Matrix and Challenge Card Handbook

A New Approach to Assessment

14 cards designed to engage young people in dialogue about themselves, their community and the world.

The Matrix and Challenge cards raise awareness of issues young people are facing in their lives and build resilience in

individuals and Communities.

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Matrix and Challenge Cards are designed as a resource for anyone who works with people and wants a model that will help to simplify the complexities that we bring to our lives and relationships. They are for anyone who wants to fully understand him or herself, or others. The Matrix cards offer a new way for thinking about yourself, your life, how you experience your life. Based on Neuro Linguistic Programming principles they are essentially about how we make meaning. We live in a world where many people are disconnected. They do not know how to relate positively to themselves, others, or the world around them. They may have fragments of ideas, but not know how to combine them into a coherent whole, into a principle by which to live a good life. Many young people are trying to balance progress and meaning in their lives, believing it is too difficult. The cards stimulate that process and encourage young people to question themselves further.

The cards open up learning  “The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something” “That's the only thing that never fails. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

TH White The once and future King

The Matrix

Throughout this handbook the term Matrix will be used as a metaphor and reference. Matrices can hold ideas and the relationships between ideas in place. The matrix summarises all of the frames of mind and the thousands of concepts we hold in our minds.

In the futuristic film “The Matrix”, there is a scene very early on where Neo is searching for meaning about the world. He meets Morpheus who is able to give him some answers. Morpheus offers him a choice between “Reality” and his “dream world”. This scene involving choosing a blue pill (dream world) and red pill (reality) is well known.

Neo chooses the red pill and reality. With these come responsibilities and the responsibilities he will take on with the red pill.

Many young people are continuing to live in a dream world and keep bumping into reality when it is blocking their progress. The barriers that reality puts down can be around:

CrimeSchool attendanceDrugsFamily Arguments

Helping young people to become aware of the barriers and then helping them to create new choices is the way in which new maps are created in their minds.

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The Matrix of our mind is like that. The world is coloured through our frames of mind. Metaphorically “taking the red pill” opens our eyes and ears and we begin to discover the depth and length of the rabbit holes that we create in our minds.

We do have a choice about which matrix we want to live in.

The Matrix Cards invite the young person to become aware of their own matrix and gain control. The matrix of our mind describes the way in which we make meaning and how we generate our model of the world

Metaphors and their importance

All the images or physical forms produced in any type of art are metaphors for what they represent.

The brain is a processing unit which is constantly matching patterns – it is basically a complex, highly efficient pattern matching engine. The patterns that it works with are “metaphors” for the reality they represent.

The metaphorical pattern matching process is so basic to how the brain/mind works that it underpins all of our reactions, responses, belief systems and behaviours- it is the basis of who we are.

Since the whole human system works so well with patterns and metaphors it makes sense to use them to communicate with various levels of being and meaning.

“In all aspects of life... we define our reality in terms of metaphors and then proceed to act on the basis of the metaphors. We draw inferences, set goals, make commitments, and execute plans, all on the basis of how we in part structure our experience, consciously and unconsciously, by means of metaphor,” Lakoff and Johnson 1980

Pattern Matching

The brain carries out this process in order to keep us safe.

When anything impacts on our senses, a sight, a sound, a smell, a feeling, the brain in effect asks itself: What is the incoming sensory information like?

It is looking for pattern matches with the metaphors already in storage. It does this in order to decide whether it needs to do anything as a result of this experience, or whether it can ignore it. This process is known as ‘metaphorical pattern matching’.

Most of the incoming information is immediately pattern matched with ‘normal-no-threat’ records and filtered as irrelevant. The parts that match with stored patterns of ‘threat’ will be processed immediately to produce the best reaction available at that time. - Fight/Flight/Freeze

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As human evolution has gone on these very basic reactions have been modified to fit into the social arrangements of the day.

Instead of physical fighting people have developed other ways of dealing with the stored energy of the conflict – discussion, people pleasing strategies to diffuse conflict; internalising emotion to avoid provoking more threats and so on, but the basic pattern matching mechanism remains the same, it’s all done with Metaphors.

