Becoming the Man I Want to Be, 2nd Edition
A Good Lives Workbook
by David S. Prescott and Dawn M. Pflugradt

In the years since we published the first edition of Becoming the Man I Want to Be, we have learned a lot about how clients and clinicians alike use workbooks to make better lives happen. Based on these new insights, authors David Prescott and Dawn Pflugradt have worked closely with Safer Society Press to publish the second edition.

Click here to read more about the changes made to this edition. For the full workbook description, please read below.

Do you work with adult male clients that are:

• Using violence to solve personal problems?
• Involved in gang violence as a way to “fit in”?
• Abusing drugs because they can’t find any other sense of purpose in their lives?
• Expressing their sexual desires in immature ways?
• Acting in confrontational ways with any authority figure?

Men are often exposed to stereotypical “masculine” methods of dealing with life’s challenges. These methods include aggression, competition, a focus on quick wins to fix complex situations, and a lack of connection with their feelings. Author David Prescott wrote Becoming the Man I Want to Be to introduce clients to a strengths-based counseling process that will enable them to build a better life for themselves.

A Good Lives Model Approach

Like many strengths-based models of helping, the Good Lives Model (GLM) of rehabilitation is an approach that focuses the conversation between professionals and clients NOT on what is wrong with the clients, but rather on building the clients’ understanding of what they want their lives to become. Behaviors that are “negative” may simply be those where the client is attempting to attain reasonable life goals – but doing so in maladaptive ways.

The GLM model helps men focus on “good life goals.”  These goals guide clients toward leading a more self-determined lifestyle, one in which illegal behavior is no longer necessary or useful in helping them attain their goals.

What Are “Good Life Goals”?

The GLM takes its cue from many humanistic perspectives, all of which posit that all humans have similar goals: we seek to make our lives better. Some of those goals are:

• Having a purpose in life
• Enjoying life, having fun
• Connecting with other people
• Being physically healthy

In the GLM approach, the therapist and client explore how the client is currently pursuing these good life goals. Through these conversations, healthy—and unhealthy—ways of achieving the goals are uncovered. For example, one client might pursue the goal of “connecting with other people” by joining a gang. Instead of unhealthy routes such as this one, therapists and clients explore how this universal desire to connect with others can be achieved in the client’s life in healthy ways—ways that don’t include violence or substance abuse, and don’t lead to incarceration.

What Are the GLM Workbooks?

These workbooks are intended for use with adult men who require therapy for a wide range of criminal and harmful behaviors. The workbooks can be used in both group and individual counseling modalities.

With Becoming the Man I Want to Be, each of your clients will:

1. Reflect on things important to him.
2. Understand the methods he used to obtain these things in the past and plan how he will get them in healthier ways in the future.
3. Learn to recognize the obstacles that have kept him from living a healthier life.
4. Develop a plan for overcoming obstacles and becoming the person he wants to be.
5. Put his plan to work in his daily life.

The overriding message is that counseling is a way to a better, healthier life.

Train with the Authors!

After attending this training, participants will better understand how to use the workbook in treatment. The training begins by reviewing the core principles of the GLM and then offers ideas for how clinicians and counselors can use each section of the workbook—in particular, the chapters that are new to the second edition. Central to this training is its focus on dovetailing the GLM and the workbook with Motivational Interviewing skills and the principles of Trauma-Informed Care.

Click here to learn more.