In-Session Guide
Clinical Reference · In-Session Guides
Six decks. Six guides.
One session at a time.
A practical reference for every deck in the Power Phrase Universe system — how to introduce it, what to say, what to watch for, and the clinical reasoning behind each step.
Your session-by-session
clinical companion
Each guide below covers one deck. They are designed to be open on a screen or printed and kept in your session folder. The language is clinical but direct — written for the moment when you are in the room with a child, not for reading at a desk.
Every guide follows the same structure: when to use it, when not to use it, how to introduce it, what to say, what to watch for, and a clinical reasoning note. Each is mapped to its PILA phase so you can see exactly where it sits in the session arc.
The guides are not scripts. They are anchors. Your clinical judgement always takes precedence — these are starting points, not rules.
PILA Cards — The de-escalation & communication framework
- →Session opening and rapport building
- →Acute de-escalation
- →Children who shut down verbally
- →Establishing shared language from first session
- ✗As a replacement for clinical assessment
- ✗When the child is in crisis requiring immediate safety intervention
Place the four PILA cards face-up in a line: Pause · Identify · Listen · Act. Say only: "These are our four steps. We use them every time." Point to each card as you say its name. Do not explain further at first introduction. Let the child look.
"Every time we meet, we start here. You don't have to talk yet. Just look."
Which card the child picks up or touches first. Children in avoidance often reach for Pause. Children who want to be seen reach for Identify.
The PILA framework is the anchor for every other deck. Once a child has internalised the four steps, you can reference them anywhere: 'Where are we in PILA right now?' becomes a session-regulating question.
Feelings Intensity Scale — Non-verbal emotional check-in and baseline tool
- →Session opening baseline check-in
- →Children with limited emotional vocabulary
- →Children who shut down at 'how are you feeling?'
- →Longitudinal progress tracking across sessions
- ✗Late-session synthesis
- ✗As a substitute for clinical interview
- ✗As a worksheet — do not ask the child to label or explain their chosen card
Lay out the ten-card scale in a line in front of the child. Say only: "Point to where you are right now. You don't have to say anything." Then wait. Do not interpret the choice out loud. Do not ask why.
"Same scale, every time you come. So I always know where you're starting."
Movement of the chosen card across sessions. The scale is your longitudinal data set — photograph or note the card chosen each session. Movement toward the centre over time is the outcome indicator.
The power of this deck is in what it does NOT ask. Children who have been asked 'how do you feel?' and failed to answer correctly learn that the question is a trap. The Feelings Intensity Scale removes that threat entirely — there is no wrong answer.
Anchor Cards — Trauma-informed grounding for acute distress
- →Acute emotional flooding
- →Dissociative presentations
- →Children who physically cannot engage with language when dysregulated
- →Before any cognitive processing begins
- ✗When the child is calm and engaged — grounding tools in calm states can feel patronising
- ✗As a replacement for a safety plan in genuine crisis
Select one Anchor Card and place it face-up without explanation. Say: "Look at this with me." Follow the card's grounding instruction together. Breathe with the child. Do not speak beyond the card's text until their body visibly settles.
"We're just going to do this one thing together. Nothing else right now."
Breath rate, shoulder position, eye contact. The shift from shallow to slower breathing is your signal that the window for cognitive engagement has opened.
Anchor Cards work because they give the clinician something to do that is not talking. Many dysregulated children escalate when a clinician continues to speak. The card gives both parties a shared object to focus on instead of each other.
Modal Verb Posters — Language scaffolding — building intentional vocabulary
- →Children with limited expressive language
- →Introducing the seven Modal Sentences as a vocabulary framework
- →Classroom display and daily reference
- →Building toward the Modal Sequences deck
- ✗As a standalone intervention — this deck prepares language for the Action and Sequence decks
- ✗With children not yet ready to engage with text-based materials
Display the seven Modal Sentence posters where the child can see them. In session, point to one and say: "Which of these sounds like you today?" If the child points, say the sentence aloud together. Do not ask them to explain their choice.
"You don't have to know what comes next. Just say the first part with me: 'I will...'"
Which Modal Sentence a child is drawn to repeatedly. Consistent selection of 'I need to' may indicate unmet needs. Consistent selection of 'We can' signals readiness for relational work.
The Modal Sentences are not prompts — they are architectures. 'I will' and 'I can be' are grammatically committed. 'I might' and 'I could' are not in this system deliberately. Possibility without commitment does not build identity.
Power Action Cards — Behavioural activation — from emotion to purposeful action
- →Children stuck in emotional identification without action
- →Low motivation and depression presentations
- →Avoidance patterns
- →The 'Act' stage of PILA
- ✗Before emotional identification is established — activation without identification creates performance without understanding
- ✗With children who are still in acute dysregulation
Once emotional identification is established (Feelings Scale used), spread three to five Action Cards face-up. Say: "Pick one you could actually do. Not want to do. Could do." The word 'actually' matters — it keeps the choice grounded in reality.
"You don't have to feel like it first. You just have to do it once. Then we'll see what happens."
Whether the child picks aspirationally (what they think they should pick) or genuinely. An aspirational pick reveals the identity they want. A genuine pick reveals where they are. Both are clinically useful.
Behavioural activation in CBT works because action precedes feeling, not the other way around. The Power Action Cards make this principle concrete and child-accessible without requiring the child to understand the theory.
Modal Sequences — Identity formation — the advanced pathway
- →Children who have worked with earlier decks and established basic regulation
- →Building durable identity outcomes
- →The most advanced clinical use of the system
- →Measurable identity change over 4–6 week cycles
- ✗As a first intervention — this deck requires the foundation laid by earlier decks
- ✗With children who cannot yet tolerate the three-step sequence without dysregulation
Lay out one complete sequence: Modal Sentence card → Action Verb card → Identity Outcome card. Read it together: "I will... give... GENEROUS." Say: "That last word — that's who you become when you do the middle one. We're going to practise being that."
"You don't have to believe it yet. You just have to say it and do it. The believing comes after."
The moment the child corrects themselves back to the identity outcome language spontaneously — 'that's me being patient' — without prompting. That is the clinical indicator of internalisation.
The sequence architecture is non-negotiable: Modal Sentence first, Action Verb second, Identity Outcome third. Reversing the order — starting with the identity label — creates performance pressure. The child must arrive at the identity through action, not be assigned it.
Important: Power Phrase Universe cards are educational and social-emotional learning (SEL) tools. They are not a substitute for professional psychological assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. ABN 55 260 040 085 · Warabrook NSW 2304, Australia