Army - Stimulating Simulation

in achieving. Together, coach and client hash out goals.
“After we had a couple of conversations, time management
seemed to be a big issue,” COMPASS coach Dwan Bruner
said of her work with Hart. “He was not getting enough sleep.
He was missing appointments.”
She helped him find a useful calendar app for his phone,
with an alarm feature. Together, they identified other areas
where he could tweak his time-management skills, such as
limiting the length of phone conversations when appropriate.
The process relied on planning sheets, charts and logs in
which Hart could write his daily and weekly objectives and
make notes on what he accomplished and how he could do
better next time.
“Each participant decides which tool works best for him or
her,” Bruner said, but the main goal is to instill goal-setting
habits.
“They decide on a task, commit to the details of it, and then
reflect on what worked and what didn’t,” Bruner said. “Then
they discuss it with the adviser and begin to learn the skill of
repeating what works best for them and making it into a routine.
We want to give them skills they can use going forward.”
Therapist Is Partner
The give-and-take between coach and client is different
than what happens in therapy sessions, Libin said. “The sessions
build on the person’s reactions,” he explained. “It’s almost
like a dialogue between coach and patient. When you go
for psychotherapy or even mindfulness, the therapist is more
like a teacher, teaching you techniques and skills. In our case,
[the therapist] is your partner. You’re sort of on the same level.
It’s a two-way process.”
The goals span areas such as relationships, health, career
and daily responsibilities. The veteran learns to break down
each goal into objectives that are “SMART”: significant, measurable,
affirmative—“I will” instead of “I won’t”—realistic
and time-limited.
‘Memory Pad’ Helps
For Hart, building some stretching into his daily routine
and eating right were two other important goals. The timemanagement
routine he’s now settled into involves his phone, a
monthly calendar he carries around folded up in his back
pocket, and a small notebook he calls his memory pad.
“The notebook helps me a lot,” he said. “I don’t try to commit
anything to memory anymore. I look at the pad all the
time. I’ll put simple things on there like ‘work out,’ ‘drink water.’
It reminds me to do different things I wasn’t doing. As
soon as I look at the pad, I know what I have to do. I’ll put the
date when it was completed, or write in parentheses ‘working.’”
Libin’s team doesn’t rely on anecdotal reports from Hart
and the other participants. They administer a battery of validated
tests and questionnaires before a veteran’s participation
and twice afterward, measuring everything from TBI- and
PTSD-related symptoms to progress in areas including work
and relationships. Libin hopes the data will support a wide
rollout of the program across VA.
Relationships is one area where Hart feels he has made
gains. He said that by regularly writing down in his pad “call
Mom” or “reach out” to his brother, he has done a better job
of staying in touch with those who matter most to him.
“My mother lives in North Carolina,” he said. “When I
would start calling her more, she was surprised. She’d say, ‘Are
you OK?’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, Ma, I just realized I haven’t been calling
you like I should.’”
✭
Mitch Mirkin
COMPASS coach Dwan Bruner, left, works with Army veteran Brian Hart.
March 2016 ■ ARMY 45