Fort Hamilton ACS is conducting resiliency training!!! Be mentally strong and learn some tricks to help you cope and overcome obstacles in everyday life. Register for our 1st class, scheduled for 31 Jan 2012 at 1:00 pm in the ACS conference room by calling 718-630-4498.

1. MRT Teaching Overview MRT Teaching Overview
MRT Competencies: Self-awareness ● Self-regulation ● Optimism ● Mental Agility ● Strengths of Character ● Connection
Assertive Communication
Communicate clearly and with respect,
especially during a conflict or challenge. ATC Separate the A (Activating Event) from your T (Thoughts) from the C (Consequences: Emotions
Use the IDEAL model to communicate in Use the IDEAL Model to communicate assertively: Identify your Thoughts about an and Reactions) in order to understand your reactions to a situation.
a Confident, Clear, and Controlled • I = Identify and understand the problem Activating Event and the Consequences
of those Thoughts. Thoughts Emotions/Reactions
manner. • D = Describe the problem objectively Loss (I have lost something) Sadness/Withdrawal
• E = Express your concerns and how you feel Danger (Something bad is going to happen and I can’t handle it) Anxiety/Agitation
• A = Ask the other person for his/her perspective and ask for a reasonable change Trespass (I have been harmed) Anger/Aggression
Inflicting harm (I have caused harm) Guilt/Apologizing
• L = List the consequences
Negative comparison (I don’t measure up) Embarrassment/Hiding
Positive contribution (I contributed in a positive way) Pride/Sharing, planning future
Key issues when teaching Assertive Communication: achievements
Appreciating what you have received (I have received a gift that I value) Gratitude/Giving thanks, paying forward
1. Remind participants that the IDEAL model is not meant as a script. Participants should
Positive future (Things can change for the better) Hope/Energizing, taking action
use language that is comfortable for them.
2. Emphasize that the goal is for them to have flexibility in their communication styles so Key issues when teaching ATC:
they can tailor their style to the situation and to maximize the probability of a good 1. Emphasize that participants should work with an Activating Event that is specific, vivid,
outcome. recent, meaningful, and personal.
3. Make sure that participants know and can demonstrate Aggressive, Passive, and Assertive 2. Mention that an Activating Event can be a positive event (e.g., getting a promotion).
Communication, and can use the steps of the IDEAL model to communicate effectively. 3. Point out when participants slip into problem solving mode and redirect them to focus on
separating the A, T, C and look for patterns in their Thoughts.
4. Make sure that participants have separated the A from the T from the C and that the T-C
Connections make sense.
Active Constructive Responding is authentic, constructive interest. It helps the other person
Active Constructive Responding Avoid Thinking Traps
to savor their positive experience and leaves them feeling validated and understood. Create
and Praise Identify and correct counterproductive
“winning streaks” by using Praise to name strategies, processes, or behaviors that led to the Use the Critical Questions to identify information you missed because of the Thinking
Respond to others with authentic, patterns in thinking through the use of
good outcome. Trap.
active, and constructive interest to build Critical Questions.
strong relationships. Praise to build • Jumping to Conclusions: Slow Down: What is the evidence?
Constructive Destructive • Mind Reading: Speak up: Did I express myself? Did I ask for information?
mastery and winning streaks.
Authentic interest, elaborates the Squashing the event, brings conversation • Me, Me, Me: Look outward: How did others and/or circumstances contribute?
Active experience; person feels validated to a halt; person feels ashamed, • Them, Them, Them: Look inward: How did I contribute?
and understood embarrassed, guilty, or angry • Always, Always, Always: Grab control: What’s changeable? What can I control?
Quiet, understated support; • Everything, Everything, Everything: Look at behavior: What is the specific behavior
Ignoring the event; conversation never
conversation fizzles out; person that explains the situation?
Passive starts; person feels confused, guilty, or
feels unimportant, misunderstood,
disappointed
embarrassed, or guilty Key issues when teaching Avoid Thinking Traps:
1. Tell participants to use this skill when their initial perception was inaccurate and/or they
Key issues when teaching Active Constructive Responding and Praise: missed critical information. Alternatively, they can think of an example in which their
1. When the responders slip out of Active Constructive Responding, call a time out and ask reaction turned out to be counterproductive or ineffective.
the participants to identify the specific behaviors that indicate a style other than Active 2. Emphasize that participants should choose an Activating Event that is specific, vivid,
Constructive Responding was being used. recent, meaningful, and personal.