The importance of the subconscious mind

The vast majority of the processing and storage of incoming data is done at the subconscious levels of being. Some people refer to this as the 93% mind. The conscious level in comparison is the 7% mind. Ignoring the 93% of the available data and just working with what is allowed into the conscious mind would be clearly a lost opportunity

Matrix cards can offer a direct and safe route into the subconscious levels of the problem.

The subconscious mind has many inherent child - like qualities which contribute to our issues but which can conversely help achieve positive outcomes.

The subconscious mind is the level which holds the limiting beliefs and negative ideas.has a child-like openness to new possibilities.finds plausible connections between seemingly unconnected ideas.understands literally and does not question those literal beliefs.doesn't understand the meaning of negativesCan’t tell the difference between real memories and made up stories likes gentle yet firm guidance, like a child

These inherent qualities of the subconscious mind can be used in combination with the Matrix cards to inspire change. Creative energy which is otherwise unavailable to the conscious levels of mind can be accessed. As negativity, false and limiting beliefs are accessed and released, bright and optimistic new ideas and futures becomes possible and can be created and brought into reality.

Each young person can change their matrix of meanings and so change the reality they are experiencing.

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THE MATRIX CARDS

The Matrix cards have been designed to open up aspects of the young people’s conscious and unconscious mind.

There are 14 cards

InjusticeWorldFutureCommunityChangeSelfFamilyBarriersFearBeliefPeoplePowerRelationshipsLearning

Plus three traffic light cards

In order to work effectively with young people we need to use systemic thinking. As well as understanding how the matrices of the mind work we need to understand how the entire system works. As a systemic model, the Matrix Cards give a practical way in which to work with young people’s experiences By recognising the young people’s Matrix professionals can provide coaching patterns. They can initiate conversations that allow entry into their Matrix and start to understand the person, entering the matrix for both discovery and intervention.

The Matrix Cards can be separated into two sets of cards:

Process Cards: Injustice, Future, Change, Fear, Belief, Power, Learning.

Content Cards: World, Community, Self, Family, Barriers, People, relationships.

Self-Actualisation

The Matrix and Challenge Cards offer the possibility for those ready to change themselves and their world. The Self actualisation grid (appendix 3 is based on the work of Abraham Maslow and Michael Hall. Almost all behaviour is guided by satisfying needs, the self-actualisation grid helps us to understand behaviour .and identify strategies for change.. Gaining greater insight by exploring these different levels of needs enhances the ability to understand behaviour.

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It asks the questions based on the premise that we are all leashed to limiting beliefs and behaviours.

The grid offers the opportunity to register the meanings and behaviours that can be discovered through the Matrix cards. The instructions (Appendix 3) which are alongside explain how to record information and ask further questions.

Questions

On the back of each of the Matrix cards are five questions. These can be used to explore the subject of the card. The best way to use the questions is to ask the young person to read them for themselves. As they explore the image on the front they frequently turn the card over and view the back.

In addition to the card questions, there are a set of Meta Questions in Appendix 1. These questions complement the card images and open up new meanings for the young person.

They encourage the young person to explore their own beliefs and values which are the drivers for their behaviour.

THE CHALLENG CARDS

The Challenge cards have been designed to open up aspects of the young people’s conscious and unconscious mind.

There are 14 cards

Plus three traffic light cards

There are also on the reverse of the Traffic Light Cards past present, future cards

In order to work effectively with young people we need to use systemic thinking. As well as understanding how the matrices of the mind work we need to understand how the entire system works. As a systemic model, the Challenge Cards give a practical way in which to work with young people’s experiences By recognising the young people’s Challenge professionals can provide coaching patterns. They can initiate conversations that allow entry into their Matrix and start to understand the person, entering the matrix for both discovery and intervention.

The Challenge Cards can be separated into two sets of cards:

Process Cards: Injustice, Anger, Change, Fear, Belief, Power, Learning.

