the facts, no opinions. Pure facts. A mistake was made. A coworker walks into your office and yells for 5 minutes before they leave, slamming the door behind them. Your emotions became activated because of this experience. 

Acknowledge, Accept, and Experience

How are you feeling emotionally? How do you know that you feel this way? You feel frustrated and angry about the experience. I feel frustrated because I felt my shoulders rise to my ears. I felt my head start to get hot and my hands began to feel cold. My body started to feel hot and I started to sweat. My heart started to beat faster. When you acknowledge and accept those feelings for what they are, be present in the moment with those emotions. You feel your feels.

Introspection

Start to examine your feelings and why you feel this way. What are my emotions telling me? This situation or person made me feel frustrated. I felt frustrated because I was under a time crunch and in the middle of an activity when this person messed up my flow. I felt frustrated because this person has disrespected me in the past and continues to disrespect me. I felt frustrated because I wanted to talk back and give my insight but I was unable to do that. 

Nurture

Based on your examination of your feelings, what needs to happen for you to feel safe, be back at your emotional base, and thrive? How can you nurture your emotional needs? How do you process the emotion of frustration caused by this situation? Do you need to talk with someone about this? Is journaling a tool that you find helpful? Does going for a run or doing physical activity help you feel better? Do you need to use mindfulness tools? It could be a matter of learning how to set boundaries. It could be learning new tools or skills to feel empowered to speak up. It could be learning how to ask for help. Learning how to nurture your needs to help you grow and thrive is essential to your emotional health.

Using the acronym rain is a tool to recognize the situation, acknowledge, accept, and experience how you are feeling, dig into those emotions, and nurture your emotional needs. Try it out. Let me know what you think.

Reach out for Online Therapy in Michigan

Learn tools and skills to improve your life with Chris Rabanera. Get started with a free 15-minute consultation today. Offering online therapy in California, Michigan, Nebraska and Nevada. I specialize in addressing physician burnout, grief counseling, anxiety, depression and providing tailored mental health treatment for men. Let’s get to work to make lasting positive changes.