John Prin BIO Your Client s s Life Purpose: Does It Matter? John Howard Prin, LADC MARRCH Conference October 22, 2008 Licensed Alcohol & Drug Counselor, Mpls MN In-Patient and Out-patient Former Hazelden counselor Current Private Practice and Educator Author of three recovery books: Roadmap to Lifelong Recovery Guidebook Founder of TrueYouRecovery in Minneapolis Diverse perspective = 12-Steps + CBT + Stage II Recovery + Spirituality + Mindfulness, etc. Audience Reaction Do you face the frustration of helping your clients find and maintain their motivation to stay sober? In Two Words PURPOSE MOTIVATES Today s s Focus Build awareness of ways to encourage your clients to understand the power of their life purpose as a means to motivate their time and effort for staying relapse-free LIFELONG RECOVERY! Recovery Follows Treatment Today s content applies after treatment and relates to the client s first months of abstinence including 1-to-2 years of sobriety. True You Recovery s mission is to help clients after they get sober to stay sober. Our focus is on Stage II Recovery for which we have developed TYR s Roadmap to Lifelong Recovery Guidebook. To assist clients define their True You so they can restructure their inner journey in order that their outer journey succeeds.
Stage II Recovery (Earnie Larsen) Stage I (Treatment) Stage II (Recovery) Past Present & Future Problem Solution Disease/Crisis Health/Growth Consequences Amends Destructive Beliefs Constructive Beliefs Isolation Fellowship SELF OTHERS Life Purpose Case Study JENNY S S STORY True You (authentic identity) energizes recovery and helps clients nurture their individual Meaning Tree Life Dream Reality Client s LIFE DREAM UNLIVED Goal Client s LIFE DREAM LIVED OUT! The Meaning Tree Jenny s roots Client s roots? Talent & skill with guitar Jenny s purpose Client s purpose? Patriotism Jenny s goal Client s goal? Combine guitar & patriotism Jenny s authenticity Client s authenticity? Her True You remerged Jenny s meaning Client s meaning? Serve self/others by performing Insight #1 A Dream Energizes Your Client s Purpose A Dream Energizes Your Client s s Purpose My Dream An ideal that nourishes my soul and motivates me to be my best My Purpose Arranging my life s s responsibilities (including staying sober) to nurture my dream
Clients Actual Life Dreams To prevent any animal from ever being harmed. To raise the status of the black man in America. To make every women feel beautiful. To become the top barrel racer in the rodeo world. To stay sober and help others as a counselor stay sober so the world will become a better place. WHY HOW WHAT Insight #2 Meaning Results from Serving Something Larger Than Self Positive Psychology Martin Seligman The Pleasant Life successfully pursues positive emotions. But wellbeing is not just about momentary pleasures.it also includes the idea that one s life is authentic. Authenticity results from pursuing your purpose and fulfilling your dream (seeing it come true). Positive Psychology: Serving Something Larger Living out your dream in what you value leads to the Meaningful Life. A meaningful life sustains sobriety and is a vital component of serving something larger than yourself. For many, this means service to others. Is service to others part of your dialogue with clients? Gandhi Lincoln Serving Something Larger Than Self Mother Teresa Mandela ML King Jr. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Robert Byrne
Insight #3 Purpose Focuses Clients Self-Talk on the Positive Positive Self Talk A client s reawakened purpose fuels healthy SELF TALK: Negative self-definition >>> (leads to) Negative behavior >>> (leads to) Negative results >>> (lead to) This Cycle is reversed when Clients replace NEG Self-Talk with POS The better the Discovery, the better the Recovery. - Earnie Larsen Replacing Self-Talk Case Study OLD Self Talk NEW Self Talk FRANKL S S STORY Change I m a loser To I m a winner Change I ll never be somebody To I am somebody Change I m incapable & undeserving To I am able and deserving Change I don t matter much To I matter a lot Change Life cheats me To Life blesses me Positive Self-talk Sustains Motivation Man s s Search for Meaning We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their piece of bread. They offered sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms To choose one s s attitude in any given set of circumstances... It is this spiritual freedom, which cannot be taken away, that makes life meaningful and purposeful. Viktor Frankl Frankl s Paradox Q: It is not ours to ask, Does life have meaning? Rather Life asks us, Does your life have meaning? A: It is our responsibility to answer by finding our unique individual purpose that leads to meaning.
Exercise / Tool #3 GRAVESTONE Exercise State in one sentence how people will remember your life. Here lies : who continued drinking and avoided living life on life s terms until s/he died an early, ugly, meaningless death. OR who regained his/her dignity through sobriety and loved those s/he met so they could reach their highest potential. Potential Gain for Clients Meaning becomes the source of fulfillment clients once sought in addictions Insight #4 Meaning and Purpose are Nurtured by Spiritual Partnership The Big Book Says For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. We never apologize for God. Instead, we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. AA Big Book, p. 68 8 4 Squares of Life 7 RECOVERY 6 This diagram helps clients define what s s meaningful 5
Awakening My Spirit 4 Squares of Life SPIRITUALITY: My ongoing partnership with a supernatural source of meaning, purpose and love in my life. 1. What brings joy to my life 2. One way I seek spirituality 3. What I most want in life and why 4. One thing that inspires me Meaning Purpose Service RECOVERY IS WORKING Tested Strategies to Discuss Clients Life Purpose Exercises / Tools Meaning Tree Gravestone Diagram Positive Self-Talk Grid 4 Squares of Life Chart Roadmap Guidebook Payoffs for Your Client What s s in it for Them? Their motivation to stay sober will grow stronger. Payoffs for Your Client What s s in it for Them? Their motivation to stay sober will grow stronger. Their sobriety will become durable recovery that is less susceptible to relapse.
Payoffs for Your Client What s s in it for Them? Their motivation to stay sober will grow stronger. Their sobriety will become durable recovery that is less susceptible to relapse. Clients will discover their own internal reasons for staying sober rooted in their TRUE YOU. Client s s TRUE YOU Nourishes Purpose Once a Client s purpose and meaning are clear, their True You identity sustains lifelong relapse-free recovery and grows more likely. Nutrients 12-Steps, CBT, Spirituality, 4 Squares of Life, Professional Counseling, Self responsibility for one s own sobriety/ recovery, etc. True You Recovery Services 952-941-1870 www.trueyourecovery.com Minneapolis, MN 55439