Strategies

Among others, the following strategic concepts are commonly used therapeutically with the clients treated at InnerWisdom, Inc., in both the Partial Hospital Programs and Outpatient Programs.

The Social Support System Approach focuses on the individual's need for emotional and other support from family members, close friends and the community at large. It also focuses on the specific help these individuals can provide in helping to reduce interpersonal conflict and/or stress by helping the recovering person cope with high-risk situations and attitudes.

The Lifestyle Change Approach focuses on helping individuals develop and sustain new ways of feeling, thinking and behaving. Healing is not the same as being cured. Healing is a process of becoming a whole person - body, mind and spirit – in the best of all possible worlds. Healing is helping individuals find their own personal pathways to getting well again, in an effort to optimize their chance of recovering from their illness. When people open themselves up to the emotional pain caused by life threatening events, childhood traumas, grief issues, or other present or past stressful situations, life is able to take on a new meaning. The healing comes from surrendering to life as it is, with all the joy, anger, sadness, and emotional pain included.

Healing also comes through sharing the painful journey with others. Suffering brings people together in unusual, but wonderful ways. Wisdom is gained as a result of the suffering, enabling individuals to view living from a different perspective. Lives are forever changed, and life-styles dramatically altered, through the efforts of the individual as he interacts with a group of supportive and accepting people.

The Cognitive Behavioral Modification Approach, used often with individuals presenting on an outpatient basis, emphasizes identifying internal and external cues associated with negative behavior and distorted thinking. One of our most positive healing tools is the mind. It can only be used, however, if it is taught to assist in the process rather than hamper it. The experience of excessive stress, the thoughts of death, the memory of fearful events, the belief that one lacks worth, or thinking pessimistic thoughts can lead one to behave in self-destructive ways.  These things must be changed. Negative behaviors must be identified, and core beliefs that led to the destructive behavior must be uncovered, if the mind is to be engaged as a positive force in healing.

Old behaviors die hard and old beliefs surface with even the best of intentions. Many of these seemingly irritating habits have grown into addictions or habits, which are more difficult to control or manage. Behavior modification techniques, 12-step programs, meditation, reflection and religious prayer, psychotherapy and hypnosis are all useful tools when it comes to helping the mind to change. Gaining a deep sense of guidance available through a spiritually based life is paramount if an individual is to be successful in gaining control of the beliefs the mind is willing to accept.

Only through a concerted effort in the gathering of new information and in the establishment of new beliefs, can a person really change their mind and therefore change their life.