health realization health realization health realization (hr) is a resiliency approach to personal and community psychology first developed in the 1980s by roger c. mills and george pransky, and based on ideas and insights these psychologists elaborated from attending the lectures of philosopher and author sydney banks. hr first became known for its application in economically and socially marginalized communities living in highly stressful circumstances (see community applications below). hr focuses on the nature of thought and how it affects one's experience of the world. students of hr are taught that they can change how they react to their circumstances by becoming aware that they are creating their own experience as they respond to their thoughts, and by connecting to their "innate health" and "inner wisdom." hr also goes under the earlier name of "psychology of mind" and most recently "three principles" understanding. the health realization model in the health realization ("hr") model, all psychological phenomena, from severe disorder to glowing health, are presented as manifestations of three operative "principles" first formulated as principles of human experience by sydney banks: mind - the universal energy that animates all of life, the source of innate health and well-being. consciousness - the ability to be aware of one's life. thought - the power to think and thereby to create one's experience of reality. "mind" has been likened to the electricity running a movie projector, and "thought" to the images on the film. "consciousness" is likened to the light from the projector that throws the images onto the screen, making them appear real. according to hr, people experience their reality and their circumstances through the constant filter of their thoughts. consciousness makes that filtered reality seem "the way it really is." people react to it as if this were true. but, when their thinking changes, reality seems different and their reactions change. thus, according to hr, people are constantly creating their own experience of reality via their thinking. people tend to experience their reality as stressful, according to hr, when they are having insecure or negative thoughts. but hr suggests that such thoughts do not have to be taken seriously. when one chooses to take them more lightly, according to hr, the mind quiets down and positive feelings emerge spontaneously. thus, hr also teaches that people have health and well-being already within them (in hr this is known as "innate health"), ready to emerge as soon as their troubled thinking calms down. when this happens, according to hr, people also gain access to common sense, and they can tap into the universal capacity for creative problem solving or "inner wisdom." anecdotal reports suggest that, when a person grasps the understanding behind hr in an experiential way, an expansive sense of emotional freedom and well-being can result. health realization as therapy in contrast to psychotherapies that focus on the content of the clients' dysfunctional thinking, hr focuses on "innate health" and the role of "mind, thought, and consciousness" in creating the clients' experience of life. the hr counselor does not attempt to get clients to change their thoughts, "think positive", or "reframe" negative thoughts to positive ones. according to hr, one's ability to control one's thoughts is limited and the effort to do so can itself be a source of stress. instead, clients are encouraged to consider that their "minds are using thought to continuously determine personal reality at each moment." hr characterizes feelings and emotions as indicators of the quality of one's thinking. within the hr model, unpleasant feelings or emotions, or stressful feelings, indicate that one's thinking is based on insecurity, negative beliefs, conditioning or learned patterns that are not necessarily appropriate to the live moment here and now. they simultaneously indicate that the individual has temporarily lost sight of what hr asserts is his or her own role in creating experience. pleasant or desired feelings (such as a sense of well-being, gratitude, compassion, peace, etc.) indicate, within the hr model, that the quality of one's thinking is exactly as it needs to be. hr holds that the therapeutic "working through" of personal issues from the past to achieve wholeness is unnecessary. according to the hr model, people are already whole and healthy. the traumas of the past are only important to the extent that the individual lets them influence his or her thoughts in the present. according to hr, one's "issues" and memories are just thoughts, and the individual can react to them or not. the more the clients' experience is that they themselves are creating their own painful feelings via their own "power of thought," hr suggests, the less these feelings bother them. sedgeman has compared this to what happens when we make scary faces at ourselves in the mirror: because we know it is just us, it is impossible to scare ourselves that way. thus hr deals with personal insecurities and dysfunctional patterns almost en masse, aiming for an understanding of the "key role of thought", an understanding that ideally allows the individual to step free at once from a large number of different patterns all connected by insecure thinking. with this approach, it is rare for the practitioner to delve into specific content beyond the identification of limiting thoughts. when specific thoughts are considered to be limiting or based on insecurity or conditioning, the counselor encourages the individual to disengage from them. relationships from the perspective of hr, relationship problems result from the partners' low awareness of their role in creating their own experience via thought and consciousness. partners who respond to hr reportedly stop blaming and recriminating and react to each other differently. hr counselors aim to get couples to consider that each one's own feelings are not determined by one's partner and that the great majority of issues that previously snarled their interactions were based on insecure, negative, and conditioned thinking. hr counselors further suggest that every person goes through emotional ups and downs and that one's thinking in a "down" mood is likely to be distorted. hr teaches that it is generally counterproductive to try to "talk through" relationship problems when the partners are in a bad mood. instead hr suggests that partners wait until each has calmed down and is able to discuss things from a place of inner comfort and security. chemical dependency and addiction hr sees