Reset Life -Think on Good guest, Major Christine Pickens, National Training Coordinator for the Salvation Army, Positive Lifestyle Program, explains how this course can help all people become the best version of themselves. Developed to help you understand who you are, where you belong and how to manage essential change for a better future.

We discuss why self-awareness is important for sustaining relationships with yourself and others. This program is the go-to course provided by the Salvation Army in locations nationally and is especially helpful for someone who has experienced set-back, trauma, grief or loss. During the eight-sessions the participant gains the confidence to apply important life skills to support them in personal relationships, finding work and managing stress.

This program is recommended for the person who wants to break a difficult cycle and is beneficial for everyone who is seeking to be the best version of themselves. To find out more contact the Salvation Army to register for a course near you.

Salvation Army

Positive Lifestyle Program

8 session-course

Salvation Army

salvationarmy.org.au

Phone 13 72 58

Salvation Army

Positive Lifestyle Program

Build self-awareness

Improve self-esteem

Help with anger

Assist in surviving broken relationships

Help with finding/keeping work

Salvation Army

Positive Lifestyle Program

Self-Awareness

Anger

Depression/Loneliness

Stress

Grief

Assertiveness

Self-esteem

Future Directions

Salvation Army

Positive Lifestyle Program

Strategies to manage

Stress, depression, loneliness

various personal challenges

reconnect with community

Salvation Army

Positive Lifestyle Program

8 session-course

Salvation Army

salvationarmy.org.au

Phone 13 72 58

DISCLAIMER

Think on good is a program offering information for mind health and is not intended to replace medical treatment, professional advice or diagnosis.

If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health symptoms, for immediate support contact

Lifeline 13 11 14.

Think on good. Hello, I'm Judy Hogan. Welcome to think on good. This is a curation of programs and resources to help build a healthy and resilient mind. Coming up, self-awareness, as described by the Oxford Dictionary, is a conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings. Today, we discuss why self-awareness is important for sustaining relationships with yourself and others.

First, though, how to move your life from A to B when it seems unobtainable. There is a program provided by the Salvation Army that is the go-to for the change you or someone you know may be longing for. The Positive Lifestyle Program encourages the participant to apply important life skills to support them in finding work, managing stress, loss, and how to plan for better outcomes.

This program is for the person who wants change and is beneficial for everyone who is seeking to be a best version of themselves. To discuss how the program works, we welcome Major Christine Pickens, Salvation Army national trainer for the Positive Lifestyle Program. Now, Christine, how did you get involved with Salvation Army and in particular the Positive Lifestyle program?

So it is a brilliant program, the Positive Lifestyle program. Can you tell me where it is actually taught and who is it for And what is the benefit of it? So the Positive Lifestyle program initially started and was used predominantly within the work of, uh, by the Salvation Army and later by other organisations within our courts and prisons.

But as the program continued to expand, wherever there was a, um, ministry opportunity or work role where people were working with community members or clients that were struggling with issues in life, they found that the positive lifestyle program was a very good fit for what they were trying to do, and part of the reason why people like it, it's just a very short course based on self-development processes, where people learn about themselves and go on this journey.

And so it's delivered as a work base, um, module material. And alongside a trained PLP facilitator who journeys with people as they learn about themselves in order to become a better version of themselves. What are some of the topics covered? So there's eight topics around. The Positive Lifestyle program always starts with self-awareness, then anger, depression and loneliness, stress, grief and loss, assertiveness, self-esteem.

And we finish with future directions, which is really about setting goals. What does that person then want to pick up and do after they finish this program? Now, when we look at self-awareness, why is this so important for sustaining relationships with yourself and others? Often when people experience our challenges in life or uncertain about the direction they need to go in learning about what they think, what they feel, how they respond helps them prepare them to engage

with others in different capacities it has led in more healthy ways. As they learn about themselves, they are able to apply what they've learnt into every day, very practical ways. So you're looking at their strengths as well as their skill set? Yes. Yes. And with that facilitator, it's around them helping them to identify not just the areas that they could improve.

But like you said, those strengths they have and helping them to realise those strengths as well. They're all basic, um, I guess skills that you need to carry through a very productive or healthy life. Also, you cover anger, and it's something that people don't want to talk about too much, but a lot of people feel probably anger is not a good thing.

They shouldn't show anger. How does this dive a little bit deeper into anger and help people with this? So the session in the positive lifestyle material is not an anger management tool. It's a one unit of self-awareness around anger, and it gives people an understanding that there's nothing wrong with anger.

It's what they do with their anger that can make it right or wrong. So if they express it outwardly, that can lead to violence, property damage, but just as dangerous as if they shove it inwardly and they don't address what the anger is causing for them. So this material steps people through that awareness of what anger is, gets them to look at their anger styles or identifying their anger styles.

It encourages them to think about, is this something that they would like to work on in their life and then provide some of those strategies? And of course, then the benefit is once they start putting those strategies in place, the next time they catch up with the facilitator, they can check in on their progress and see how they're going.

If someone has serious anger issues, that's when that facilitator would then refer them on to another program, or to professional counselling to resolve some of that. If that's anger issues that are unresolved at this stage, what are some of the, um, I guess, steps that can be suggested for managing anger?

So some of the strategies, the first one is about learning about what might be causing the anger, to know whether it's something that they can work with or work on, or whether it's something that they just simply have to accept that situation. It's around what some of those strategies might be. Uh, would it be beneficial to actually address the anger, to talk with someone, to blow off steam, to journal, uh, to to learn about what's actually happening to them?

