Human Development Approach - Psycho-Educational - in App form

Advanced Courses l - ll - lll

(Presented at both a Division 32 Conference, as well as the APA's Annual Convention – as Psychotherapeutic Intervention - well received)

Dear Fellow Practitioners;

Have you ever gotten frustrated when patients seem to not hear or apply directives you collaborated on together? When they seem to make little progress, coming back week after week complaining about the same issues? This is one of the major problem therapists face. Would you like to be able to motivate patients to apply themselves and make progress between sessions? To monitor your patients between sessions so you could better pinpoint where and why they are getting stuck? There aren’t too many ways you can do this today – unless you permit them to text you or call you between sessions. Not many therapists encourage this, which is understandable. Even those exchanges, while perhaps benefitting a specific situation the patient is in, don’t really support their overall progress.

The Love Decoded App has many features intended to help you help your clients, like being able to monitor their progress between sessions. Instead of being consigned to hearing their excuses you will be gaining insights you can use to guide them. Being able to address their problems more accurately is likely to result in their success and your sense of greater satisfaction. Additional benefits may be getting more referrals, as well as patients not abandoning the therapy prematurely. Many do before you feel they have transitioned sufficiently to mental and emotional health.

The modality used in the App, a psycho-educational – human development approach, is based on a thorough analysis of what symptoms patients generally present with and what tools are necessary to successfully deal with those symptoms. The results of that analysis determined that there were three primary issues for which patients lacked the right tools to deal with their symptoms. A fourth issue, a lack of nourishing, unconditional love, was more or less obvious, even central, but never included in or visible on any list relating to psychotherapeutic interventions. 

Given that the average age of individuals/couples when they first reach out for therapy is around 40, three of the symptom-relieving tools that they are missing are present in three major modalities, but are not applied in a synchronous, integrated, sequential manner – which we have accomplished. The fourth is only available in our modality.

The first three similar to Gestalt, CBT, and NLP/Imago communication tools;

1st– Symptoms: Lack of self-reflection and awareness; Tools: being present/mindfulness---Gestalt

2nd– Symptoms: Poor ability to recognize consequences or accept responsibility, confusing blame with responsibility, fear of losing friends and companions, lack of effective strategizing actions and behaviors; Tools: creating visions, transforming self-talk --- CBT

3rd– Symptoms: Poor ability to listen and frame effective communications; Tools: learning both listening and framing skills --- NLP

4th– Symptoms: Lack of nourishing, unconditional love; Tools: learning self-love, love of others, and not accepting unloving behaviors from others, integrated with the first three.

As Erich Fromm wrote – “…people are starved for love” –literally, for the nourishing kind. We totally and completely confuse love with romance, attraction, desire – strong energies, but not nourishing. Our patients are in a constant state of anxiety and depression about having no control over obtaining this nourishing love from others, never thinking that self-sufficiency is possible. Like with the other nourishments of air, food, and water – they have to become self-sufficient with love – and stop their desperate lifetime search and dependency.

Practicing loving behavior, loving intention, and loving consciousness is the tool that binds the other three together, ensuring that people have loving, effective relationships with Self and others. 

 The App is structured as an Advanced course that contains 3 stages; Course l – Course ll – Course lll. Each stage includes 7 different learning modules, focusing on 7 different aspects of our relationship with Self and others. All modules are 7 days long, with an additional 7 days intended for review and application to one’s life. The time for each stage is 14 weeks - totaling 42 weeks for the full course.

For less than the price of a single session with a mental health practitioner, psychiatrist, or certified coach, your patients/clients can take all 3 courses – 42 weeks total – and learn, with your help, more than they have in a lifetime about how to fill their need for love. It will positively impact their mental, emotional and physical health as well as enrich their personal development, relationships, and career. This work is the foundation for resilience, grit, compassion, exercise regimens, healthy diets, meditation, etc. The horse before the cart.

 How does one sign up for the App or a training?

Therapists have a number of options –

1 - You can use the App, get familiar with it, and if you think this can help your patients to keep moving in a positive direction between sessions, suggest they sign up. You will receive a compensation for your referral.

2 – You can sign up for the App training– get your certification – and become an expert in the theory the App is based on, and be able to answers the questions your own patients will more than likely pose to you as they move through the App and its 21 Steps.

3 – Once you are certified you will also be included in our global database of therapists.  App users who want to work with therapists will be choosing from this database.

Professional and Personal benefits –

Additionally, you will receive supervision in the usage of the various tools the App teaches, as well as tools the App is not able to impart to users, but you will find useful in your own practice.