2. Encourage participants to pull from their strengths when they are practicing Active 3. Make sure that participants have identified a Thinking Trap and successfully used Critical
Constructive Responding. Questions to find important information that they missed.
3. If what is shared is a personal success, encourage the responder to use Effective Praise.
4. Make sure that participants know and can demonstrate all four styles.
Hunt the Good Stuff Use the “What” questions in any order to help identify the Iceberg Belief:
Detect Icebergs
Hunt the Good Stuff to counter the • What is the most upsetting part of that for me?
Identify deep beliefs and core values
negativity bias, to create positive • What does that mean to me?
that fuel out-of-proportion emotion and
emotion, and to notice and analyze what • What is the worst part of that for me?
evaluate the accuracy and usefulness of
is good. Record three good things each day and write a reflection next to each positive event • Assuming that is true, what about that is so upsetting to me?
these beliefs.
about:
• Why this good thing happened One you’ve identified your Iceberg, ask yourself: Is this Iceberg helping or harming me in
• What this good thing means to you this situation? Is this Iceberg something I still believe/value? Is this Iceberg accurate in this
• What you can do tomorrow to enable more of this good thing situation?
• What ways you or others contribute to this good thing
Key issues when teaching Detect Icebergs:
1. Tell participants to use this skill when their emotional reaction was out of proportion to
Key issues when teaching Hunt the Good Stuff: their in-the-moment Thoughts.
1. Periodically ask participants to share the good things they noticed and their reflection 2. Tell participants to use the four “What” questions to identify the Iceberg Belief.
about the good thing. 3. If participants start to use “Why” or other questions that lead to defensiveness or cause
2. Encourage participants to write down the good things and their reflection. the person to get stuck on the facts of the situations, remind them to stick to the four
3. Emphasize that Hunting the Good Stuff builds Optimism and gratitude. “What” questions.
4. When using the four “What” questions, remind participants to repeat back exactly what
the other person said, instead of paraphrasing.
5. Make sure that participants have used the four “What” questions to identify an Iceberg
(or gone deeper than their heat-of-the-moment Thoughts) and have evaluated the
Iceberg’s accuracy and usefulness in this situation.
Copyright  2010 by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. Copyright  2010 by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.

2. MRT Teaching Overview MRT Teaching Overview
Fight back against counterproductive thoughts by using the sentence starters:
Energy Management Real-time Resilience • That’s not completely true because…(evidence)
Regulate emotion and energy levels to Shut down counterproductive thinking to • A more optimistic way of seeing this is…(optimism)
enable critical thinking and optimal enable greater concentration and focus • The most likely implication is…and I can…(perspective)
performance. on the task at hand.
Use strategies to regulate emotion and to think clearly and respond with control:
Avoid the common pitfalls: Dismissing the grain of truth, minimizing the situation,
• Mental Games
rationalizing or excusing one’s contribution to a problem
• Controlled Breathing
• Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Key issues when teaching Real-time Resilience:
• Meditation
1. Emphasize that participants should choose a situation in which they need to fight their
• Positive Imagery
negative thoughts to get back to a task at hand.
2. In this exercise, stress accuracy over speed. Point out that speed comes with practice.
Key issues when teaching Energy Management:
3. Encourage participants to use the three sentence starters to generate strong responses to
1. Highlight that the skills of Energy Management rely on both Self-regulation and Self-
the negative thoughts.
awareness (e.g., you must be aware of your energy level and the ways in which you
4. Encourage participants to use the “gut test.” Did they feel their RTR response in their
manage your energy).
gut? Was it powerful? If not, ask them to come up with a stronger response.
2. Reinforce that participants do not need to use each of the Energy Management strategies
5. When participants provide evidence, make sure it is vivid and specific. One concrete piece
presented. They should, however, try them all and choose the ones that they find most
of evidence is better than several generalities.
useful.
6. Make sure participants can identify the three pitfalls and are able to respond to negative
thoughts.
7. Make sure that participants have used evidence, optimism, or Put It In Perspective to
fight back against their negative thoughts and have identified any pitfalls in their
responses.