Content Cards: World, Community, identity, Our Culture, Barriers, People, relationships.

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MATRIX AND CHALLENGE CARD EXCERCISES Exercise 1 CHOOSE THREE CARDS

The Professional places all 14 Challenge cards in front of the young person face up

The young person is invited to pick three cards which mean something to them. This meaning can be positive or negative.

Ask the young person what the card means to them

Use Meta questions to reveal higher level meanings.Identify connections between the three cards

One other important aspect of this exercise is that the young person will not necessarily talk about the category the cards relate to. They will create their own meaning; this should be used as a window to explore the young person’s world for example, if someone picks Future ask:

What does it mean to you?What does it give you?What will it open up?

They might say it gives them energy so then ask how else they could get that?

Use the questions on the back of the cards to explore beliefs and values around the cards. I suggest you explore the images first. The questions on the back can identify resilience

Exercise 2 TRAFFIC LIGHT EXCERCISE

Show the red/amber/green traffic light cards to the young person

Ask the young person what red/amber/green means to them This can be:

What is important/not importantDifficult/easyControl/no controlGood/bad/opportunitiesAngry/calm

Usually amber can be identified as an in-between card indicating a bit of red and a bit of green.

Give the young person the pack of cards and ask them to place the cards next to the relevant traffic lights.

If the young person needs help placing the cards ask them to read the questions on the back of the card to help them decide or the worker can talk to them about what things the card might cover.

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This can be:

What is important/not importantDifficult/easyControl/no controlGood/bad/opportunitiesAngry/calm

After all the cards are laid out ask the young person about the cards a against the green traffic light, ask :

Why have you put the card there?What does it mean to you?What do you want to talk about?What do you notice?Which card are they most proud of?

If during discussion it becomes apparent that the card is in the wrong place, the young person should be encouraged to move it to where they feel it belongs.

Discussions can take place about the relationship of cards and what the young person would like to change. The professional’s role in exploring the cards is to help the young person float over the cards and shine a beam on those they want to highlight and explore. Sometimes it is useful to ask the young person to read the questions on the back of the card.

Recording the cards on the form generates interest from the young person. Many want to take the form home and this is good practice after circling the cards. Care should be taken with any additional information recorded if the form is going home with the young person.

Quite often towards the end of the traffic light exercise you can ask the young person to identify two cards that represent their future or two cards they want to concentrate on next time you meet.

Exercise 3 CARD CONVERSATIONS

This exercise offers the opportunity to create conversations around topics using the cards. It also can create narrative and counter narratives.

Deal out the cards between the worker and the young person. Ask the young person to look at the heading for each card, they can look at the back to check what the card refers to. A topic is then chosen:

Prophet MohammedParis TerrorismTunisia shootingSyrian conflict

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The young person is invited to choose a card in relation to the topic and make a statement in relation to their card. The worker can start to show how it works and the two people alternate. There is no discussion as each person alternates with their statement. After playing all their cards further discussion can takes place about the conversation? Participants can pass or ask for help.Example StatementsWorld card: “After the Paris shooting the world is more dangerous”Fear card: “ I am afraid there will be an act of terrorism in Britain”

Exercise 4 DRIVING FORWARD

This exercise is designed to examine the forces driving the experience.What force gives energy to initiate a change or solution and keep it going?These forces push the change ahead increasing the possibility of the change.

What are the forces restraining the experience? What forces compete against the driving forces?

Young people need to identify a goal or an outcome:

Eg. Resolving conflict; convincing people about a belief; creating a change. Resolving an injustice; overcoming a barrier.

1) 2)Increase DecreaseDriving Forces Restraining Forces

Change Outcome Problem

Dynamic Equilibrium

What drives you? What restrains you?What are you going for? What holds you back?What are your motives, desires and intentions? What are you fears, taboos and inhibitions?The problem: not enough driving forces? Too many obstacles

The exercise involves using the red traffic light to symbolise restraining forces and the green traffic light the driving forces. You can introduce the amber card for the cards that are in between.

