Brian Weller
Point Of View
- "The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind."
- - James Truslow Adams1
Mind Skills training is an adventure! It offers fresh and time honored techniques to unlock our power to be fully alive. The mind is extremely powerful. It is so powerful and intimate to us that we forget that it requires great skill to use it effectively. This is especially true for those with a bipolar condition.
Some of the greatest minds in history have displayed bipolar traits. When we reflect on the lives and contributions of people like Ludwig van Beethoven, Buzz Aldrin, Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, and Florence Nightingale, what singles them out for greatness is that they lived their "bipolar condition" as an advantage. This creative attitude or point of view is what made the difference in their own lives, but more importantly, made a difference to us all. We can learn from them. The secret is to know your purpose and get organized to achieve it by managing your mind.
Exercising the mind and developing skills is as important as developing the body, if not more so. Our mental abilities are central to our ability to get Bipolar In Order. Without a well developed mind, we do not have the strength to control our minds when put under duress. Just as a weak body breaks down when it needs to do heavy lifting, an undeveloped mind breaks down when under stress. Depression, mania, hallucinations, and delusions are the greatest mental stressors known to man. It takes a well developed mind to overcome them.
Integration With Team
The Mind Skills Coach reinforces the learning techniques and mental strategies which support the work of the entire program. Mind Mapping that the client created in brainstorming sessions or in visioning their Life Plan can be shown and shared with others, bringing them closer to the inner world of the client.
A mind skills coach creates specific exercises to fulfill the goals outlined by other team members. For example, in the same way that the fitness coach can suggest exercises based on a more intimate knowledge of the client's skill set, the mind skills coach can find the best exercises to accomplish the goals set out by the psychotherapist for relaxation, meditation, or other goals.
The mind skills coach can also give input to the other team members about changes in the client's ability to perform the exercises. These changes can be indicative of struggles that other team members are not aware of and can help them to make adjustments in their approach.
Assessment Process
An accurate assessment of the client's mental skill level and ability is attained through the use of questionnaires and inventories to test and assess attitude, memory, creativity, brainstorming, ability to change state from rapid thinking to calm, and the client's willingness to embark on personal change.
An abundance of exercises exist to assess current abilities as well as progress along the path to greater skills. Like physical tests for strength, the mental tests are very specific in measurement and there are clear skill levels that can be compared to norms for both the bipolar population and so called "normal" people.
Goal Setting
Goals can be both standalone and necessary components of goals in other areas of the life plan. Spiritual goals can be greatly facilitated by developing meditation skills, for example.
When looking at the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relationships, and career/financial goals, it is important to keep in mind what mind skills need to be practiced in order to achieve them. While it is nice to be able to increase memory or think faster, it is critical to develop such skills if you have career goals that require them.
Treatment
Turning good intentions into real and lasting change builds the confidence essential for putting Bipolar In Order. Coaching is essentially a facilitation process for people to integrate and establish skills. These skills include Mind Mapping, memory strategies for short and long term recall, mindset and attitude coaching, creativity processes, personal change work, and mental rehearsal techniques.
Coaching is done both one-to-one and in groups. It can be done in person, over the phone, or via the internet. It is usually done in forty five minute to one hour sessions and can be as frequent as weekly, but should be at least once a month if the skills are going to be reinforced enough to hold.
Daily practice, and some times multiple times a day, are necessary for the mind to create the habits needed for success. Mental exercises seem very simple on the surface, but we know the mind's tendency to avoid change easily rivals the body's. It takes discipline to keep up the practice.
Adherence can be greatly helped by working with friends and family or in support group settings. It can also make a huge difference to have one-to-one sessions with a coach.
Mind Skills coaching includes:
- Check-in to reaffirm purpose, goals and actions - "What am I creating in my daily life and why?"
- Exploration - "How am I doing?" Clients explore their issues, questions, and concerns that have arisen during the week. The coach clarifies them so that clients can reset their goals. In group sessions, these issues are explored with the group and invariably others share similar or related issues.
- Tune up - Tuning up the Mind Skills routines so that they fit more successfully into a clients' work, leisure, and home life.
- Development - The coach gives hands-on training to build skills to new levels of competence and effectiveness.
- Support - Individual and group support to help clients to stay on the path.
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