Louis is a 54-year-old male. Louis has worked as a marketing consultant for over thirty years. Recently, Louis was involved in a serious car accident that impacted his ability to walk and left him in chronic pain, which has led to a leave of absence from work. Louis is worried that he will never return to work because of the pain and that it will be impossible to engage in the activities that used to make him happy. Also, unable to keep up with the bills that are piling up, Louis is feeling low, depressed and overwhelmed. He has been experiencing unhelpful thoughts that he is not doing enough to improve his situation and that anything he accomplishes is not good enough because he is comparing his abilities to before the accident.
Louis comes into the BounceBack program feeling out of control and worried about his future.
With the help of his coach, Louis finds new ways to break down his financial issues so that he can work towards better solutions. Louis also works on adding his hobbies back into his routine, which helps him reclaim power over his situation.
He learns how to:
- Break down practical problems, mainly his money concerns, by finding different solutions including reaching out to the bank for further support and speaking with his family to help. By identifying different solutions, the control is back in his hands and he does not feel helpless anymore.
- Slowly add in helpful, pleasure-based behaviours to his routine, including watching soccer on TV and driving to see a live soccer match. Louis reported that his unhelpful thoughts got in the way of enjoying the activities he used to participate in because he did not think he would get back into them. The program helped him learn that by starting with short-term goals of adding these activities back into his daily routine, he can work towards his long-term goal of living with his chronic pain without it interfering with his ability to enjoy life.
- Target extreme and unhelpful thoughts that were preventing him from recognizing his successes and progress. He expressed that he used to be so hard on himself and overlook any accomplishments, but learned through this program that it is important to acknowledge his achievements and celebrate them so that he can work towards recovery.