Ask the client to place the restraining cards under red and the use green cards to drive change forward under the green traffic light.

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Exercise 5: Most Important

1) The professional should take 14 cards and place the top two cards next to each other. Ask the young person to say which is most important: The comparison process works at a subconscious and conscious level. Remove the card that is least important and then place another card next to the “Most important” card

6) Which is most important?

E.g. If “world” and “future” are the first two cards, ask “Which is the most important: your world or your future”“What is going on in the world or their future?”

If they choose their future replace the world card with the next card:

Which is most important?

E.g. “Their future or their community”

At the end of this process they will have one card.

This can then be done again to reveal a second important area.

The exercise can be done for which card represents where they feel strongest.Keep on the table then put it aside until the end of the exercise. At the end put all the cards that have been chosen twice in succession and ask the young person to look at these cards Other frames to use for the exercise:

Which card shows an area where you have most control?Which card shows an area where you are happiest?Which of the two cards would you most like to change?Which is the biggest barrier?

Exercise 6: Past/present/future

Give the pack of cards to the young person

2 Take out the Past present Future cards and lay them out.

3 Ask the young person to pick two cards that represent the past; two cards that represent the present and two that represent the future.

Discuss the cards and what they signify. Ask whether it is worth devoting all their time and energy to achieving the goal. What could be the consequences?

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Exercise 7: The Intention Exercise

The intention matrix speaks about our higher purpose or objective behind something. Through our intention we construct the reasons why we want something or see something in a particular way. We do things on purpose. Our intention matrix codes and sets the frames for the experience we call motivation.

Ask the young person to write down desired behaviour, ask them to write it down on a piece of paper. Then ask them to choose from the challenge cards which card/cards represent their intention behind that behaviour.

Questions that will prompt this are:

What do you want from this behaviour?What are you living for?How does your intention and behaviour influence other people?What challenges does your intention and behaviour raise?How can you overcome these challenges?

Once the young person has identified the cards that represent their intention ask them whether they are fulfilling their intention.

If they are not are there other ways in which they can satisfy that intention.

Exercise 8: The Games we play

Explain to the young person that we all play games.

Go through the cards and pick a card that represents a game

Take them through the game headings.

GAMES WE PLAY

NAME OF GAMEWhat do you call it?

What card is it based on:Self; Injustice, Anger, Change, Fear, Beliefs, Power, Learning. Community; relationship; our culture; people; world, identity, barriers and future.. HOOKSWhat hooks you in?Think of examples

PLAYERSWho needs to be there to play it?

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Name the people

GoalWhat do you aim to get from this game?

DESCRIPTIONDescribe the game and your rules (this might be what you say to yourself whilst playing)

WIN OR LOSS

Describe A Win:

Describe a Loss:

Is this game a good game for you to be playing? Are you winning or losing when you play this game what is the effect on other people of your game? What new game could you replace it with?

GROUP EXCERCISES

Exercise 1 “Positive and negative change”

Invite a group to form a circle around the cards. The cards are distributed in a circle face down. They need to form an inner circle.

Invite the participants to create a profile of a person living in a community. Now ask the participants to describe how they could move towards violence and anti-social activity. Get participants to select a card and say what could happen in relation to that card to push them towards negative behaviours. Go through as many cards as appropriate.

Ask participants to swap cards with the person next to them. Ask the group in the same way to select the cards which will move the individual who they have been talking about towards positive behaviours.

Exercise: 2 Conversational Change

In a similar way to the conversational card conversations exercise. Each person will be given least one card. Ask the group to agree a topic:

Climate ChangePovertyEducationSyriaTerrorismParis killingsTunisian shootings

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The first person to talk to their card makes a one sentence statement relating to their card. The next person to them clockwise then makes a one sentence statement. Then each person makes a statement relating to their card. Participants can pass. .After all the cards have been used a discussion can take place.

