Quintiliani’s Whole Person Recovery Planning
To me the “whole person recovery planning” includes biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and self components and changes. To simplify – it is not simple or quick – I will simply list the core components of this comprehensive form of recovery process. I may 
add more details to this process in future posts.
- Biological planning and skills includes the areas of prescribed medication as needed; recovery oriented nutrition; regular vigorous exercise if able to do so; MAT with therapy as needed; appropriate sleep patterns and habits; and, a heavy dose of regular physical self-care.
- Psychological planning and skills includes hope; social-emotional supports; psychological bonding with others on this same journey; self-compassion skills; the mindfulness RAIN process; psychological self-care (quieting your mind’s negative self-talk and negative introjections from others, etc.); regular practice of learned CBT and mindfulness skills; CBT and other effective therapies for depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.; regular practice of meditation and yoga, effective therapies for recovery from trauma (CBT, EMDR, MBSR, DBT, ACT, etc.); practice of radical; self-acceptance; and, the ability to develop a strong therapeutic helping relationship/alliance in therapy (psychodynamics that work). In my mind with over 35 years of clinical experience, I do see the psychological components as the most powerful – along with the spiritual areas.
- Social planning and skills include social skills training as needed; regular social-emotional supports; regular participation in a fellowship of recovery-oriented processes (AA, 12 Steps, etc.); the slow and safe self-extraction from various toxic relationships; practicing skills of relational mindfulness; and, compassionate actions toward others.
- Spiritual planning and practices include hope; belief in something greater than yourself; regular religious and/or spiritual practices; “I Am” meditations; “forest bathing” meditations; spending more personal time in nature and being aware of its wonder; belief in the power of your soul-self or true-self; practicing Step 11 often; and, practicing liking and/or loving yourself in a non-narcissistic manner.
- Self planning and skills include recovering from ACEs (adverse childhood experiences, especially early life trauma); self-esteem building activities; pursuit of YOUR strong aspirations; practical strength-building activities; self-respect and self-acceptance; self-compassion; and, practicing the ancient Christian meditation process called lectio divina (deeper and deeper meditation on a sacred writing, or a self-esteem and strength-building brief writing about your values and strengths).
So, here you have it – all of it. In my years of clinical and lived-life experience I clearly believe that people who engage vigorously in their own self-recovery process do the best as far as long-term 
recovery is concerned. I also believe that WE ALL are in some form of recovery process (depression, anxiety, addictions, trauma, eating problems, grief and loss, chronic physical illness or injury, etc.). This may not be the BIG-R Recovery process, but it is recovery process as a deep-seated, self-oriented process of hope, health, and happiness. Hope this information is helpful tip you.
Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC
From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton Sangha
Author of Mindful Happiness
In line with the thousands of studies now available supporting the use of mindfulness-based interventions in depression, anxiety, chronic pain and addictions (via emotion regulation and interoception), this post will review recommended mindfulness interventions for trauma and PTSD. The post will note information from two recent books on this topic. Also recognize that meta-analytic research in 2004, 2010, and 2014 have found that mindfulness-based interventions improve depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and emotion regulation. These are common conditions co-occurring with addictions and trauma. Such interventions may be carried out as part of various Western therapies: cognitive, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, dialectical-behavioral, and even psychodynamic.
views and the experience of your deep inner self. Below I have modified her presentation of the “I Am Exploration” meditation. My modifications bring in very subtle Vedanta and cognitive-behavioral implications. This is a quick, useful, and relatively easy meditation to practice. Here are the modified instructions.
Buddha’s advice was that everything is duality. All things both exist (conventional reality) and do not exist (ultimate reality). All things and experiences (consciousness) arise and fall; the forces of impermanence, dependent origination (all things are interdependent – this exists so that exists, and that exists so this exists), and emptiness all support this view of solid permanence and concrete substantialness versus non-existence and the illusion of self. Nagarjuna’s 
conventional truth – not ultimate truth. The entire core teachings of Buddhism also includes the negation of the entire core teachings in ultimate reality. So in a more complex way the six senses do not exist, the 18 elements of the senses do not exist (sense organ, sensory perception, and consciousness of such contact), and the 12 links of dependent origination – all do not exist. Thus The Four Noble Truth and The Eight Fold Path also do not exist in ultimate reality. Likewise wisdom and its attainment do not exist. The experience of just being is that moment-by-moment disintegration of conscious experience is the only reality, thus unsatisfactoriness is the common awareness. Everything is always changing. We humans think it is all real, just like we think our thoughts are realities. Our conventional reality is that verbal concepts are solid and permanent beliefs of mind. But in ultimate reality all conventional experience is time-limited in and out of awareness – a mere flash of conscious experience and no solid or permanent thing-being.
This strange behavior continued for some time, until the robin had forced me to move within two feet of of our above-ground pool. The robin persisted by flying closer and closer to my head, to “push” me closer and closer to the pool until I reached its frame. Then I saw it. Then I realized how this intelligent bird figured out a way to get me to see its chick now having great difficulty staying afloat in the pool water. I knew I could not touch the chick, but I had to save it. So in the pool I went and netted it in an old bird nest sitting on the deck. I placed the “saved” chick in the nest on the deck just high enough to protect it from cats and allow its parents to come to its rescue. Soon they were feeding it. In a few days the chick was gone and so were the parents. I assume it flew correctly without landing in what must have seemed to be a gigantic ocean to the very small chick. I experienced very strong feelings of gratitude at that time. Gratitude for my actions, for the chick, and for its parents. Gratitude for the beautiful and mysterious Tao of nature surrounding me in life.
an adult delivered food to the nest. So what to do? I did not want to leave the chick to its fate, and I did not want robins pecking at my head in defense of their own. I grabbed a flat piece of wood and a scissors; I went out to the porch, quickly cut the plastic string and caught the chick in its fall on the board. The chick landed eventually on the porch floor. It was breathing heavy, and I think its leg had been injured in the tangle. By that time several robins were harassing me; they meant business. My good deed done, I left the chick on the floor and observed several robins flying on to the porch. When I looked out a few minutes later, the chick was gone and no adult birds were anywhere to be seen. Worried that the injured chick had fallen off the floor onto the ground below, I went out to investigate. I was unable to find the chick. Soon, however, two robins came to the porch making all kinds of noise – probably trying to communicate with the chick. Then I noticed the adult birds very cautiously (after quite some time of just hanging out) flying to the ground where I had been searching for the chick. I watched one robin go into the brush nearby, entering with an insect in its mouth and leaving empty-beaked. I guess they found their chick, and were continuing to nurse it back to health. Because I cannot disturb it, I will never know if that chick made it or not. One thing is certain, the parents were in no mood to give up; they continued to cautiously land on the ground with food. I think it is a happy ending just like story 1.