00:00 - 00:05
Kevin Zundl: This is what it sounds like when you understand gratitude is the key to happiness.

00:06 - 00:11
Jared Sartell: People are attracted to those sorts of films. I think gratitude really is at the core of that.

00:11 - 00:35
Kevin Zundl: Welcome to the Turning Winds podcast. My name is Kevin Zundl. Turning Winds is a full continuum of care for teens who would really benefit from additional support, clinically and academically. Today I speak with Jared Sartell, clinical director. That's something maybe a lot more important than we know. Thanksgiving is here and I'm curious. How do you celebrate on campus?

00:35 - 01:13
Jared Sartell: Yeah. So regarding how Turning Winds manages gratitude, because what we know about the positive effects of gratitude on depression, anxiety, on sleep, on general affect and know there's a direct correlation between practicing gratitude and your mental and physical well-being. And so it's interesting we have a lot of group therapy sessions every day. And I find myself on a regular basis, especially with our newer kids that are struggling with being there and they tend to have a lack of gratitude in their lives. They always ask, what's the secret to feeling better? And it's so funny because the

01:13 - 01:45
Jared Sartell: secret to feeling better in most cases, even when you have significant mental health issues, is diet, exercise, sleep, and a regular dose of gratitude. I would say a daily dose of gratitude. And so one of the first assignments that many of our students get from a therapy standpoint is to create a gratitude journal where they end the day doing a journal, outlining things that they were grateful for that day. They do it lots of different ways. It could be one or two things they are grateful for. Some of them have a set number of things that they're

01:45 - 02:23
Jared Sartell: grateful for, but there's something about the effect of focusing on gratitude and focusing on those things to be grateful for really changes the way our brain sort of interfaces with the world. Most of the world's religions have some refrain to the effect of seeking, you shall find and knock and it shall be opened unto you. And that's a universal sort of thing amongst all of the major religions. And myself personally, I have been choosing to apply that related to gratitude. So every day as I'm driving to work or whatever, thinking about those things that I'm grateful

02:23 - 02:54
Jared Sartell: for, thinking about those things that are the little things, the bigger things, thinking about those things that bring me joy. Even though all of the problems of the world still exist and all of the problems in my life still exist. And this is true for our clients as well. Even though all of those things still exist, if we're seeking for feelings of joy and happiness, we'll find them just by virtue of seeking them. And from a clinical perspective, very much as a therapist, you can get caught up in all sorts of modalities and get caught up

02:54 - 03:28
Jared Sartell: in all sorts of theories. A lot of people really like hearing all of the letter acronyms, the clinical models that you use and all of that. I have found that it's more effective with clients to focus more on principles related to joy and happiness and principles related to how to propagate that than paying attention to models and modes and those sorts of things. And so it's a little bit of a catch-22 because people like the language of CBT or EMDR or whatever, and those are incredibly valuable models. If you're not operating based

03:28 - 04:00
Jared Sartell: on principles that will make people happy, it's so fun to see. And what I really appreciate about Turning Winds is there's a lot of peace and joy that comes with being in the wilderness. When you don't have the noise of the world, it's easy to pay attention to the little things like the moose that ran across the front yard, or to be excited that you got to see a bear on the mountain or even just the deer. Life becomes more simple and our brains have less to navigate. And so it's easier for

04:00 - 04:31
Jared Sartell: those struggling people to find joy and to find happiness, and those are directly correlated with the amount of gratitude that we're able to see and feel. Our students write letters every week, and we give them guidance as to letters that they want to write. And it's interesting because we see a shift occur in the nature of those letters as our students start becoming successful in their treatment program and they start recognizing things that they're grateful for back home that they miss or that they have in place there. And that really is a major difference. We can

04:31 - 05:04
Jared Sartell: see a shift and it's pretty marked and it's fairly predictable, but what is always correlated with that is a measure of gratitude from those students. And so it changes the nature of their interactions with their parents. And so during the Thanksgiving season or the holiday season, we remind those kids to a greater degree to think about those things that they're grateful for, to express that. There's a lot of data that suggests that if we express gratitude on a daily basis, that it has a significant value in just how we experience the world. And say, it's interesting,

05:04 - 05:40
Jared Sartell: our parents, our students get nervous around the holidays for fear that their kid is going to be miserable and sad and lonely and all of those things. And what's really interesting is the way that we celebrate holidays at Turning Winds is the parents struggle far more than the students do. And from a clinical perspective, it's a good opportunity to teach those parents to have a life separate from their kids and to calibrate. Your kids are more resilient than you think, and you're not as important as you think. So naturally, they miss each other and