Exercise 3 Soap Characters

Ask the group to split into small groups and each group selects a category for their character:SportSoapMusicFilmCelebrity

Ask each group to secretly identify someone they want to create a profile of. Then they use the Challenge and Matrix cards to identify three positive cards and three negative cards. When all the groups are ready the character is introduced to the groups. They can guess and ask yes/no questions. Wait till someone guesses correctly. One application can then be to ask individuals to choose three positive cards and three negative cards for themselves.

Exercise 4 Group Opinions

The aim of the exercise is to determine the values, beliefs and feelings of the group about the card subjects. Put out four cards around the room on the walls:

Agree, disagree, partly agree and partly disagree.

Give out cards to the group members. Ask for someone to go first and they read out a question they choose from their card. Then give an answer and then all members of the group move to the sign on the wall which represents their view. The person who read their card asks individuals why they made that choice. Also when reflecting the group leader can ask what would be the consequence of that answer?

Exercise 5 Opinion ball

Members of the group stand in a circle. Each participant is handed a Matrix or challenge card. The session leader will start the activity by throwing a tennis ball to another member of the group in a safe way. the person who threw the ball then asks a question from their card. After answering the question the group leader can ask the the group the consequences of that choice.

Exercise 6 Positive Stories

Ask members of a group to make up a story using cards from the Matrix or Challenge card set. Put a limit in the number of cards used. Ask them to tell a story that connects up using each of the cards. The story needs to end on a positive note.

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Stories can involve you making up stories for the child and the child making up stories and reading stories from books. The cards can be used to tell stories and also using the puppet to add another dynamic. The child’s story will be a projection and will reveal something about their situation. Workers can tell a story and then the child can tell a story. Sometimes you can begin a story and the child might end it. Try to build in a start, middle and an end.

The art of reading and sharing a story together also necessarily requires a closeness, warmth, comfort and nurture. Stories enable children to make sense of their lives and experiences in new ways. They give the child practice in seeing their lives as an unfolding story in which they are in control by creating the story. It offers the chance for children to use their imagination and senses to create images with which to work

.You can share stories with the child to establish a connection with his/her state and then transform it. Telling stories together invites you to share your voice, rhythms and expressions with the child, whether you are doing the telling or the listening. The point of the story is not to get the story right; it’s to get the best transformation into a shared, positive state. Stories are a natural technique for observing, engaging, connecting and transforming.

Dr Richard Gardner describes in his book Therapeutic Communication with Children a ‘mutual storytelling technique’. He first has the child tell a story, and then Gardner tells his own story, using the same characters that the child has used but offering a better solution. Since the child’s story is a projection, it will generally reflect something about the child’s life situation. Each story is ended with a lesson or moral derived from the story. When using this technique it is important to know something about the child and their life, to quickly understand the main theme of the child’s story.

The Games that Hitler Played to Win Power

Extracts from an article by L Michael Hall

Hitler did not play a great many Games. He played a few Games really well. He played Games that pulled the wool over the eyes of people, including many of his own colleagues.

Hitler-- we know what he did, and we sort of know why he did it, but how did he do it? We know that he deceived his countrymen and an entire nation and nearly brought about the end of Western civilization as it had developed in the twentieth century. He was legally appointed to power as Reich Chancellor and between 1933 and 1940 one of the most popular heads of a state in the world.

But how did he pull all of that off?What tactics and strategies did he use?What mental and emotional Games did he play?What frames drove his own distorted vision?

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How did he influence an entire nation to accept his mad tactics?What Games were he able to recruit people to play?

We know that he was a deeply disturbed person with a genius of political savvy for persuasion. What we do not know is how could a destructive and demonic-like movement (the Nazi movement) so full of hatred and formalized prejudice gained such power and influence in one of the most advanced nations in the world? How could a man with such a pathological personality "lead" so many people? How could a minority opinion of an extremist right-wing group effect the politics of an entire nation and then of the world?

The Blame and the Hate Game: He recognized "hate" as the most powerful emotion and so played the Hate Game, arousing it, playing to it, stimulating it, and validating it. Once there was anger, hatred, and outrage about injustice, then he played the Blame Game to give the Hate a target for release, for a catharsis.

