Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT is a Cognitive Behavior Therapy, CBT, intervention that can be performed and used by anyone. Of course, training is required first. It is ideal for treatment of substance use disorders, AOD use disorders.

One does not need a master’s degree or PhD to do this work for others.

It is also useful for help with criminal thinking and conduct. It is therefore useful for DBT interventions.

Drug courts want to reduce recidivism and reduce cost of crime and treatment.

Drug courts should do this for mandated clients. Belief Eye Movement Therapy is used to change limiting, harmful, permission-granting beliefs about CTC, criminal thinking and conduct involving alcohol and other drugs AOD. Treatment providers want to do this as soon as possible in treatment without endangering rapport, according to Judith S. Beck, Cognitive Behavior Theory

“There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you first change limiting, anti-social, permission-granting core beliefs and values of the clients” to paraphrase Wanberg and Milkman.

Why would you wait to elicit and change these core beliefs? How specifically are you doing that now? If you do not have a specific belief change intervention for your clients, then this is for you.

For people who want to learn how to help others with BEMT, training consists of reading and studying theory, taking tests to assure comprehension and recall and practical training allowing the practitioner to learn how to do the methods properly and demonstrate effective skills.

Each drug court should have at least one skilled practitioner onboard to help mandated clients to change.

Upon satisfactory completion the participant will be given a certificate declaring the holder is a Certified BEMT Practitioner.

The basis of theory for this treatment protocol is based upon the works of Albert Ellis, REBT and ABC-DE Theory and Aaron Beck, Cognitive Behavior theorist and originator. The works of Francine Shapiro, Steve Andreas and John Grinder are also components.

Briefly stated and paraphrased, “behavior (C) is not based on events (A), but rather beliefs (B) about (A). Ergo, ABC Theory. Ellis went on to advise that we must Dispute (D) these beliefs and replace them with (E), empowering beliefs. This allows the client to be free of the pain of traumatic past events and move on to have a happier, more fulfilling life.

That is the goal of BEMT. Additionally, BEMT can be used for chronic pain relief in some cases.

Methods and patterns

Client presents with an issue such as not being happy with success and failures of life. Using various attending skills, the practitioner fleshes out what she/he believes to be limiting beliefs in a certain area of the client’s life. Non-validation in childhood might lead to “I don’t deserve success.”

This is discussed with and verified by the client before moving on. The process is a collaboration, meeting the client where she is at and then take her where she wants/needs to go, ABC-DE.

The client is instructed to say the limiting belief simply as possible.

The practitioner then instructs the client to describe the strength or pain of the belief on a scale of 1-10, 10 being really, strong and 0-1 being acceptable. As pain is a warning sign, we would not want to eliminate it completely.

Horizontal, vertical, circular, and diagonal hand/pointer movements are used. The client is instructed to follow the fingers or pointer of the practitioner with her eyes without moving her head while repeating the statement. This is continued for as long as it takes to see, hear, and feel the positive results.

As this statement is repeated the numeric strength of the statement is ratcheted down. The process is repeated for as long as it takes to get to 0-1. If the feeling or belief is diminished such that the client feels it is acceptable, we then go on to replace the “old You” limiting belief with a “new you” empowering belief. “I deserve to be successful. “Thus, ABC-DE. The brain is doing the disputing and reprocessing.

The client constructed a new empowering belief (E) that may only be a 0-1 initially. We then begin to ratchet up that belief using the BEMT hand/pointer movements until we reach 9-10, which is E.

This is a thumbnail sketch of the process. I am available for staff trainings by Zoom or live. For more details, please call or message me. Ph: 1 808 385 4550.

If you are having problems due to painful, limiting, shadow beliefs created by events of the past or present then BEMT, Belief Eye Movement Therapy could be for you.

What is BEMT? Good question. It is a hand-eye movement method that kind of reshuffles or rebalances the brain and the way information has been stored.

It is very effective for events caused by trauma, alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems and criminal thinking and conduct (CTC) treatment.

We can arrange Zoom meetings to answer questions and eliminate problems. Let me know.