So very practical, um, strategies that way and some that some people probably have never heard of before but or have heard of and not applied. So that's a good reminder. Can you describe somebody who's actually been through the program and how it's changed their lives? Certainly, one of the PLP facilitators who works in Western Australia is one of the Salvation Army's case management workers for our program called doorways.

And Karen shared with, uh, with myself around a young woman by the name of Hayley. Hayley came to the Salvation Army about two years ago after fleeing family and domestic violence and being severe financial hardship, and as over the course of working with her, Karen offered her this program. And Karen each week would or over a couple of weeks would present one of the modules or one of the sessions.

Uh, Hayley would take it away, work on it. And what Karen noticed was over this course of time, there was that change. What, Towards the end Part of the graduation is a person gets a certificate once they've worked through all the sessions. And Karen said that Hayley went out and bought herself a graduation hat, came in a gown to receive her certificate, and she shared how this woman, who had three kids who had gone through all of this hardship, had now was becoming involved in her children's school and was applying what she was learning to her life.

And basically, there was that transformation. Karen then congratulated her on

going from being a victim to being victorious, and Hayley very much said that was that process, that because of the positive lifestyle program, it really allowed her to grow and develop and to move past her experiences to a newer person. Yeah, it gives that confidence, doesn't it? So are there any other examples that you can share with us about what you've heard from these positive lifestyle programs.

So there is always those people who engage in the program who say, if I hadn't have done this program, my life would have continued to go down this track or those that have looked at those situations in their life and now say that they've learnt better skills to be able to help manage or understand. These are the things that I can do and work on, and these are the things that I'm not able to work on.

It helps in areas to, if you're trying to manage something like gambling addiction. While the program doesn't actually address gambling problems as such, it does look at, um, woven through it. I often is those at various levels of addiction or relationship problems, and by that whole process of self-awareness, it's about them learning around maybe what's going on for me.

Why am I turning to these either gambling or substance use problems. What can I do differently in order to move past this? In order to become a better version of myself, to learn to value themselves, which is good self-value? Yes. And that whole process of sorry, of being self-aware then allows them that growth, that development and applying very practical things to their lives.

How do you register to be a part, to become part of one of these programs, and what is expected of the participants? There are many sites around Australia that offer the positive lifestyle program, not just within the Salvation Army, but there is also other organisations and other churches that have been trained by the Salvation Army to facilitate the Positive lifestyle program.

And often it's there is a main web page that links people to myself, and I try and refer people to the closest site. The program is eight sessions. That doesn't necessarily mean one session a week. It really is about going on a person's journey as they learn about themselves. So it's one session, maybe each week or each fortnight.

Um, that usually is around about 45 minutes to an hour alongside a trained facilitator. And they take a workbook at home, they complete the work booklet. And when they come back sitting alongside that facilitator, they explore and examine the questions that the booklet has around that particular topic.

Um, when can you recognise that a person is ready to make that change? That's always hard, because people will come to the positive lifestyle program for a number of different reasons. Um, for myself, I often get court- referred people who are required by either their solicitors or their magistrates to complete the course.

and they've been told they have to come. So they come sometimes with that attitude, I'm here because I have to, but I will still work with them in order to help them move through. And over that course of time, I often see or notice a shift in the attitude where they move from. I'm doing this because I have to now that I'm wanting, I'm doing it because I want to.

And I remember one facilitator sharing with me that he also had a court referral, and he thought this program was so good that he also wanted his wife to do the program. So while he went into jail, she did the program and experience that level of transformation in her life. So

it when people come to do the positive lifestyle program, when they're usually coming from the community, there are people who either acknowledge that there's issues in their life and they're seeking some help and hoping that this program can show them the direction that they need to go in or take. So it's about them learning about themselves.

That's excellent. And all the years that you've been working in this space. What inspires you? Oh, to see. Yeah. To see people's lives change. Um, and to have that privilege of journeying with them as they learn about themselves. To see them grow. To see them. Even simple things. I remember working with a young man who is long term unemployed, and when he first appeared, he'd come in with a scrunched-up shirt and uncombed hair.

Tracksuit daks that held hung very low. And what was happening was this is how he presented even for job interviews. So over the course of the weeks I picked up that he started changing and that he was starting to comb his hair and I and his t shirt, still a tracksuit, Daks were hanging a bit low, but, you know, I drew that to his attention.

You should have seen the smile on his face when he realised that someone had noticed that change and that small step was helping him to become more job ready for him to be able to identify that. When I present looking scruffy to a job interview, that's not going to work for me. But now I'm starting to think about my appearance.

Thinking about how I might present for a job. Was that on that road to move forward? What is your favourite quote? There is so many. Um. Anyone can see the dirt. Be the one who finds the gold. And that's what I encourage my facilitators that as they work alongside people, it's about that person, that participant doing the work, and we don't find out and point out all their flaws or faults, but we're the ones that helping them to realise that they're people of worth.

That's it. Thank you for your time today. Thank you Christine. You're welcome. Thanks, Jude. The Positive Lifestyle Program encourages the participant to learn more about themselves, their value and strengths to apply important life skills for improved outcomes even during the most challenging times.

Some of the topics covered include self-awareness, grief, assertiveness, self-esteem, and planning for future goals. This program equips you with strategies to manage stress, depression, and loneliness, and various personal challenges. For more information about Salvation Army resources, go to Salvation Army

or phone 1372 58. Think on good is a program offering information for mind health and is not intended to replace medical treatment, professional advice or diagnosis. If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health symptoms for immediate support, contact lifeline on 13 1114. Think On good is brought to you with thanks to our sponsors and contributors.

Until next time, we hope you continue to think on good.

Think on good.