Book review The Finding Solid Ground Program (Workbook) by H. Schielke, B. Brand & R. Lanius

Written for:

• • • • • traumatized people (especially cPTSD) in the first phase of healing
        • people who struggle with unsafe behaviors a lot
        • inclusive of people with structural dissociation
        • therapists who work with the people listed above

 

Special focus:

• • • • • stabilization
        • basic tools and exercises, worksheets
        • developing a sense of safety through symptom management
        • CBT

 

What it is not:

• • • • • book therapy. This is an educational program, ideally done while also seeing a therapist. You get education about a lot of tools but this book cannot offer a relationship, a compassionate response to your story or answers to all the questions
        • addressing organized abuse or mind control
        • a thorough guide for working with parts (Check out ‘Coping with trauma-related dissociation’ for that)
        • including body work

 

Language: This book is only available in english right now because it is so new. I have no doubt that there will be translations available eventually. The language is kept simple and clear. There are no scientific terms you would have to know and no artificially difficult sentences. It is possible to understand this book with a solid basic knowledge of english.

 

Book: A little more than 250 pages in a tall workbook format. Pages with worksheets can be copied if you don’t want to write into the book. There are lined spaces for writing and spreadsheets to fill out but no space is wasted and no entertaining (or potentially triggering) pictures are added. It is not a hardcover book, so you will need to reinforce the edges or it will show signs of use quickly. There is an ebook available but it gets really complicated to work with it, so I would recommend the paper version.

 

 

Overview:

There are 8 modules that contain between 2 and 6 topics, with 30 topics total. It makes sense to take it slow and do no more than 1 topic a week. Some might need more time to practice and you might need breaks. That is why I think that it would be best to plan a whole year of working with this regularly. Just to set your expectations.

 

Grounding: Teaches how to notice when you need grounding, how to use orientation and anchoring for grounding, looks at resistance and reasons not to want grounding, offers techniques for body and mind, long list of things you could try

Similar content here: Orientation & Grounding, body log, body skills, mind skills, distractions, managing hyperarousal, managing hypoarousal

 

Separating past from present: teaches a split screen exercise to help separate present from past, emphasis on learning how to notice things in the present more clearly, introduces containment exercises and the 90/10 tool to help notice (emotional) flashbacks

Similar content here: discrimination exercise, containment

 

Additional foundations: introduces breathing exercises, imagery with a swing, peaceful place imagery, gauges and regulators and a pause button, teaches to organize tools and chain them to use in a flashback or crisis situation, introduces self-compassion tools from DBT for a gentle approach to ourselves, includes worksheets that focus on trauma-based thinking errors

Similar content here: breathing exercises, safe place imagery, gauges, regulators, wheel of coping, STOPP flashbacks tool, thoughts

 

Getting and feeling safer 1: covers dealing with triggers, how to master difficult situations and how to stop unhealthy behaviors. Focus is on learning about early warning signs and what to do in different stages of distress. Touches on self-care and defensive instincts.

Similar content here: safety plan, crisis chart, situation analysis, chain analysis, vulnerability factors

 

Addressing trauma-based thinking: CBT tools to exchange trauma-based thoughts with healing-focused thoughts and collecting evidence for them. Includes ‘resistance’ to changing thoughts and behaviors with guidance on what to work on to resolve it

Similar content here: We don’t have any, our thoughts article builds on the back of these common CBT tools

 

Getting and feeling safer 2: tracking safe experiences, identifying behaviors that get in the way of feeling safer and replacing them with behaviors that help us to be calm, learning to recognize unhealthy relationships, the window of tolerance and how to work with it to regulate in time

Similar content here: happiness journal, the window of tolerance, befriending the nervous system, crisis chart

 

Improving your relationship with emotions, body sensations and aspects of self: gently approaching feeling the body, feeling emotions and noticing inner parts. Step by step guide to identifying feelings with compassion and building tolerance for them. Addresses guilt and shame specifically.

Similar content here: problems with emotions, identifying emotions, roll calls, guilt, (our shame articles are pretty different)

 

Sticking with the process and building on progress: helps with reflection on progress, with emotions and the whole program, explores how we can learn to allow ourselves to feel good

 

 

After reading

I am incredibly excited about this program. It is something I have been waiting for for a long time. Professional workbooks build on broad experience, especially this one where a large workgroup was involved in making the program. It means that their explanations are tested and tried step by step guides and their choice of exercises is on point and therefore much better than anything I can offer.

 

The tone isn’t so warm that it gets scary and instead it is consistently highly encouraging and invites us to encourage ourselves and show compassion when it is difficult.

The book is thorough in the way it approaches topics. It helps us to explore why an exercise is needed, how it is going to help us, how to notice when we should use it, how it is actually done and then it also tells us where to look for solutions in case we get stuck. There is a lot of understanding for the fact that we might have good reasons not to want change. Acknowledging that can help us to make more informed choices and when we do move forward we do it with purpose.

There is a limited number of exercises to allow us to focus on mastering one tool properly instead of getting lost in options. We are still empowered to put together our own sets of tools that help us the most, so there is freedom to choose.

Exercises were picked thoughtfully. The worksheets give us a chance to understand them, practice them and reflect on them. The topics end up covering a lot of ground.

 

There is a big focus on learning early warning signs so we can use an intervention before things get really bad. That is so much more economical when it comes to our energy than only teaching people how to get out of the full crisis experience. All in all, it is calmer and less agitated than the interventions I am used to with my cultural background. There are no harsh or extreme tools.

The text includes instructions for pacing, where we are asked to do grounding exercises or check in with ourselves whenever we approach a difficult topic or work on a tricky question. I appreciate the thoughtfulness and the accuracy in predicting which topics will be especially difficult.

The order of the topics seems a bit jumbled at first sight, like having 2 modules about getting safer with one about thoughts in between. The order starts to make more sense when we are actually following the program. I know from my own experience how hard it is to put an order to the necessary tools and it is done really well here. One set of topics builds on the ones before. There are some things that can wait and others that absolutely cannot. This ends up being an elegant solution for a tricky challenge.

 

It is not necessary to be a nerd to understand the instructions. Theory is kept to the absolute minimum. It means that we will not learn all the background and reasons for exercises but we will learn the practical tools that we need. And some (not me ;D ) might say that that’s really all they wanted.

There is notably less parts work than I would have expected from a workgroup that specializes on dissociative patients. Parts are mentioned where necessary but don’t become a focus until module 7 and even then the main focus is on emotions. It makes sense, considering that we can look up the basic exercises for structural dissociation in ‘Coping with trauma-related dissociation’. There is no need to repeat all that. What we do get is a guide on how to overcome the phobia of the inner experience, using baby steps.

 

I think that the Finding Solid Ground program is an excellent workbook for people who want to focus on stabilization. It teaches solid foundations and can offer a head-start when we are still waiting for a chance to get therapy. It will be most effective when it is done in addition to trauma-informed therapy. Because it is a workbook and not just another long text it allows us to closely engage with the topics. Good trauma workbooks are rare. This one is the best I have seen since ‘Growing beyond survival’.

 

 

 

[I am aware that not everyone can afford to buy this workbook. That is why I linked articles on this website that cover similar topics or cover the same topic in a similar way. I personally think that the book is doing a much better job at explaining how to do things but it might be better than having no access to infos at all.]