Psychology Has It Backwards

Clients normally seek mental health help when they are facing "problems" they feel they can't resolve. A question others ask us is, "If you're not paying attention to their problems and helping them to solve them, then why do they keep coming to you?" Some people are concerned that we "brush off" problems and don't listen to our clients. Grounding in the Principles makes it natural for us to listen for and touch the innate mental health in our clients, even as they are descr...

When people become curious about the Three Principles, they often think of our work as a tool to add to their tool kit. So sometimes it seems confusing when we make a point about not "mixing" the 3P with other approaches. The reason is that, although there are well-established approaches that do help people, the assumptions of other approaches are that people are affected by circumstances that have to be dealt with. We assume that people all have innate mental health as a bi...

There are many expressions that are used when people are sharing the Principles that are easily grasped and interpreted by our intellect, but do not mean what people commonly think they mean. Our intellect, the repository of everything we have learned or know so far, is quick to jump in and give us easy answers. That is why we tell people to listen for the feeling, or listen beyond the words. Here we offer some examples of this. A common one is the word "listen." ...

When we decide we want to change or we feel we need to change, we often work at it. We try really hard to change. We come up with strategies; we seek advice; we read self-help books; we go to courses, thinking we'll find a technique, or a means to fix ourselves. Too often, that leads to hopelessness and discouragement. Too often we monitor ourselves and force ourselves and get ourselves so stressed and anxious that we give up. Trying hard, despite good intentions...

This is the first installment of occasional podcasts we are going to make with Hawaii Counseling and Education Center (HCEC) intern, Spirit, to track his journey from traditional psychological training into becoming a counselor whose work is grounded in the Principles. Chris started HCEC 40 years ago, the very first clinic in the US founded on the Principles, and has sent many interns out into the world over time. Their journey into lifelong learning reveals how this work differs ...