Burris Institute Blogs

The current buzzword in mental health is measurable outcomes yet very few if any in mental health or coaching produce measurable outcomes. The question to everyone in the business of mental health or coaching is, “What is the reason for not producing measurable outcomes for your clients?” Every Certified Burris Coach is required not just to produce a measurable outcome but measurable improvement across a three-instrument twenty-two point checklist in order to complete their certification.   At Burris Institute we believe mental health and coaching clients should require their practitioners to have a measurable outcome in place and following are the top five reasons for doing this.

Females under age 30 who are not under 15% body fat, are not involved in drugs or alcohol and are still functioning normally at school or work have consistently taken control of their eating disorder with the Subconscious Restructuring™ Process in two two-hour sessions. Anorexics are a unique demographic.  All I have worked with over the past 23 years have been either well educated, very bright or both. This disorder in large part is about control. Once an anorexic learns how to take control of the internal processes that determine their emotional state, they will continue to use Burris Emotional Measurement and the SR™ process on their own. This is the only demographic that will do this consistently.

People seek out psychotherapists and psychiatrists because they are emotionally distressed and for no other reason I am aware. For this single reason, the answer to the above question should be perfectly clear however when I ask a client this question who has been in therapy for several years there is always a hesitation. The next question I ask is did your therapist measure and track your emotional state. The answer again is no. This is at minimum very curious considering everything we do as human beings is emotionally driven. Emotion precedes behavior therefore, emotion has everything to do with depression, ADHD, and yes even weight loss. Below we will take a look at each one of these issues and how Emotional Measurement is missing or completely passed over in favor of other treatments. Depression

Were you watching? Apparently, you were.  According to the BBC, it was the “most watched sporting event for their country on record.”  The U.S. reports that it was the “second most watched event in American TV history”, trailing only the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  With viewership like this, chances are pretty good you watched at least 1 Olympic competitive event. Which moment was your favorite? Was it Usain Bolt’s flashing speed in the 100 and 200 meters? How about the Browlee brothers blistering run pace in the men’s triathlon? Who didn’t cheer for Gabby Douglas’ Gold Medal performance in gymnastics? One of my favorites was Galen Rupp’s “from out of nowhere” Silver Medal in the 10,000 meters.  Where did he come from? You might have cheered for May-Treanor and Walsh as they three-peated in beach volleyball?

1.  I wish I hadn't worked so hard. 2.  I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 3.  I wish I had let myself be happier. 4 . I wish I had had the courage to express my true self. 5.  I wish I'd lived a life true to my dreams, instead of what others expect of me. Ever so often, it's not a bad idea to stop and take inventory of how we are doing on these issues. How are you doing today? As long as we are above ground and drawing breath, we can make changes.

We all talk to ourselves.   We do it continuously throughout the day. You may not even notice you’re doing it, but you do. I promise. Now I’m not talking about signs of mental illness where people have conversations with themselves. What I’m focusing on today is how we talk to ourselves, either out loud or to ourselves in our minds, about the situations we find ourselves in. I point this out because it was the subject of a recent discussion I had with a group of veterans. It went like this: Sitting in a circle, I asked the group, “As it relates to your healing process, what was the last best question your asked yourself? For a moment there was silence. Then a voice asked, “Can you give us an example?” I shook my head NO and added, “I can’t read your mind, so I don’t know what questions you ask of yourself while you are trying to heal?” The silence continued.

A wise man once said, “There is never a wrong time to begin moving in the right direction.” When it comes to the mental health care we provide to our returning combat vets, I believe we are reaching a point where that “time to change direction” will be lost forever. WARNING: IF YOU HAVE THIN SKIN AND ARE PART OF THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM TREATING OUR WARRIORS, I AM ABOUT TO STEP ON YOUR TOES! If you followed my last posts, you may remember that I was defining the paradigm or treatment algorithm that our healthcare leaders have developed for veterans presenting with combat stress. 1. We put our warriors on unproven medications. 2. We subject them to counseling methods that are backward focused 3. We “sentence” our warriors to a system that is run mostly by non-veterans with no incentive to help them. This solution is not working. That’s not my opinion. It’s a fact! Blinded Me With Science

We've all heard this analogy when describing a flawed approach..."trying to put a square peg into a round hole", right?  It couldn't be more true when we refer to our current mental health approach with combat veterans.  As recent as yesterday, we read that combat troop ailments are creating a medical backlog in the already strained system.  To make matters worse, I will suggest today that what we are doing is totally inadequate and that the fundamental approach of treatment is flawed!

When working with wounded combat vets, I sometimes encounter “the question” from caregivers and spouses that I find difficult to answer or explain.  So in this week’s post, I wanted to share a bit of insight I have recently gained in the hope it will be beneficial for some of my readers.