FOSTERING ‘RESPONSE -ABILITY’

AS FEATURED IN THE NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR SOCIAL PRESCRIBING IDEAS HUB.

Maintaining Resilience and Wellbeing in the face of a public health crisis: Fostering ‘Response-ability’ by remembering that we are capable of choosing our response to challenging situations.

This is based on Epictetus’ understanding that ‘People are disturbed not by things but by the view they take of them.’ Hence, the key to emotional intelligence and wellbeing is not to avoid challenging situations; but rather to choose an effective attitude towards them.

The A-B-C Model is a core model in Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, which is one of the most effective therapies for helping people to live effectively with situations which are not as they would choose.

THIS INSIGHT IS THE BASIS OF THE A-B-C MODEL OF EMOTIONAL HEALTH:

A

The ‘Activating Event’ e.g. Change in working patterns due to the coronavirus pandemic;

B

the ‘Belief’ i.e. the attitude the person takes towards this event – what they ‘tell themselves’ about it; and

C

the ‘Consequence’ eg. frustration, despair, givingup – or a determination to make the best of the situation, even whilst accepting that it’s not ideal.

Clearly, the ‘Consequence’ at point ‘C’ is determined not by the Activating Event itself, but rather by the ‘Beliefs’ and self-talk that the person subsequently engages in at point ‘B’.

For example, if someone activates Beliefs along the lines of: ‘This is so frustrating! I can’t stand spending so much time in PPE! It’s awful to have to live and work this way!’ they will generate a great deal of upset. Equally, if, instead, they activate Beliefs along the lines of: ‘It’s disappointing not to be able to interact with my colleagues, family and friends as I’d like to; but the important thing is to stay safe and to help others to stay safe too – and actually, this is a real opportunity to make a significant contribution to public health’, they will generate positive feelings of motivation instead.

From this perspective, negative feelings are best viewed as verbs, not nouns – i.e. they are things people ‘generate’, rather than things that people ‘have’.

The key thing is how to help people to choose beliefs that work for them rather than against them; so that they can stay resourceful even when things aren’t the way they would like them to be.

JOHN PERRY

Freelance Wellbeing Consultant, Counsellor, Coach, Speaker, Facilitator and Supervisor.