Assessing Yourself - A Multi-Dimensional Framework

This is the CCME adaptation of the BASIC-Ph model developed by the Community Stress Prevention Centre in Israel and the multi-modal approaches of Richard Lazarus. View an illustration of this model.

It recognises that people experience and cope with their world in different ways or through different channels. It is useless to suggest ways of coping that do not suit an individual or talk in a language they do not understand (eg talking about feelings to a person who is predominantly a rational thinker).

Any method can be used positively or negatively, at the right or wrong time, rigidly or flexibly.

Everyone is capable of using all of these channels but usually two or three are dominant. Some channels may be completely blocked because they have been ridiculed or found not to be helpful in the past and it is assumed they can never be helpful again.

After trauma people often try to use their familiar coping methods over and over again even if they no longer work in this new situation. This is when courage is needed to learn to try out new coping channels and methods.

The same coping method can be used for different purposes and may therefore be found in more than one channel - eg drawing can be used for distraction, problem solving or to express emotion. The six channels are:

Belief: The underlying beliefs people have about themselves, their worth and contribution to the world and their place in it. It is not just about religious beliefs but religion will affect the beliefs people have. Coping in this channel : to find meaning, reflection, prayer, building self-worth.
Emotions: This is the channel of feelings and the ways in which people express their feelings - usefully or destructively.
Coping in this channel : useful ways of expressing anger, sadness, guilt etc, learning to identify emotions and those which are being held back.
Family, Friends, Fellow humans, Social role: The channel of social relationship recognising that we are essentially social beings, needing social groupings for survival.
Coping in this channel : widening support, creating new social roles.
Imagination: This is the channel of imagination and creativity, where we create images and metaphor as patterns for the way we live, for solving problems, and expressing emotions and meaning.
Coping in this channel: guided visualisation, creative activities & problem solving, fun, creating images of recovery, ritual.
Thinking: The channel of logical thought whereby we gain and process information in order to make sense of the world.
Coping in this channel : finding information, action planning, logical thinking, thinking differently, prioritising.
Physical: This channel recognises that we live in a physical body, experience the world through physical senses and inhabit a natural and constructed physical environment.
Coping in this channel: rest, relaxation, healthy eating, medication, exercise, places for reflection and retreat, finding objects and environments that help us feel safe.

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