Glossary

See: Safety Island and Danger Island

Where you can find your Life Goals - meaningful activities (see: Garden of Activities), relationships (see House of Healthy Relationships) and values (see Valley of Values). This is where you experience a good quality of life.

Your life goals are represented by meaningful activities (see: Garden of Activities), relationships (see: House of Healthy Relationships) and values (see: Valley of Values) that you wish to pursue in the long term. Find them in the Land of Opportunities, where you experience a good quality of life.

Tug, your virtual assistant who accompanies you and Dr Egg on your mental health journey, has 3 Life Preservers that can give you access to help along your way. If you click Tug’s blue Life Preserver, you will instantly be able to access this Glossary. If you click Tug’s green Life Preserver, you will be able to access an individual mentor, clinician or coach. If you click Tug’s red life preserver, you can access a mental health service of an organisation.

The map represents your perspective when surveying the landscape and planning a course to your destination. It’s the 2nd of your 3 Navigation Tools (see: MindSkills) used to seek out your Life Goals. When depressed and low in energy, your map can become water-splattered and murky, which impedes its function. When in high anxiety, your map can get messy with detail.

MindSkills are represented by your 3 Navigation Tools and 3 Coping Tools. Your Navigation Tools allow you to direct your attention (see: Binoculars), form a perspective (see: Map), and take action (see: Steering Wheel). They navigate you to the Land of Opportunities to attain your Life Goals for a good quality of life. If you use these tools skillfully, you can get there effectively and efficiently. Your Coping Tools are your Rational Mind (see: Speedo and Panic Button), Emotional Mind (see: GPS and Mood Switch) and Wise Mind (see: Windscreen). These Tools represent the 3 coping mechanisms that help you deal with threats or stressful life events. These tools are located on your dashboard.

Your mood switch represents the defensive part of your Emotional Mind (see: GPS). That’s why it is positioned adjacent to the GPS on your dashboard. It is a defensive type of Coping Tool. Its parallel in the Rational Mind (see: Speedo) is the Panic Button. The mood switch and Panic Button represent the involuntary defensive mechanisms of your central nervous system (brain) that help you deal with threats or stressful life events.

Energy is represented by the little explosion on the horizontal-axis that propels you forward. This power enables you to have a surge in performance, which is represented by the Captain moving up the Performance Wave. Anxiety is a form of energy, as it can kick-start your journey. Energy makes your Navigation Tools (see: MindSkills) work to reach your Life Goals. Hence, your Binoculars become attentive to your tasks and goals, your Map chooses a direction and your Steering Wheel takes action. That’s how they help you complete your ascent to the top of the wave and to stay on course to the Land of Opportunities. If your energy levels are too low, you will struggle to reach your Life Goals or cope effectively with threats you may face along the way. If your energy levels are excessively high, you will be too anxious to reach the Land of Opportunities because your performance will drop.

Flags represent opportunities and threats. You can find either type of flag on a Red Ship. White flags signal opportunities. Examples are personal supports, professional help, work, education, holidays, hobbies and exercise. Red Ships with White flags usually trigger Performance Waves that are positively engaging because they pave the way to your Life Goals found in the The Land of Opportunities. Black flags signal threats, stressful events or challenging life events and so, tend to trigger Performance Waves that are defensive. Examples of threats are encountering abusive or exploitative people, facing high risk or high pressure activities, grief and loss, financial stress, natural disasters, harbouring negative thoughts and self-harm. Red Ships with Black flags are Pirate Ships that block the route to your Life Goals found in the Land of Opportunities.

The Garden of Activities represents meaningful activities like studies, jobs, hobbies and exercise. This is one of your 3 Life Goals that you find in the Land of Opportunities.

The GPS represents your Emotional Mind, which is one of your 3 coping mechanisms (see: Coping Tools). It helps you deal with threats or stressful life events by using ‘mindfulness’. This coping skill helps you handle distress, exercise self-control and be judgement-free when assessing the present situation. Your GPS reminds you to keep assessing your current position and orienting yourself. It is located on your dashboard along with your other Coping Tools: your Speedo and Windscreen.