The Persuasion or Propaganda Games: He set out to learn how the propaganda of the British worked so well and became a persuasion genius in reading the political times and opportunistically taking advantage of everything to persuade people to see things his way.

The “Desperate Times Calls for Desperate Actions" Game:

Hitler's genius of playing to the times and the events of the times arose as the socio-economic situation grew increasingly worse. Inflation became hyper-inflation, Government became less effective, then the Stock Market crashed, etc. He played the Opportunist Game.

The Strength and Power Games:

"Power" was his drug and he became quite intoxicated on it. You can see him playing the power Games by the way he presented the Power and Right and Might of his party by the way marches, rallies, and force. He created the Storm Troopers as part of this Game. Even the way he talked and wrote, with the Dogmatism, the Black-and-White, no-bars hold approach was part of the way he played the Power Game.

The "Be Bigger Than Life" Guru Games:

Hitler discovered and played out Games that invited people to frame him as a messiah, a saviour, the coming great national leader, etc. As he learned the propaganda arts he learned how to stage things for effect. This led him to use pageantry and razzmatazz in the meetings, parades, and rallies to impress people. He used techniques to posture himself as the exciting and inexplicable "guru" that seemed more than and other than human that brought forth worship, adoration, and

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an unthinking following. He led by his idealism and vision for Germany, by his installation of fear and by his black-and-white blaming Game.

The Moralistic and Injustice Games

He stimulated hate, anger, and fear by playing, "But we've Not been Treated Fairly!" He campaigned for years to arouse a nation to play, "We're as Mad as Hell and we're not going to take it any longer!" He framed it as a moral duty, as a legitimate response from people who truly care.

Lots of factors contributed to the hatred that Hitler lived in and brooded upon. From his overly moralistic dad who apparently was extremely brutal with him, to the rejection of his peers, to some of his own personal resentments and inadequacies. These were the influence that made him susceptible to falling into states of hatred, resentment, bitterness, and frustration. Things didn't go well for him in his early life. He apparently picked up that complaining, and bitter attitude. It's the attitude of "Poor Me," Entitlement, and Victimhood.

This is the attitude that, strangely enough, drives the "criminal mind." I discovered this working with the Department of Corrections in the State of Colorado. As a psychologist, I worked with the court system in seeing those convicted of domestic violence and who needed anger control, I worked with a group of juvenile boys (14 to 18 years of age) convicted of violent crimes, and with the group of men being released from the federal pen at Canyon City.Everybody, almost to a person, had an attitude of having been victimized. They lived in and perceived the world through an extreme filter of Fair/ Unfair, Just/ Unjust. And they also absolutely hated and refused to tolerate injustice.

Hitler’s Mind

Yet actually it was a very sick and twisted mind within Hitler. And it was those Frames of his distorted ideas about race superiority, blood purity, intolerance, etc. that took on a fanatical zeal. This ultimately led him to become ruthless in his fanatical commitment to eliminate anything and everything that got in his way.

In spite of that pathology, Hitler discovered that he could speak and became a powerful persuader. He also had a genius for reading the masses and developing political tactical approaches for winning the minds and hearts of the people to take over a country. In that sense, he was a man of his time who simply took full advantage of the political situation. Having lived in a desperate time of socio-economic change, of fear and poverty, of insecurity and powerlessness, of indignity and shame, he played on the sympathies of those who wanted to find someone to blame. In was in this way that he played the Injustice Game for all it was worth and used it to leverage his own sick "solutions." What Hitler did makes perfect sense when we start with the Frames that drove his Games. They were just sick frames, and so were the Games. And the Frame Games that he played are not all that different from those being played as we enter the 21st century.

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Appendix 1

Exploring Challenge and Matrix cards

As a Professional you have the opportunity to help young people to explore their thoughts and meanings when working with the cards. You are there to guide and enhance the experience the young person is involved in… helping them create new meanings can be a powerful and emotional process. Try to avoid the type of questions you might be used to asking: why, when, when, who.

