The Daring Way™ is a unique modality based on years of research by Houston-based research professor and bestselling author Dr. Brené Brown. A highly experiential methodology, this type of therapy uses metaphor, story-telling and experiential exercises to analyze thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that prevent people from attaining their full potential. Clients learn to identify new choices and practices that propel them toward more authentic and wholehearted lives. A central component of Daring Way is learning to show up, be seen and live bravely. Doing so requires developing empathy and self-compassion and recognizing and fully embracing the true values within oneself. During sessions, certified facilitators work with clients on topics such as vulnerability, courage, shame and worthiness. The primary focus is on developing shame resiliency skills and developing daily practices to transform the way people live, love, parent and lead.

How The Daring Way Helps

Using personal lessons from Brown’s own life, The Daring Way teaches people that love, a sense of belonging, creativity and joy cannot exist fully without vulnerability. But in our culture of reflexive cynicism, it is imperative for people to gain an understanding of shame and build shame resilience before making themselves vulnerable. Otherwise the consequences can be devastating. Clients who participate in The Daring Way acquire tools and skills to help them cultivate more resilience, self-compassion, empathy, creativity, joy and connection in their lives. Central to this philosophy is Brown’s 10 Guideposts for Wholehearted Living, which stress the importance of cultivating the following 10 key traits:

• Authenticity
• Self-compassion
• Resiliency of spirit
• Gratitude and joy
• Intuition, trust and faith
• Creativity
• Playfulness and relaxation
• Calm and stillness
• Meaningful work and laughter
• Song and dance

Benefits of The Daring Way

The Daring Way is especially beneficial for people with addictions, depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. Substance abuse is a psychological and emotional avoidance strategy people use to protect themselves from shame. The Daring Way helps break this destructive cycle by providing people with resilience skills to better deal with life struggles and difficult emotions. By learning to embrace challenges instead of avoiding them, people are better able to make healthy choices and live wholeheartedly. The ultimate goal is to live a joyous, personally meaningful life free of drugs, alcohol or other destructive behaviors. The Daring Way clears the pathway, enabling people to begin their journey of recovery and live life fully. Like other therapies, it is up to the individual to fully leverage the skills learned and practically apply them to the real world. Benefits include:

• Decreased shame and fear
• Enhanced self-faith and self-esteem
• Healthier sense of self-worth
• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Decreased self-doubt
• Reduced levels of perfectionism
• Greater self-insights
• Reduced impulsivity
• Greater willingness to explore life fully

Our facility has certified The Daring Way™ Facilitators onsite and we utilize The Daring Way™ Shame Resilience Curriculum as a formal treatment modality, along with other traditional and complementary approaches.

What Is The Daring Way™?

The Daring Way™ is a highly experiential curriculum based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown, who has spent the past 12 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame. The methodology is designed to help people to show up, be seen and live braver lives. All material in the curriculum was prepared using the words of the individuals studied, which is why the approach is so relatable. The Daring Way™ model examines the culture of scarcity, comparison and shame that is so prevalent in today’s society (especially among those struggling with addictions and co-occurring mental health disorders), and teaches ways to move forward into empathy, self-compassion and wholehearted living. Call us today at 1.844.876.7680 to learn more about The Daring Way™. The Ten Daring Way™ Guideposts for Wholehearted Living include:

1. Letting go of what people think, and cultivating Authenticity
2. Letting go of perfectionism, and cultivating Self-Compassion
3. Letting go of numbing and powerlessness, and cultivating Resilient Spirit
4. Letting go of scarcity and fear of the dark, and cultivating Gratitude and Joy
5. Letting go of need for certainty, and cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith
6. Letting go of comparison, and cultivating Creativity
7. Letting go of exhaustion and productivity as self-worth, and cultivating Play and Rest
8. Letting go of anxiety as a lifestyle, and cultivating Calm and Stillness
9. Letting go of self-doubt and “supposed to,” and cultivating Meaningful Work
10. Letting go of being cool and “always in control,” and cultivating Laughter, Song and Dance

Through The Daring Way™ curriculum clients learn about the myths associated with being vulnerable, how we “armor up” to avoid feeling vulnerable and ashamed, the ways in which this armoring up process diminishes our lives, and how we can put down our “protective” weaponry. A central component of The Daring Way™ process—learning to show up, be seen and live brave—is developing empathy and self-compassion (both of which are skills that can be learned) and recognizing what our true values really are. This is The Daring Way™ pathway to accepting and even embracing vulnerability, to being shame-resilient, and to living wholeheartedly. Call us today at 1.844.876.7680 to learn more about The Daring Way™.

About Brené Brown

The Daring Way™™ method is based on the research of Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW. Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past 12 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame. Her groundbreaking research has been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, The Katie Show, and Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday. Dr. Brown is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012), the New York Times Bestseller, The Gifts of Imperfection (2010) and I Thought It Was Just Me (2007). Dr. Brown’s 2010 Tedx Houston talk, The Power of Vulnerability, is one of the top 10 most viewed TED talks in the world, with over 11 million viewers. Additionally, Dr. Brown gave the closing talk at the 2012 TED conference where she talked about shame, courage and innovation.

Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. —Dr. Brené Brown