Identify your thoughts about why the problem happened, identify other factors with
Problem Solving Critical Questions, test them for accuracy, and then identify solution strategies: Step Identify Strengths in Self and Identify your top Character Strengths and those of others and identify ways to use
Accurately identify what caused the 1: What’s the problem? ● Step 2: What caused the problem? ● Step 3: What did you miss? ● Others your strengths to increase your effectiveness and strengthen your relationships.
problem and identify solution strategies. Step 4: What’s the evidence? ● Step 5: What really caused the problem? ● Step 6: What can Identify strengths in yourself and in
you do about it? others to build on the best of yourself VIA Character Strengths: Appreciation of beauty and excellence ● Bravery ● Capacity to love
and the best of others. ● Caution, prudence ● Citizenship, teamwork ● Creativity ● Curiosity ● Fairness ● Forgiveness ●
Fight the Confirmation Bias: Distance yourself from your thought, ask fair questions, consult Gratitude ● Honesty ● Hope ● Humor ● Industry, perseverance ● Judgment, critical thinking ●
with others, and prove your thoughts false. Kindness ● Leadership ● Love of learning ● Modesty ● Perspective ● Self-control ● Social
intelligence ● Spirituality, sense of purpose ● Zest, enthusiasm
Key issues when teaching Problem Solving:
1. Remind participants that this skill is for problems that are specific, vivid, recent, Key issues when teaching Identify Strengths in Self and Others:
meaningful, personal, and complex. It should be a problem they have some control over. 1. Remind participants that the VIA Strengths Survey (free on
2. Make sure participants use Critical Questions to identify other potential causes of the http://www.authentichappiness.com) is a tool and if there are differences between what
problem that they did not identify initially. What did they miss because of Thinking Traps? they identify as their top strengths and what the tool identifies, they should trust their
3. Encourage participants to consult with others to avoid the Confirmation Bias. K indness understanding of themselves.
4. Check that the participants are asking fair and neutral questions to gather evidence. 2. Check that participants name the actions and behaviors that a strength leads to (e.g.,
5. Encourage participants to compare their before and after pie charts at the end of the How are you using your curiosity in the service of leadership, helping people, or being a
activity and to notice what new information they identified through this process. more effective Soldier, Family member, or DA Civilian?).
6. Make sure participants identify and evaluate the evidence for and against possible causes 3. Make sure participants are able to identify Character Strengths in others, as well as the
of the problem. Check that participants also identified strategies for dealing with the other person’s talents or skills (like being artistic or carpentry skills).
problem based on their more accurate understanding of what caused the problem. 4. Make sure that participants have identified their top strengths and have named specific
7. Make sure the strategies they have selected to deal with the problem are ones they have ways in which they use those strengths in their personal and professional lives.
some control over.
Put It In Perspective Use Strengths in Challenges
Stop catastrophic thinking, reduce Identify strengths in yourself and in
Identify the Worst, Best, and Most Likely outcomes of a situation in that order and
anxiety, and improve problem solving by others to improve teamwork and
develop a plan for dealing with the Most Likely outcomes:
Identifying the Worst, Best, and Most overcome challenges. Identify the specific actions that flow from your strengths in challenges and in
• Step 1: List worst case outcomes and ask, “And then what happens?”
Likely outcomes of a situation. successes:
• Step 2: List best case outcomes and ask, “And then what happens?”
• Step 1: Name the strength that you used or will use.
• Step 3: List most likely outcomes.
• Step 2: How did you or will you use that strength to deal with the challenge?
• Step 4: Identify plan for dealing with most likely.
• Step 3: Draw on strengths of team members for complex challenges.
Key issues when teaching Put It In Perspective:
Key issues when teaching Use Strengths in Challenges:
1. Differentiate contingency planning (which leads to purposeful action) from catastrophic
1. Make sure that participants list Character Strengths, not skills or talents, in this exercise.
thinking (which leads to inaction).
2. Make sure that participants use their group’s strengths to deal with the challenge, not
2. Remind participants that order is critical for this skill: Worst Case, then Best Case, then
just their own individual strengths.
Most Likely.
3. If all members in the group have similar top strengths, encourage some to pull from
3. Make sure that the partner continues to ask, “And then what happens?” until they have
other strengths as well.
exhausted the Worst Case and Best Case thoughts.
4. Make sure that participants have listed the Character Strengths their group would use to
4. Emphasize that participants should list events, feelings, and behaviors in the Most Likely
deal with a challenge and the specific actions they would take and how those actions are
column.
linked to their Character Strengths.
5. Make sure that participants have listed equally unlikely Worst and Best Cases and then
have identified the Most Likely Scenario and a plan for dealing with it.
Copyright  2010 by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. Copyright  2010 by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.