Today we interview four courageous pioneers of free and
low-cost TEAM-CBT for the masses, featuring Brandon Vance, MD,
Patricia O’Neil, Ana Teresa Silva, DVM and Nicholas Santascoy,
PhD.
Many of you are already familiar with Brandon Vance and Heather
Clague’s awesome online Feeling Great Book Clubs which
will start again, running from September 13, 2023, through December
6, 2023. The book clubs are popular and have gotten wonderful
reviews. They are a fun and engaging way to structure your
reading, discuss the book, see demonstrations, practice tools, ask
experts questions and connect with others around the world who are
working on Feeling Great – and no one is turned away for
lack of funds. Sound
interesting?
But you may not be aware of a growing number of fantastic
totally
free self-help groups springing up for people
around the world. These groups offer training in different aspects
of TEAM-CBT. For example, Patricia offers DAILY (!) practice
sessions that focus on the use of the Daily Mood Journal. You can
also join
free 5-secrets practice groups
groups that focus on changing habits
groups that practice a variety of TEAM tools
a book club focused on When Panic Attacks
and more!
All these groups are free and open to anyone worldwide. To see
the growing list, go to https://www.feelinggreattherapycenter.com/free.
This list is invaluable, and check the link from time to time
because the offerings will likely continue to expand. Keep in mind
that these are NOT therapy groups, but layperson-led
self-improvement groups.
Brandon and Rhonda remarked that these free groups are part of
a heart-warming movement which continues the culture of generosity
that David has created, starting with David’s decades-long free
weekly training groups for mental health professionals. The new
self-help groups also carry the spirit of relating to others with
deep empathy. The goal is to create an atmosphere of giving and
support in mutual healing. A second goals is to learn to appreciate
each other despite our differences. And so, the ripples that David
has created continue to spread, and you can become a part of this
process!
Nicholas Santascoy is a research psychologist, academic coach
and learning specialist who discovered Feeling Good in
2005. He found it tremendously helpful and years later, began
working with a TEAM therapist who suggested Brandon’s Book Club.
When the book club reached the Daily Mood Journal section, he asked
if he could start a free DMJ practice group, which he did, and it’s
still going on each week, more than two years later.
He was thoughtful about the group’s structure, making it clear
to the participants from the beginning that he is NOT a therapist
and that this is not therapy. It is simply a place to practice TEAM
with support – an important disclaimer for any non-therapist
running a practice group.
In his groups, each person spends 10 minutes at the start
working on some common task, like describing an upsetting event for
a Daily Mood Log, or suggesting positive reframing for a negative
thought or feelings, and so forth. Or they might go through a
sequence starting with one negative emotion, one negative thought,
one cognitive distortion, one positive reframe, and one positive
thought. His group has also worked with the exercises described in
the two free chapters on habits and addictions offered at the
bottom of Dr. Burns’ website.
Nicholas described working with a man with intense performance
anxiety who had an upcoming job interview with a panel of eight
individuals who were evaluating him. He was intimidated and
anxious, but reluctant to give up his anxiety for a number of
reasons. First, he was convinced that if he didn’t worry, he
wouldn’t prepare effectively. In addition, he was convinced that he
needed anxiety to do his best during the interview.
Nicholas encouraged him to test these beliefs with experiments.
He discovered, much to his surprise, that he was still strongly
motivated to prepare for the interview when he was feeling relaxed
and confident. He also recorded his interview and reviewed it
afterwards. He was surprised to discover that his best
performance during the interview was when his anxiety had dropped
to zero.
Ana Teresa Silva is a Portuguese veterinary doctor who decided
she wanted to work with people and became a coach in 2020. Ana
Teresa developed a free Portuguese Five Secrets practice group in
May of 2021. This quickly became an international group in English,
free and open to anyone, and ran for two years and got rave reviews
from participants.
After that, she handed over the leadership to Linda Roth, M.Ed.
This kind of group, in my (David’s) opinion is incredibly important
because learning the Five Secrets is a lot like learning to play
the piano. It’s possible to make beautiful music, but the Five
Secrets are challenging to learn. Practice, combined with humility
and the intense desire to learn, are the keys to learning and
personal change.
Patricia O’Neil, a former schoolteacher, loves David’s books
like Feeling Great, When Panic Attacks, Feeling Good
Together and more. Patricia experienced a very severe,
prolonged and immobilizing depression, and tried ALL of the
standard medical treatments, even including electroconvulsive
therapy, but her depression continued.
She then started reading Feeling Great and joined
Brandon and Heather’s Feeling Great
Book Club in 2022, and began to pull herself
out of depression. After several weeks she asked if there was
a group for people who want to work their way through the book
together in-between Book Club meetings, perhaps even daily, to
“apply the strategies the best we can.”
Brandon encouraged Patricia to start her own study group.
She did!
And not only that, she started many other groups as well – all
completely free - including a When Panic Attacks Book
Club, her daily Daily Mood Journal group, an eating
healthy accountability chart, a coaches in training group and her
own free advanced Five Secrets Practice group for people who have
completed a Five Secrets
Deep Dive series.
Several of the participants in today’s podcast had anxiety
about being on the podcast. Patricia generously volunteered some of
her negative thoughts, including:
I might not do well. I’m gonna mess up!
Brandon might regret asking me to join the group today.
My flaws and imperfections will be on display.
She said that these thoughts contained many of the familiar
cognitive distortions, such as Fortune Telling, Magnification, and
Should Statements, to name just a few. She also described some of
the strategies she used to challenge these thoughts, including
these positive thoughts:
The whole future of the world doesn’t depend on how well I do
today!
I probably WILL mess up, and that’s okay!
Then she bravely and tearfully described her own battles with
depression since her retirement several years ago, and her
gratitude at having found so many skills to deal with negative mood
swings more effectively.
Her comments were touching and inspiring, and actually embodied
the goal of the practice groups that are rapidly emerging. The
goals including:
provide a structure for free ongoing practice and learning
give individuals around the world the chance to join the
emerging community of TEAM enthusiasts
provide opportunities to connect with others in the spirit of
openness, acceptance, and compassion.
Most humans are hungry, even desperate, for love, learning, and
relief of suffering, along with a connection with others who also
care.
Brandon and his many fans and colleagues are transforming this
idealistic vision into a practical reality.
At the end of this moving interview, Brandon mentioned a number
of additional groups that are rapidly forming including two Signal
text groups created by Derek Gurney.
“Mission Accomplished or Refused,” is a place to “report on
plans to tackle aversive tasks” and take accountability – which is
an effective tool for changing habits.
He has also created an “Exposure Celebration” class,
which sounds like a terrific chance to do exposure with the support
and reinforcement from others. This is something tremendously
helpful for people struggle with all types of anxiety.
Again, please click
here to see more information about these
wonderful and completely freeGrassroots TEAM
CBT groups! And if YOU have a free TEAM practice group you’d
like to start or have started and want to add to the list, please
email Brandon Vance, MD (brandonvance@gmail.com).
In fact, I’ve always dreamed of free self-help groups for mood
problems, with much the same spirit of lay healing you find in
Alcoholics Anonymous. And now, in my old age, it is tremendously
encouraging to see this happening. I have to pinch myself, in
fact!
Thanks,
Brandon, Nicholas, Ana Teresa, and Patricia!
Warmly,
David and Rhonda
About the Podcast
This podcast features David D. Burns MD, author of "Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy," describing powerful new techniques to overcome depression and anxiety and develop greater joy and self-esteem. For therapists and the general public alike!