These drill down to specifics when it is often better to move thinking to a higher level.

Meta Questions

In order to bring about change our aim is to open up meanings not close them down. There are special types of questions which are not trying to find different things, but help young people to express the same thing in another way.

Meta questions help young people to express the thought about the thought, they make young people think at a higher level (a Meta level). The opportunity to ‘go higher’ creates new ways of thinking and looking at their lives.

What does this mean to you?

What else does it mean to you?

What does it give you?

What are you becoming aware of?

What is going through the back of your mind?

What does this open up for you?

When you realise this what do you think?

Now you are aware of this what comes to mind?

What if you did know what it meant?

What strength would help you deal with this?

How is this important to you?

What do you believe about this?

What comes to mind if you step back?

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Appendix 2

Well-Formed Outcomes These are the set of conditions an outcome must satisfy in order to produce an effective result. In Neuro Linguistic Programming a goal is considered “well-formed” if…

The goal can be stated in the positive. It is easier to move towards what you want than away from what you do not want. However you cannot move towards something if you do not know what it is. Choosing the right words is critical, e.g. “I want to get good exam results” is much better than “I don’t want to fail”. I am going to be a “Non Smoker” makes one think of smoking, its better to think “I want to be healthy with clean lungs”

The outcome can be thought of using all three senses. Imagine moving forward in time to a point from which they can see themselves achieving their chosen goal. Use all the senses of seeing, hearing, and feeling, taste and smell to associate with the picture or movie. If it is a movie make it a full colour, surround-sound action movie. If needed, view the movie from different angles in order to look at more detail or view an anticipated problem in advance. It is important to use at least one of see, feel or hear to describe one’s goal – better still, all three.

The young person must play an active part: the outcome, it must be possible and reasonably within their control. Outcomes that rely too much on things outside of their control or on other people taking a particular action will always involve a varying amount of risk. If they rely on other people to do something or behave in a particular way, and the other person chooses not to support this, the young person can quickly become stuck. We need to concentrate instead on what they need to do to generate the desired responses, e.g. instead of waiting for other people to make friends with them, get them to think of what they could do to become more friendly to others. We need to state the goal so that we can initiate and maintain it.

In almost any change from a negative situation there will still be some positive elements in the old behaviour. The practitioner needs to identify what elements could be useful for the young person. This can involve re-framing but the skill of the practitioner in identifying the positives is crucial in a well formed outcome.

You consider the effect of achieving this outcome in the context of wider relationships. Ask the young person to consider the effects in three months’ time after achieving the goal. This can be a positive exercise and identify the positive side effects of achieving the goal. However sometimes negative effects are identified that need to be taken into account and can sometimes undermine a well formed outcome.

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Appendix 3

Needs Analysis Scaling Tool

Begin with the lower needs and work up the diagram. The diagram of the pyramid is made up of many continua of needs, several in each category. Use the framework of each line as a continuum that measures the young person’s overall, global, or general sense of efficiency in meeting their needs.

• How are they doing? • What is their overall sense?• Are they getting by?

If they are not quite getting by, there’s some stress and strain in getting their needs met effectively, then they are on the left side—in the Red Zone. If they are not only getting by but doing pretty good, then they are to the right of the middle, in the Green Zone.

Think of the continuum as a measurement of their overall coping with their driving needs.

The Red Zone is where the deficiency needs are crying out for the young person

They are just not satisfying/ gratifying their needs. They are probably not using true gratifiers..Without identifying any particular context, ask the young person to answer it globally or generally for their life. Put a check (or tick) where you basically are today

At the top identify your highest life themes, visions, and meanings.Above the “lower needs” (the animal needs, Maslow) are the “higher” or human needs.

First Analysis: First use the tool to get a general picture of the young person’s coping skills as you to gratify the basic human needs that drive you. Here are essential questions to ask after you complete the diagram:

• Where are they overall?• How are they gratifying your needs? Doing what? How coping?• Do they live in the Red Zone mostly or in the Green Zone mostly?• Is there a particular level of need that they could address that would provide a real unleashing of potentials?• Are there any strong areas of deficiency?

