Noticing Recovery

Noticing Recovery is my tweaking of the Matrix and (Visual Wellness Plan) to fit the "Recovery" language used in several treatment settings, including the U.S. Veterans Affairs hospital system. While recovery is often associated with substance abuse recovery, in this case it refers to recovering from any stuck pattern of behaving that's taking someone out of valued living. 

The document you see below is suitable for waiting rooms, and I've made a poster of it so people can sit and stare at it. I also have some regular sized copies mixed in with the magazines. The poster and waiting-room handouts are simply meant to generate a bit of curiosity about the "Noticing Recovery" point of view. The person might even start to answer some of the questions while sitting in the waiting room, but this is certainly not required.

Beyond the waiting room we can start to fill in more of the information in the four quadrants and start noticing the difference between how it feels to move away and toward. For people who are particularly stuck in an 'Away' pattern, we can do additional work on the unworkable change agenda. We can also do more work on noticing who and what's important and behaviors that move toward. 

The number of meetings depends on how long it takes for a person to develop the big-picture-Noticing-Recovery point of view. 

Be well, 

Kevin

Kevin L. Polk, Ph.D.

www.drkevinpolk.com

From Horse Whisperers to Wellness: Noticing a Change Toward Wellness Using

Hi Folks,

The Visual Wellness Plan will be a single session Webinar on February 1, 2012. During the webinar I will review the VWP Manual, expanding on the text and diagrams; adding little bells and whistles here and there. For example, one of the first diagrams in the manual is...

Showing how we can start the process of helping people identify Who (and what) they want to move toward in life. The manual then marches through many more diagrams, culminating in the VWP. Along the way we cover all of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), get into a mindful state without talking about mindfulness and move toward what the Horse Whisperers call "The Feel" for noticing and responding to a change toward wellness.

Over the next few blog posts I will highlight some sections of the manual.

The price of the webinar is $35.00, which includes a free copy of the Visual Wellness Plan manual. If you can't attend the webinar, I will be recording it and you can buy the recording for the same price.

You can also buy the manual for $9.99. Both are available by Clicking Here.

The Visual Wellness Plan using ACT - the Matrix

Hi folks,

I've turned ACT - the Matrix into a Visual Wellness Plan (VWP) and written a step-by-step manual. I kept it short (27 pages) so it's easy to download and print. The Visual Wellness Plan goes a bit beyond the usual treatment planning of the Matrix and expands it into noticing Toward and Away behaviors for wellness. It's aimed at Primary Care and other health settings, and it's very nice for collaborating with people struggling with weight, diabetes, chronic pain and such. The plan includes many pictures of the electronic whiteboards that I use in this blog that look like this:

Therefore, the manual is much like my presentations. The VWP is generally written from the point of view of someone collaborating with another person to create a wellness plan. However, it can easily be adapted for self help.

The basic sequence of

1. Who's important to you?
2. What are the internal barriers to moving toward who's important to you?
3. What behaviors do you use to get rid of or manage the internal barriers? and
4. What behaviors could you do to move toward who's important to you?

form the foundation for the Visual Wellness Plan. The VWP manual shows how I expand on each of those themes to help people create their VWPs.

I will be doing a Webinar on the VWP on February 1, 2012 at 5pm EST USA. During the webinar I will talk through the manual.

Be well,

Kevin

P.S. The manual is an ebook and available for $9.99, just Click Here.