This session champions the reality that mental health is not binary. Everyone’s mental health lives and moves on a “continuum,” or in simpler words, a “Scale” that stretches from “Thriving” to “Sinking.” The most common question asked every day is: “How are you?” Because there is no common language in mental health, the most common answers are: “Good, Fine, OK.” None of these are actual responses, nor do they help us see trends or track changes in the way we think/feel/function/perform.
This interactive workshop introduces the SameHere Scale (based on “Polyvagal,” Dr. Stephen Porges) in both hard copy and app formats. Participants will learn about the balance between our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system responses, and how that balance can be compromised. They will learn about movement on the SameHere Scale – and how someone’s Scale “position” can be discovered based on their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors they are experiencing. Attendees will walk away with a common language to do check-ins with patients, clients, students or whomever attendees do their clinical and/or advocacy work with.
A panel discussion will examine how this language can be brought into various integrative modalities.