HBPM Origins

I first became interested in Hope-Based Problem Mitigation as a therapeutic approach while working as a treatment specialist at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lexington, KY. I encountered men and women who reached a traumatic pivot point in their lives. They had experienced a series of "microtraumas" that were now culminating in incarceration. This pivot point often had them stuck, confined, facing long sentences, confronting time away from family, and feeling hopeless. More than anything, my clients needed extreme levels of hope for the future. 

I found that exploring clients’ lives and the choices they made was helpful to a point. Cognitive-behavioral approaches, and other “past-oriented” therapies, gave clients information about why they developed specific habits in the past, experienced irrational thinking patterns, and eventually committed crimes. While this information about their past was insightful, it did not help them deal with their current situation, or that they had lost independence and hope. I also tried many “present-oriented” therapies and helped people to be more mindful, meditate, and focus on the present. This approach seemed only to keep clients mired in helplessness and hopelessness. My clients needed hope! 

Then, I realized that the most effective therapy had to be more future-oriented and hope-based. I looked at philosophers, other theorists, and scientists for wisdom. What I found was fascinating. Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein firmly believed no problem could be solved from the level of consciousness that created it. This was an interesting idea that I incorporated into my practice. Before his death, Abraham Maslow concentrated on people’s ability to find ways to experience self-transcendence and ego transcendence by focusing on others. 

Similarly, Carl Jung was fascinated with problem mitigation and investigated human beings' deepest potential and ways to cultivate its growth and application in daily life. Jung employed the Psychological Growth Model, suggesting that life’s most significant problems, crises, and difficulties cannot be solved or fixed, but only outgrown or transcended. Jung called this process the “transcendent function” and suggested that life problems do not require people to generate greater insight into their problems, as traditional therapeutic approaches indicate. Jung’s research revealed that people need greater personal growth and insight into identifying and implementing their potential. Jung concluded by saying, 

“This ‘outgrowing,’ as I formerly called it, proved on further investigation to be a new level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest appeared on the patient’s horizon, and through this broadening of his outlook, the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms, but faded out when confronted with a new and stronger life urge.” 

The only question remained, “How can I help people transcend their current problems and problem situations by focusing on the future?” Because they lacked hope, it was apparent to me that hope was critical in this process. Hope is a future-focused emotion about something desired or hoped for that will happen or be achieved. Hope is about wanting something, believing it's possible, setting goals, and working toward those goals even if the outcome is uncertain. Hope has extraordinary powers to mitigate problems. 

I successfully integrated “hope-based, problem mitigation” activities into my work with the clients at the Federal Correctional Institution. As time went on, most of my incarcerated clients were able to mitigate their prison sentences, transcend their pain, and identify broader, future-oriented interests to focus on. I subsequently wrote some books on hope and other Positive Psychology topics, created the Hope Scale assessment, and researched the efficacy of hope-based interventions to help people mitigate their problems, move to a higher level of consciousness, and heal from various personal and psychological problems and concerns.

As fate would have it, I met Michelle Scallon, who was also interested in hope and its effects on the therapeutic process. Michelle and I later isolated five components of extreme hope and integrated them into a flipped model of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. They called it the Hierarchy of Hope (HOH). HBPM utilizes the HOH to help people generate significant hope to transcend mental health issues.