Andy Andrews' Seven Decisions Become Pathway to Mental Health Recovery

Five Star Innovations has developed a mental health recovery program based on NYT Bestseller, Andy Andrews' "The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success."

(PRWEB) October 4, 2006 -- Mental health recovery has just received new hope with a wonderful new program from Five Star Innovations based on New York Times Best-selling author, Andy Andrews’ “The Traveler’s Gift”. “The Traveler’s Guide: A Program for Mental Health Recovery” is a multi-dimensional program designed to help manage mental health symptoms, build hope, and take responsibility for one’s future based on individual strengths and desires, using Andy Andrew’s Seven Decisions introduced in “The Traveler’s Gift.”

This ready-to-use program comes with a Facilitator’s Guide and Participant Handbooks.

This program was created for people who have a mental illness and a desire to take personal responsibility for their health, realizing a better quality of life. Through this interactive program, participants learn about the Seven Decisions from The Traveler’s Gift and how to incorporate them into their own lives. Five Star Innovations also has a program to help people become a Certified Program Facilitators.

Participants in “The Traveler’s Guide: A Program for Mental Health Recovery” will:

• Identify and address barriers to recovery;

• Build resilience by learning and practicing illness management strategies;

• Recognize their strengths and gain confidence in seeking learning opportunities and making decisions;

• Practice critical thinking and problem solving skills;

• Recognize their personal reactions to life situations and turn self-defeating habits into self fulfilling habits;

• Embrace their ability to forgive and move beyond adversity;

• Accept responsibility for their future and commit to a personal Recovery Plan.

The Traveler’s Guide: a Program for Mental Health Recovery is a customized, multi-session curriculum that instills hope and facilitates individual self-discovery through experiential opportunities. Participants may gain personal insight through role-play activities, journaling, self-assessment, illness education, and group interaction. Application of the Seven Decisions is practiced in a safe, supportive learning environment.

Classes for The Traveler’s Guide therapy include 12-15 participants, led by a Certified Facilitator. Smaller breakout groups are used within the program as well. Participants read or listen to the book, “The Traveler’s Gift”, on which the program is based. The book is read by the author, Andy Andrews, a nationally renowned keynote speaker. Each person receives their own Traveler’s Guide Participant Manual, which they will work through with the guidance of a Certified Facilitator. Throughout the program, participants will regularly work on their individual Recovery Plan. Activities are designed to give participants the opportunity to practice the new skills and concepts they are learning.

Before one can see the benefits of a new program, one must first recognize the solution sought. Recovery is always first and foremost the hope of any mental heath program. Recovery is personal to each individual. True recovery means the ability to achieve goals, be responsible for realizing a better quality of life, and to live successfully with mental illness. Realize that in these ways, recovery is different than a ‘cure’. Before recovery can begin, first one must decide on a recovery ‘plan’.

A recovery plan includes the ‘life domains” of the individual that encompass the different aspects of their lives. Their living situation, their health and wellness, their daily activities, and their friendships are considered life domains. “The Traveler’s Guide: A Program for Mental Health Recovery” takes participants, step-by-step through a personal journey of discovering their gifts, strengths, and purpose through Recovery Planning.

They go through the program learning to use the new skills they’ve learned on a personal level. The plan is dynamic and changes as the needs of the person change.

For each ‘life domain’ participants will identify:

• Their satisfaction with each Life Domain

• Priority of importance for each Life Domain

• Goals for improving in areas where they are not satisfied

• Steps for achieving their goals

• Help they need to achieve their goals

• How they will know when their goals have been achieved.

A Life Domain Assessment can help people identify areas in their life where they would like to improve. The need for practical principles in mental health recovery are paramount in a world with increasing numbers of people in the corporate environment who are under a constant barrage of stress and stress related disease and disorders.

The “Seven Decisions For Personal Success” are skillfully presented in the book, “The Traveler’s Gift” through the inspiring stories of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Ann Frank. In a manner that recognizes and values individual differences, program participants apply the Seven Decisions to their own lives. These Seven Decisions include:

• The Responsible Decision: The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future.

• The Guided Decision: I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others.

• The Active Decision: I am a person of action. I seize this moment. I choose now.

• The Certain Decision: I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured.

• The Joyful Decision: Today I will choose to by happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.

• The Compassionate Decision: I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I will forgive others.

• The Persistent Decision: I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith. I will find a way where there IS NO WAY!

For organizations like the winning Lady Duke College basketball team, the Seven Decisions of the Traveler’s Gift have been a source of empowerment that led to success on the basketball court. The corporate team at Microsoft has used the power of the Seven Decisions to create new focus and energy within the corporate structure. Schools have begun to teach the Seven Decisions as a course on life that lives far beyond the classroom, with principles that work every time when applied to life. Now Andy Andrew’s Seven Decisions can be used to help in an arena that seldom sees such hope of recovery…mental health. For more information about “The Traveler’s Guide: A Program for Mental Health Recovery” log onto www.fivestarinnovations.com. For more information about Andy Andrews, or to set up an interview with the long range effects of these life changing Seven Decisions, go to www.AndyAndrews.com.

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