During the last month, experienced addiction counselor
and motivational speaker Neil Paul has presented three more “life-coaching”
sessions at SHAFA HOME, Delhi. These sessions have adopted more of a discursive
format than previous ones wherein Neil Paul focuses less on “lecturing” our
conscientious participants. Instead he now acts as a passive ‘facilitator’
watching from the sideline. He has gradually encouraged the residents to take
the reins themselves to generate their own peer-to-peer discussion regarding
their recovery.
Neil Paul’s fourth session residents viewed and debated
well-known recovery slogans and therapeutic community maxims. These included
“one day at a time”, “keep it simple”, “this too shall pass” amongst a throng
of other impactful and poignant words of advice and guidance. We were
encouraged to think about the impact of recovery words (maxims) upon our
behaviour. Neil Paul posed a question; “how do certain words manage to infiltrate
our mind and shape our responses? Why and how do we become emotionally
influenced by others? The atmosphere was lively and residents were chirpy to
share their unique points of view. The next level of the discussion revolved
around how residents implemented these slogans into their recovery and how.
All-in-all, this session gripped our enthusiastic participants, allowed them to
develop on their self-expression skills alongside their broadmindedness and
compassion towards different perspectives within recovery. All in all, another
successful movement forward in their mission of building upon their personal
growth!
His fifth session involved an interactive discussion
regarding the adorable but incredibly informative psychological short story
entitled “Who Moved My Cheese?” a tale regarding the importance of adapting to
new situations. The story involves two mice and two humans who live to seek out
and consume their beloved “cheese”. This “cheese” is a psychological buzz-word
for what they desire in life. The residents were urged to consider the
applicability of the story’s message within their own life. What was their favourite cheese? How did they
respond when it was removed? Residents were urged to reassess the priorities
within their life and most importantly remember that new experiences lie ahead
of them.
His sixth session involved our residents discussing their
feelings regarding their recovery journey so far. This was undertaken in a
senior peer-to-younger peer forum. Neil Paul gave occasional verbal prompts in
order to steer the discussion down different tributaries of subject matter. Key
topics covered teamwork, positive thinking and the applicability of TC skills
in the outside world. One of our coordinators mentioned that younger residents
let small issues eventually overpower them and spark a mental breakdown within
treatment. Another key problem is that they don’t verbally offload their
problems. This procrastination is totally dangerous!! They result in a massive
backlog of unresolved fears and anxieties which block a resident’s attainment
of personal growth.
So the hot question searing our lips was “WHAT CAN WE DO
TO SUCCEED IN TREATMENT?” –It came down to one clear answer...”bite the bullet,
suck up your apprehensions and just do it [treatment]. Do what is asked of you
with blind faith”. After viewing a short story called “The Old Wise Man”; we
realized that it didn’t matter if we were 92 or 22, in an old folk’s home or in
a drug de-addiction centre. As long as we
challenged our menacing ‘stinking thinking’ to vomit out our prickly
cynicism and ‘smart-alecky’ probing, then we would find gratitude for treatment.
Neil Paul’s sessions have been successful reminding the
residents that currently being in treatment is the best thing for them at the
moment. They are continuously adding to their self-confidence, self-worth and
positivity! The content discussed over these three sessions gave them an opportunity
to consider the necessary steps needing to be taken to progress forwards. Our
ongoing thanks to Mr. Neil Paul for his time, dedication and edifying sessions
with our residents.
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