My personal approach toward intervention incorporates an understanding of a variety of aspects that contribute to mental health. Summarized it includes Spirit, Mind, Body (Emotions are included under Body), Relationships, and Purpose and Meaning. Here is how each area is further defined: Spirit – a belief of there being a God, Source, a benevolent being or force in life that is greater than us that we are able to interact with for wisdom and direction that can assist us in dealing with situations in life and personal challenges we face. For those of us of the Christian faith (I include myself personally as identifying with Christianity) this includes an understanding about a personal relationship with Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that leads and directs our life and it includes an understanding of Scripture and its practical application in our lives. This is also what is involved in Christian Counseling which I commonly provide people. However, other individuals whom I work with have different personal beliefs about spirituality and these individuals are interested in applying how their own personally decided upon system of beliefs can be applied in bettering their lives. All of these beliefs are respected and can be included in an intervention process. These may be individuals from non-Judeo-Christian faiths such as individuals identifying with Buddhism, Hinduism, or just a general belief in a Universal Energy, Universal Love, or Source. Other individuals do not have a belief in the Spiritual and believe that you live your life here, you eventually die, and there is nothing afterwards. My point that I am trying to make is that all of these Spiritual beliefs or atheist or agnostic beliefs will influence your overall view of the world, yourself, your relationship with others and your goals and purpose and meaning in life. From Spirit we move to a discussion of Mind - Mind consists of the flow, processing, and interpretation of information from past and current life experiences out of which we have formed our current consciousness and determination of our perception of reality about ourselves and others around us. Realistically, our mind and beliefs may serve us well or limiting beliefs may prevent us and sabotage our mental health and our relationship with others. Body - (Included in this is emotions) emotions are beliefs that are often expressed in physical sensations such as anxiety and depression. An emotion is a thought which is also registered physically within the body. Ongoing unworked through negative emotions in turn have a negative influence upon our body with the possibility of our thoughts and emotions resulting in a manifestation in physical symptoms and the development of chronic disease. Our mind is a powerful influencer on all areas of our life. There is a saying – “The good news is …. It is all in your head. The bad news is …. It is all in your head.” An essential part of a therapy process is looking at how our beliefs may be perceptions instead of reality. As we work through limiting beliefs that no longer serve us we can positively affect change emotionally and physically. Relationship - is how we interact with others and how we set down boundaries with others. A significant aspect of this is how we communicate with others and how we resolve conflicts with others. As we change how we communicate with one another we will reduce tension and stress and we will improve the quality of our life. Purpose and Meaning - This is ultimately is the driving force of what helps each person to get up each day. If we don’t have this depression is likely to result. I compare Purpose and Meaning to Soul. In this case I am not using Soul from a spiritual sense but Soul as being what are the passions in our life that we are following? How are our activities and involvement in life consistent with who it is that we are, whom we want to be, and what is that we want to do. Life is a journey. The question is how we can maximize the positiveness of that journey. That is what I assist people to do as a psychologist. http://emapdrschulz.com