Minnesota Alternatives - Building the Foundation for Self-Regulation
This is a foundation for self-regulation on which the other key skills are built. Integrating the foundation into daily life is one f the signs you may be ready for program completion.
Engage in Basic Self-Care – care for our bodies so it is easier to use our minds
Get adequate sleep, hydration, nutrition, exercise, and time in nature
Manage stress - avoid over extending
Be intelligently self-attentive
Understand will power (limited amount each day and fuel tanks runs low after a lot of decision making and self-regulation which adds to your stress-vulnerability)
Practice Mindfulness – be present and learn to observe thoughts, feeling, and body sensations with both compassion and curiosity
Meditate to learn to take the seat of the observer
Be gentle with self vs. white knuckling and inner discord
Practice mindfulness activities (eating, walking, music, drawing, coloring, movement)
Use breathing to stay aware of the present
Activate Parasympathetic Nervous System – self-calm through conscious activity
Understand how neurons and neurotransmitters work – inhibit and excite
Understand roles of parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of nervous system
Demonstrate how you can choose to both self-activate and self-calm
Use breathing or somatic grounding to activate parasympathetic
Engage the Prefrontal Cortex – think before acting - freedom comes from thinking, not emotion
Understand brain structure – evolution and role of 3 different parts and why PFC functioning is so important
Realize engaging your PFC is not automatic. It needs to be activated, but then becomes the command center, but harder to engage if mid-brain is on “fire” – quiet the mid brain using basic self-care and skills to activate parasympathetic
Understand neuroplasticity – where we focus our attention defines us neurologically
Understand connection between emotion/impulse mind (mid brain) and PFC becomes very weak or severed after severe substance use
Recognize that a disease state occurs when neuro networks representing other parts of life (job, family, health, hobbies) are pruned away
Identify ways to build and strengthen the connection to PFC – find a reason that is meaningful enough to get off the “highway” and create new roads/pathways
KEY SKILLS:
Gaining Perspective
Practicing acceptance
Practicing attached detachment
Reframing
Cultivating positives
Navigating Relationships
Understanding attachment
Learning social skills
Demonstrating understanding
Focusing on effectiveness
Understanding Mental Health and SUD
Understanding impact of substance abuse
Understanding MH conditions
Understanding the interplay of substance use on MH