Another level of analysis that you can use is that of contexts. If you use aSpecific context: work and career, home, relationship, hobby, sports, community

1) What contexts are important to the young person? Identify one and fill out the Needs Analysis again using that context. What new awareness’s or insights does this elicit for the young person?

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2) Is there any need to which they have given too little meaning? If so, which one?3) Does the young person have any limiting beliefs about that need? Has anyone suggested they might?4) In which contexts do they just get by and need more effective ways of coping?5) In which contexts does the young person struggle to even get by meeting your needs?6) Which skills need improving or changing? Which are excellent?

The grid offers a different perspective on the young person’s life. It opens up conversation about the young person’s life and to what extent they are satisfying their needs. The information from the Matrix and Challenge cards can provide insights and awareness to add to the grid. Also as things change in the young person’s life aspects of the grid will reflect the changes.

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Appendix 5

Glossary of Neuro Linguistic Programming Terminology

ANCHOR

Any stimulus that evokes a pre-programmed response. Anchors change our state. They can occur naturally or be set up intentionally.

COACHING Coaching is the process of identifying an individual’s desires, talents and dreams, empowering them through appropriate techniques and skills to achieve their chosen goals and ‘go for gold’.

CHUNKING Changing the degree of detail with which you explore information and meaning, usually by going up or down a level.

FRAME A way of looking at something, a particular point of view. A frame creates the context surrounding a given set of events and behaviour, imparting meaning to those interactions by its presence.

LEADING Changing what you do with enough rapport for another person to follow.

MAP Each person’s unique internal representation of the world built from their individual perceptions and experiences.

META Something is Meta to another if it is at a higher level. The word comes from the Greek meaning beside or after.

MIRRORING Precisely matching parts of another person’s behaviour. The act of copying breathing, posture, movement, voice tones and tempo with someone over time, in order to develop rapport.

NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING NLP is the study of how people excel in any field and how to teach these patterns to others so they too can get the same results. This process is called modelling.

OUTCOME A specific, sensory based, desired goal. You know what you will see, hear and feel when you have it.

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PACING Maintaining rapport in this way allows us to better meet the client in their model of reality.

RAPPORT When people synchronize their behaviour, whether deliberately or unconsciously, to indicate a shared interest in each other and mutual trust.

RESOURCEFUL Able to act effectively or imaginatively, especially in difficult situations using internal resources.

STATE The sum of our emotional, physiological and psychological condition. It involves the beliefs, values, capabilities and behaviour within the context of our situation at a particular time.

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Appendix 6

Suggested Reading:

Bandler R (2009) Freedom is everything and love is all the rest: Fast Movers Publishing

Hall M (2007) Unleashed: A Guide to Your Ultimate Self-Actualization: Neuro-Semantic Publications

M Hall (2002) Winning the Inner Game

Lakoff and Johnson (1981) Metaphors we live by: Chicago University Press

Steve Andrea: Heart of the Mind

Violet Oaklander (2007) Hidden Treasures: Karnac Books

Virginia Satir (1991) The Satir Model Media Paperback books

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Positive Steps Oldham (PSO) is a registered charity that provides services to young people and adults in the borough of Oldham.

PSO Trading is the commercial arm of the charity generating income for its charitable work by selling goods and services developed by professionals working with some of the most vulnerable and complex members of our communities.

Metacards are a unique series of training programmes and products specifically aimed at young people, empowering them to move forward and make a positive impact. They are based on progressive techniques such as Neuro Linguistic Programming and Neuro Semantics. They have been designed by Dave Stewart works for Positive Steps Oldham as a Trainer and Success Coach. All PSO card based resources are developed in collaboration with young people.

For more information on Metacards resources and services please visit our website: www.metacards.co.uk

or phone Dave Stewart on 0161 621 9653 and e mail:

Davestewart@Positivestepsoldham.org.uk

Copyright PSO Trading 2011

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