Tools for Connecting with Your Inner Resources

We certainly live in an interesting time. We all face new challenges. Some of us grieve losses. Many of us are trying to figure out what comes next.

Our ability to cope and engage creatively rests on our ability to access our resources. And that can be more difficult when we are stressed, grieving, and dealing with uncertainty.

The Self-Esteem Maintenance Toolkit online course is a guided exploration of those inner resources.

Each and every human has the capability for courage, for caring, for logical thinking, for self-care. When people remember their resources, they buttress their self-esteem. When people have robust self-esteem, they remember their resources. Self-esteem forms the basis for living and relating congruently. It aids in creativity, problem-solving, human connection, joy.

We use the metaphor of a toolkit. Using tangible items as symbols and reminders of capabilities that we all have, this course is a guided exploration of your inner resources. Virginia Satir, a seminal figure the human potential movement and pioneer in system-focused family therapy first introduced the toolkit and the symbols . 

We’ll introduce eight tools, each of which represents capabilities that are available to each of us, if we remember to use them. For each capability, we offer reflection exercises and application exercises. Our hope is that you will gain a deeper appreciation and access to your own resources.

Esther Derby, Jean McClendon and Don Gray created this course to share Virginia Satir’s Self Esteem Maintenance Kit (aka the Toolkit) and provide reflection questions and activities to practice the tools.