- In this Tool
- Tool Overview
- How To Use This Tool
- Example Scenario
- Helpful Links
Youth
Good Stuff / Not So Good Stuff (GS/NSGS)
Tool Overview
It is very common to feel ambivalent about making a change. Exploring both sides (good things and not so good things) of our behaviour can help us flesh out the costs as well as the benefits. This tool can help us find the motivation we need in order to change.
At first glance this may seem very simple, but don’t underestimate the power of this tool! Seeing all of the pros and cons in black and white can be powerfully motivating and can help us move from precontemplation into the contemplation and preparation stage of change.
How To Use This Tool
On one side, list or draw all the good things about the behaviour you are looking at and on the other, list all of the not so good things.
Get as many items on both sides as you can.
Review what you’ve written. What does this tell you?
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Helpful Links
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Tool Overview
The ABC Model is a good way of understanding how we can help change our feelings and behaviour by challenging our thinking.
When to Use This Tool
The ABC Model is a good way of understanding how we can help change our feelings and behaviour by challenging our thinking. It helps us uncover beliefs that are not helping us /contributing to the behaviour we are trying to change.
This exercise may be done in the group setting but can also be very useful for participants to look at between meetings.
How To Use This Tool
When working with urges: To analyze a lapse/relapse or to develop coping statements for an anticipated lapse/relapse.
In the event of a lapse, the question to ask is not “What made me do that”, but rather, “How did I talk myself into it?” It is not the urge (A) that causes the lapse (C). It is our beliefs (B); our irrational self-talk.With emotional upset:
The ABC Model can also be used to work with emotional upset or frustrations that may occur at any point in the recovery journey. The ABCs allow us to discover our unhelpful beliefs which contribute to emotional upsets. Disputing helps us eliminate our irrational thinking so we can both feel better and do better. In SMART Recovery we teach that we feel the way we think; it’s not unpleasant events that disturb us, it’s the way we think of them. By changing our thinking, we change how we feel.Identifying and Disputing Unhelpful Thinking.
Disputing is a process of challenging the way we think about situations. It’s about trying to look at thoughts more accurately. Disputing unhelpful thinking can help us make more informed decisions about thoughts instead of just acting on them. Balanced thinking leads to effective new beliefs.