Over the past thirty years dozens of psychotherapists and psychologist have worked with GHD, Inc. on our various projects. The remarkable thing about all their participation was that inevitably they shared that they felt they got more out of volunteering than they gave - not only professionally, but personally as well.

A career in healing is emotionally demanding, draining. Imagine how physically demanding running a marathon every day would be. As a caring professional, you expend a lot of loving energy that is not fully replenished. Without this extra loving energy, you’re caring for your patients while “malnourished”. This handicaps your ability to bring your best Self to your work and life in general. Healing people can be inspiring and energizing until the day you relinquish the role of therapist.

There is no substitute for providing yourself with nourishing love, even when you have understanding and supportive relationships. SELF-SUFFICIENCY, resulting from mastering Self-love, is key to optimal health that enables you to be fully present to your needs and those of your patients/clients.

Here are the modules of the Advanced Course l;

Discovering Your Lovable Qualities – Opens the door and gives you permission to acknowledge your valuable qualities, explore what others like about you, and the value you bring to yourSelf, your Family and Friends, and the World.

Tuning In To Your Self-Talk - Becoming Aware of the Positive and Negative nature of your Inner Dialogue.

Discovering and Transforming Your Unlovable Qualities – Gaining clarity regarding which of your behaviors toward yourSelf and Others are counterproductive.

Discovering How To Construct Vision – A lack of vision or negative visions often guide our behaviors and choices.

Open-Heart Communications – Poor communication is the #1 complaint in relationships.

Crafting Loving Communications People Will Listen To – Only opening another’s heart can resolve conflict, produce understanding and healing.

Listening – not being heard is the most painful experience human beings have – and it starts in childhood.

 Modules of the Advanced Course ll;

“…Because I Love Myself” – The most powerful phrase when it comes to nourishing yourself and transforming your unloving thoughts and behaviors toward yourSelf.

Are you aware of the ways you mist-treat yourself? It is toxic for your physical, mental, and emotional health. Learn how to notice it and stop it.

Most people aren’t aware how they mistreat others. When you aren’t aware you not only hurt or upset another, but you wind up not apologizing.

Others Mistreating Us. One thing we are hyperaware of is when others hurt or upset us. Misstreat us.

Are you a “collector” of resentments? Resentments start when you fail to clear up an issue or upset with those you care about or have to interact with.

Forgiveness toward yourSelf. Often, one is not even aware of being resentful or angry with oneself.

Forgiving others. This requires us to use the same approach as forgiving ourselves. They did something that felt like they didn’t care about our wellbeing, but it is who they were (or are). Thoughtless is different than ‘on purpose’.

 Modules of the Advanced Course lll;

Asking others for their forgiveness. It requires that you admit to yourself that you did something thoughtless or selfish that hurt another, even if you didn’t intend to hurt them.

Asking for Unconditional Love – From Self and Others – How would you feel if someone you were close to came up to you and said, “We have a good relationship, now I would like to invite you to have an Unconditional Relationship with me”?

Unconditional Love Team – Forming Your Own Loving Community – We have been encouraging you from the beginning to develop your own Unconditional Community.

Affection with Others – Touch - Giving and Receiving – In Europe and South America men and women kiss each other hello and goodbye. Hug each other, and even walk arm in arm.

Self-Affection and Self-Healing – Self-Massage – Tiffany Field proved, working with premature infants just how nourishing touch is. Now she is working with adults and self-massage.

How to Love Through Anger and Pain - Our inability to be angry and loving at the same time injures us and damages our relationships.

Random Acts of Kindness – Passing Love Forward – We have all heard about Random Acts of Kindness, but not about the beneficial effects it has on our own nervous system, our own level of stress. outlook on life, and even more importantly, how much you like yourself. It really nourishes you!

Bonus 1 - Sleep Protocol – Rejuvenating Body and Mind Every Night – Not getting a restful sleep is every bit as bad as poor nutrition, lack of exercise, or not loving yourself. This module teaches patients how to go through a step-by-step body scan, while directing the cells of their body to rest and rejuvenate. Once mastered people find that they are asleep right after their head hits the pillow. Like everything people try to learn, using this App has to do with caring about themselves. One’s last act, before going to sleep, is letting oneself know how much one cares about oneself. Instead of hearing a parent’s lullaby you gently lull yourself to sleep with self-loving words.

Bonus 2 – Weight Loss Protocol – through body awareness, focus on enjoying the taste, and processing the food to get the most nutrients out of them (not starve the body)

Bonus 3 – Private Facebook group - to help you learn and grow along with your peers

Bonus 4 -Just say yes to love a true friendship website (soon to be an App)