Ph: 808 385 4550

Think of your task as a visual continuum. “Imagery” is the key with this intervention.

The Old You – New You gap below is the change time period involved. It can represent one hour, one day, one intervention or decades. Some say Stages of Change.

“The Old You _________________________________________ “The New You”

Compare and contrast the don’t want (Old You) image (left) with the ideal (New You) image desired (right).

The “Old You” don’t want could be abusing alcohol and other drugs. It could be anger management problems. Any kind of abuse. CTC.

The “New You” compelling image on the right is the person you want to be. See it, V, hear it, A, and feel it, K. VAK. Use all your senses to anchor this desired state.

Consider ‘Old You’ problems and consequences as you do this. On the left, construct a picture or a hologram of yourself in that situation (using alcohol or other drugs, under arrest, in jail, hiding…) that you definitely do not want anymore. Compare that with what you do want, on the right.

Everyone has issues. Attorneys and clinicians can choose a personal problem to work on as you read this. We all have issues. Right? Choice is better than no choice.

Give yourself a break today. You have a choice. It’s not hopeless and you are fully capable. 

You can see a change map on page 15 of Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com.

The CLE class for Judges and Attorneys cover this in detail. So does the CEU class at standokmanus.com.
The CEU class is available at Udemy – https://lnkd.in/g9JUVuVr

If you want help with an alcohol or other drug problem, referred to as a Substance Use Disorder, you have come to the right place. I care about your life, family and your happiness.

I am a certified substance abuse counselor – with 38 years of sobriety. I’ve had no triggers, cravings or urges since my clean date. Some call this their Birthday.

Not your belly button birthday. Your “New You” clean and sober date. I’ve noticed that people who are serious about and successful with sobriety know their ‘clean date’ when asked. Even if they’ve never heard the term, they get it.

A clean and sober date is the day you committed to abstinence and maintained it. After 38 years I believe I have “Transcended” what was a deadly, progressive problem for me. I surely would have been dead by now. Nothing has killed more people than alcohol diseases, accidents and crimes.

If you are committed to sobriety, and you truly want to put the disease and harmful behavior behind you, Congratulations! You will find the truth here.

But remember, “Above all, to thine own self be true!” Remember that phrase. Why? That’s a fair question. Here’s the answer:

“The Man in the Glass”
By Peter Dale Wimbrow Sr.
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.
For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the rest
For he’s with you, clear to the end
And you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous test
If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.”

Digest that thought. You can copy this and tape it around your house, office, or anywhere that it will help you. Frame it and put it in a place of importance in your house. Put it where it will be a constant reminder.

You can bs me all you want. And get pats on the back by your bs slippery people user friends too. But..?

You’ll get a lot of that here. Here’s the deal. You have formed some very limiting, permission-granting beliefs about alcohol and other drug use. We need to undo those limiting, harmful beliefs first.

Then we will replace them with new, healthy, empowering beliefs that will get you what you truly want?

Let me ask you: 1. What do you really want? 2. How will you know when you get it? 3. What is stopping you?

Whether you are looking for help with AOD, alcohol and other drug problems, or you are a counselor who needs CEUs, continuing education units, you will find it here under the classes tab above. Click on classes and get the information to meet your goals.

If you want help with a drug or alcohol problems, you can call me at 808 385 4550. Feel free to read the post in this blog. They were all written with you in mind.

MI, Motivational Interviewing skills are useful in treatment for drug court clients. So is knowing ‘tells’ and baseline cues.

You might use a MI question like, “if you could picture yourself successfully completing drug court, what would that look like?”

You might notice that your right-handed client looks ‘up to the right’. This is a visual construct. It’s a normal response for a right-handed person.

A leftie would be the opposite, usually.

Some say you can tell if a person is telling the truth or lying by watching their eye movements, skin tone and body language. These are called sensory acuity skills. They are next level skills.

There will be no long-term behavior changes for criminal offenders unless you first address and change permission-granting core beliefs and values. This is part of that change process.

