This book made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me think.
–Rachel Berrisford, BSc (Hons), MBChB, MRcPsych (United Kingdom)
I have worked in the disability arena for over 20 years concentrating on the young with extreme, challenging behaviors. Fifteen years ago I read a paper by Shirley Deane/Midyett on her amplified “Survivor’s Checklist.” I refer to it constantly, even teaching the principals to my clients – particularly to one young woman with multiple diagnoses of autism, PTSD, transient psychosis, and pervasive development delay. When she lost control, I took a few moments to narrow her needs and establish a foundation to work with. This had resounding results, enabling a dramatic and positive behavior change. And with repetition, she learned how to use the Survivor’s Checklist herself.
–Tina Marie Fiedler (Perth, Western Australia)
Shirley Deane has an astute grasp for psycho-dynamics and an outstanding ability to integrate dynamics, mental image, and brain function. Shirley is unusually perceptive and creative.
–Frank Holmes Chesky, MD (Kansas)
The Survivor’s Checklist, re-parenting through developing a healthy “adult,” and looking at developmental stages of growth have been very beneficial to me in creating a foundation for clients for on-going recovery while stabilizing sobriety. I have implemented and used Shirley’ tools in my work as a chemical dependency counselor since 1988, with outstanding results.
–Carla Jean Harper, ADC III, NCAC II, LCDC (Texas)
We see in others what we see in ourselves. I saw in Shirley what I wanted to see in myself. I was fresh out of graduate school, working as a master’s-level therapist, and Shirley agreed to be my mentor. “Reframing Survival: A Survivor’s Checklist” changed my life and my ability to be an effective therapist.
The Survivor’s Checklist is invaluable in emergency services. I am able to assess a client’s situation by asking a few simple questions to identify what needs are not being met, and evaluating the client’s willingness to change to get those needs met.
The truths I gleaned from Shirley’s writings have become more and more relevant over the 20 years I have worked as a therapist. They are simple truths, but oh so powerful. Feelings are not good or bad; they are our body’s way of pointing to needs that are not being met or that we are afraid are not going to be met.
Today I am willing to assess any situation using the Survivor’s Checklist and to take actions in meeting my basic survival needs.
–Angela B. Catlett, MS, LPC (Muskogee, Oklahoma)
While helping prepare this book for publication, I unexpectedly became beneficiary of its teachings. I had fallen into a debilitating habit that I happened to raise in a conversation with my son on a long road trip we were sharing the driving of. Because I had been telling him about Shirley’s book, I spontaneously said that I thought I would ask Shirley & Vic for advice for how to overcome the habit. Because it was several days before we finished the road trip and I returned home, I didn’t get around to writing the Midyetts for about a week, by which time I had overcome the habit myself! All from just working on the book, and not even reading it straight through!
–Morris Dean, Writer & Editor (North Carolina)