05:40 - 06:15
Jared Sartell: there's homesickness and those sorts of things, but we operationalize our holidays in such a way that the kids have a really good time. And so they get to talk to their parents on those holidays and those sorts of things, but they're already having a good time. They're doing activities together. They're perhaps serving the community—a fair amount of that. And so we have parties, we have good food, we have good music, we have good times. We take lots of activities, they get kids out and doing things that are valuable and important, whether that's in the

06:15 - 06:27
Jared Sartell: wilderness or something in the community. And so our kids end up really enjoying our holidays, which is not at all what you would think. For a kid that's in treatment largely, without wanting to be there.

06:28 - 06:44
Kevin Zundl: And really you think standard is great as a cue for gratitude and it's common to have people sit around the table, give thanks. How do we use that as a launching point to do more and figure out a good percent routine for you as an editor?

06:45 - 07:18
Jared Sartell: So as you said, for me, the car ride, I have a fairly long commute to work. And I found for myself personally left to my own devices on a long drive with a quiet, we start thinking about things that I'm troubled by that are really not that important. And so I decided to start listening to blogs and listening to uplifting talks and that sort of thing. Really more as a way to keep my brain focused on something so it doesn't chase down these radicals. And as I noticed that What I've noticed is I'm directing like that

07:18 - 07:54
Jared Sartell: drive is the cue and I'm directing my brain to think about those things that are important and valuable in our bigger picture and more important than this trifle that I'm thinking about. With our students specifically at Turning Winds, ending the day with a gratitude journal really has an effect on when you go to bed and you're thinking about positive things, when you're thinking about uplifting things that settles your brain down and it gets your subconscious. When we're asleep and our subconscious brain is processing the day. If it's processing it through a positive lens that you

07:54 - 08:26
Jared Sartell: just created, and that will affect how you're waking up the next day. Or much the same for, so as a family, we also get together most evenings and we offer a prayer together as a family. And that really is as a joint, what are the things that we're grateful for today? What are those things that we have seen that are favorable? And when you have a pattern of doing that regularly, you have to start expanding the sorts of things that you're grateful for. So you're not just repeating the same things over and over again. And it's

08:26 - 08:57
Jared Sartell: the same with these gratitude journals. And so you start finding little things that are mundane, that are every day that are really not on the face of it. Don't garner a lot of attention, but that you can be grateful for whether it was the clouds look cool as they're cruising over the mountain or the spotted fawns are out right now. We live in a wildlife-rich area and we do that on purpose. And our school is in a wildlife-rich area on purpose because it gives millions of little things every day that you can find a little

08:57 - 09:39
Jared Sartell: bit of gratitude in and joy. And so when you start ever immersing yourself in thoughts about noticing the little things that promote gratitude and having gratitude for them. Again, that, it changes your brain chemistry, which is awesome from a scientific standpoint, but even if we didn't know about all of that, it just feels better. And we are more likely to move towards uplifting and positive things and mindsets when we're thinking in that way versus when we're thinking about those things that are troubling to us or whatever. And so really it's a matter of noticing all of

09:39 - 10:12
Jared Sartell: the little things. When I'm in group and we're talking about this and the kids are asking questions, the things that we take for granted, like those are things we take for granted, but they're really incredible. The fact that little things like I'm going to get a little bit weird on this, but I think about you and I are sitting across from each other when we're thousands of miles apart, having a real-time conversation. Right. So that's miraculous. Or even to get even, to drill it down even more, like the mechanism of our eye that allows us

10:12 - 10:47
Jared Sartell: to see the world around us. Every little thing, if you choose to think about it, is pretty miraculous. And if you immerse yourself in that way of interacting with the world is how cool is this? It has a profound effect on really every interaction that we have, whether it's with something material or immaterial and as social beings. Those people that, that are positive and charismatic tend to also point out the positives and those folks around them and the things that are going on around them. And people are attracted to those sorts of folks. I think gratitude

10:47 - 10:49
Jared Sartell: really is at the core of that.

10:49 - 11:16
Kevin Zundl: If you are an alumni or an alumni family and would like to share a story about your time here on campus, just reach out to Enoch at Enoch@TurningWinds.com. But importantly, if this conversation gives you hope for the situation you are in, I encourage you to call Turning Winds at 800-845-1380, or you can check out the wealth of resources they have at TurningWinds.com. Thanks for watching!