That means there will be no reduction in relapse or costs of crime and treatment if you don’t change the clients’ belief systems first.

This is another skill level regarding meeting your clients where they are. You are establishing a baseline for how clients respond.

These concepts are covered in detail in the “Criminal Justice and Addictions Counseling” CEU/CLE classes at standokmanus.com.

You can take the class on Udemy also. “Criminal Justice and Addictions Counseling.”

The CBT map image below helps to explain the criminal-addict behavior cycle to clients. You can visually show them and discuss where they got tripped up in the cognitive behavior cycle.

Beliefs lead to behavior according to Albert Ellis, ABC-DE Theory. This is true for us too. The map image is from Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com

If you would like to discuss your problems with alcohol and other drugs you can call me now at 808 385 4550.

Imagination and perception are extremely interesting phenomena in the substance abuse field. And they are effective.

Psychology of change creates open windows to (y)our beliefs, values, and behavior change possibilities. It’s the Psychology of Behavior Change. For more information or CEU click the classes button. Or go to this link. https://lnkd.in/g9JUVuVr

Whether you are a counselor seeking CEU or a person in need of recovery from alcohol or other drugs, this class will work for you. It can be the first step on the Trail to Transcendence from your problem.

If you are an attorney, go to classes and choose the Judges’ and Attorney’s class. You can have up to 34 CLE.

Imagine the possibilities once you are clean and sober. Sign up now…

People with addiction or criminal behavior problems have one priority when it comes to behavior change.

We need to address permission-granting beliefs about AOD/CTC, alcohol and other drugs/criminal thinking and conduct, ASAP in treatment. This is a basic CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) principle according to Judith S. Beck, author and therapist.

Then we can address REBT-DE (Ellis) and belief change events and processes. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) points out the need to address irrational beliefs. Why? They lead to irrational behavior.

We need to learn how to dispute (D) those beliefs and replace them (E) with empowering beliefs.

There will be no long-term behavior changes without changing AOD/CTC core beliefs first. (Wanberg/Milkman)

Belief change is covered extensively in my criminal justice and addictions counseling class. CEUs available. https://lnkd.in/g9JUVuVr.

Call me now at 808 385 4550 if you need help with permission-granting beliefs that you would like to change.

Substance abuse treatment, counselors and therapists deal with the beliefs and values of clients throughout their careers. Why is this so important?

“There will be no long-term behavior changes unless core beliefs and values are changed first”, according to Wanberg and Milkman.”

Paraphrasing Beck, “Permission-granting limiting beliefs about alcohol and other drug use and criminal thinking and conduct must be addressed as soon as possible,” according to Judith S. Beck. This is a specific topic and skill set for practitioners.

We all have belief clutches. These are beliefs we clutch to even in the face of death. Clients, criminal offenders and addicts hold dear to these to rationalize their criminal addict behavior.

Attorneys also have belief clutches. So do therapists and counselors.

Criminal and addict beliefs are critical. So are the beliefs of attorneys.

Due process depends on the beliefs and values of society, judges and attorneys.

To paraphrase Miller and Rollnick, “Beliefs of the counselor…are as important as beliefs of the clients.”

Belief change skills are taught in my CEU and CLE classes. Clients can benefit from these classes as well.

These topics are discussed in Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict. Amazon.com

I offer confidential Zoom meetings to discuss issues important to you. Call me now, 808 385 4550.

We all need to feel okay and accepted. Parenting plays the major part in this process.

“You’re no good.” “You’ll never amount to anything.” “You don’t deserve…, X.” You fill in the blank.

This could be an example of traumatized parents acting out on and traumatizing their children because that’s all they know. This type of verbal and emotional abuse is unvalidating.

If you bought all that junk from parents or peers, you will, find help here getting “unstuck.”

Call me now at 808 385 4550. Take the class for counselors and you can get a head start on the change process.

The cognitive process is the same for all of us. Offenders and criminal justice and addictions professionals too. We all have a similar operating system.

CBT map image from Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict, p.15, Amazon.com explains how the process works in detail.

The CLE and CEU classes, above, describe this in detail.