chemical dependency and related behaviors as a response to a lack of a sense of self-efficacy, rather than the result of disease. that is, some people who are, in hr terms, "unaware" of their own "innate health" and their own role in creating stress via their thoughts turn to alcohol, drugs, or other compulsive behaviors in the attempt to quell their stressful feelings and regain some momentary sense of control. hr aims to offer deeper relief by showing that negative and stressful feelings are self-generated and thus can be self-quieted and it seeks to provide a pathway to well-being that does not depend on external circumstances. community applications the health realization ("hr") model has been applied in a variety of challenging settings. an early project, which garnered national publicity under the leadership of roger mills, introduced hr to residents of a pair of low-income housing developments in miami known as modello and homestead gardens. after three years, there were major documented reductions in crime, drug dealing, teenage pregnancy, child abuse, child neglect, school absenteeism, unemployment, and families on public assistance. jack pransky has chronicled the transformation that unfolded there, in his book modello, a story of hope for the inner city and beyond. later projects in some of the most severely violence-ridden housing developments in new york, minnesota, and california and in other communities in california, hawaii, and colorado built upon the early experience in the modello/homestead work. the coliseum gardens housing complex in oakland, california, for example, had previously had the fourth highest homicide rate of such a complex in the us, but after hr classes were launched, the homicide rate began to decline. gang warfare and ethnic clashes between cambodian and african-american youth ceased. in 1997, sargeant jerry williams was awarded the california wellness foundation peace prize on behalf of the health realization community empowerment project at coliseum gardens. by the year 2006, there had been no homicides in the complex for nine straight years. the hr model has also found application in police departments, prisons, mental health clinics, community health clinics and nursing, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, services for the homeless, schools, and a variety of state and local government programs. the county of santa clara, california, for example, has established a health realization services division which provides hr training to county employees and the public. the services division "seeks to enhance the life of the individual by teaching the understanding of the psychological principles of mind, thought and consciousness, and how these principles function to create our life experience," and to "enable them to live healthier and more productive lives so that the community becomes a model of health and wellness." the department of alcohol and drug services introduced hr in santa clara county in 1994. the health realization services division has an approved budget of over $800,000 (gross expenditure) for fy 2008, a 41% increase over 2007, at a time when a number of programs within the alcohol and drug services department have sustained budget cuts. hr community projects have received grant funding from a variety of sources. for example, grant partners for the visitacion valley community resiliency project, a five-year, multimillion-dollar community revitalization project, have included wells fargo bank, charles schwab corporation foundation, charles and helen schwab foundation, isabel allende foundation, pottruck family foundation, mckesson foundation, richard and rhoda goldman fund, s.h. cowell foundation, san francisco foundation, evelyn & walter haas, jr. fund, milagro foundation, and dresdner rcm global investors. other projects based upon the hr approach have been funded by the national institute of mental health, the u.s. department of justice, the national institute on drug abuse, the california wellness foundation, and the shinnyo-en foundation. ongoing community projects organized by the center for sustainable change, a non-profit organization founded by dr. roger mills and ami chen mills-naim, are funded by the w.k. kellogg foundation. the center for sustainable change works in partnership with grassroots organizations in des moines, iowa; charlotte, north carolina; and the mississippi delta to bring three principles training to at-risk communities under the umbrella of the national community resiliency project. the center also works with schools, agencies and corporations. organizational applications from the original applications, as people in the business world have been introduced to hr or the "three principles" (as the core understanding is known), they have started to bring these ideas into the business world they have come from. the approach has been introduced to people in medicine, law, investment and financial services, technology, marketing, manufacturing, publishing, and a variety of other commercial and financial roles. it has been reported anecdotally to have had significant impact in the areas of individual performance and development, teamwork, leadership, change and diversity. according to hr/three principles adherents, these results flow naturally as the individuals exposed to the ideas learn how their thoughts have been creating barriers to others and barriers to their own innate creativity, common sense, and well being. as people learn how to access their full potential more consistently, hr adherents say, they get better results with less effort and less stress in less time. two peer-reviewed articles on effectiveness with leadership development were published in professional journals in 2008 (adhr) and 2009 (odj). see "organizations and business" section below (polsfuss & ardichvili). philosophical context health realization ("hr") rests on the non-academic philosophy of sydney banks, which mr. banks has expounded upon in several books. mr. banks was a day laborer with no education beyond ninth grade (age 14) in scotland who, in 1973, reportedly had a profound insight into the nature of human experience. mr. banks does not particularly attempt to position his ideas within the larger traditions of philosophy or religion; he is neither academically trained nor well read. his philosophy focuses on the illusory, thought-created nature of reality, the three principles of "mind", "thought", and "consciousness", the potential relief of human suffering that can come from a fundamental shift in personal awareness and understanding and the importance of a