The House of Healthy Relationships represents meaningful relationships with your parents, friends, community and environment. This is one of your 3 Life Goals that you find in the Land of Opportunities.

Your Binoculars, Map and Steering Wheel can navigate you to the Land of Opportunities to attain your Life Goals for a good quality of life. If you use these tools skillfully, you can get there effectively and efficiently. When encountering stressful events along the way to your life goals, your three Coping Tools will either increase or decrease the energy supply to your Navigation Tools. In high anxiety, your Binoculars are overfocused, your Map is overplanning and your Steering Wheel is overreacting, so your vessel will be more likely to react with ‘fight or flight’. When in depression, your Binoculars are unfocused, your Map is overwhelmed and your Steering Wheel is withdrawn. In these states, the symptoms of overactive or underactive navigation tools are visualised by Buoys.

Your panic button represents the defensive part of your Rational Mind (see: Speedo) that acts like a reflex. Positioned adjacent to the Speedo on your dashboard, it it there to rapidly react to threats. This red button anatomically represents the ‘fear centre’ at the base of your brain. When pressed, a bolt of energy travels down your spine to your adrenal glands, triggering adrenaline release to prompt you into action. This calls on your ‘emergency’ energy supply to help you deal with threats (see: Pirate Ships). When this High Anxiety is unleashed, your Engine over-revs, giving you physical distress. Your Propeller spins frantically, giving you emotional distress. The Performance wave behind your engine swells. The energy spike is visible on the dial of the Speedo which revs to high levels. The Navigation Tools become overactive - Binoculars overfocused, Map overplanning and Steering Wheel overreacting. Your vessel is now more likely to ‘fight or flight’ in response to the threat. You can fine-tune how you direct your energy by watching the Speedo pointer.

The performance wave is an automatic ‘brain reaction’ shaped by your Engine. It’s made up of sensations that give you vitality, emotions that give motivation, and thoughts providing willpower. In anxious reactions, this wave swells with increased sensations, emotions and thoughts. In depression, the wave flattens. The reactions are triggered by opportunities and threats, which are illustrated by the flags of Red Ships. So a wave can be engaging in response to opportunities (see: White Flags) and defensive due to threats (see: Black Flags). A combination of the two means you’re having ‘mixed’ emotions. Performance drops steeply when you overshoot either ‘edge’. The performance wave’s Leading Edge represents high performance and may be experienced as anxiety or elevated Energy. Very high Anxiety is where you have tipped over the Leading Edge.

The leading edge of the Performance Wave represents High Anxiety. You can tip over the edge and get dumped into High Anxiety after being triggered by a single threat. As you tip, you experience being overfocused, overplanning and overreacting. To avoid tipping over the edge, you need to learn to ‘Balance’ on top. That also means pulling back if you are too far forward and beginning to tip. High Anxiety can also be visualised by

• the Panic Button next to your Speedo being pressed (see: Dashboard)
• the Speedo dial ramping up
• your Engine over-revving
• your Propeller spinning
• your Performance Wave swelling behind your boat
• you landing on Safety Island to deal rapidly with a pirate ship
• depictions of your vessel being in states of ‘fight or flight’.

The tail end of the Performance Wave represents low energy or depression. You can slide off the edge after being triggered by multiple threats. As you slide down, you experience low motivation, fatigue and withdrawal. To avoid slipping off the edge, you need to learn to ‘Catch’ the wave. Depression can also be visualised by

• the Mood Switch next to the GPS flicking down (see: Dashboard)
• your Engine having diminishing revs
• your Propeller spin slowing down
• your Performance Wave flattening behind your boat
• depictions of your vessel being in states of ‘hiding or surrender’.

The tipping point represents the threshold beyond which you tip over the edge after being triggered by a single threat, and get dumped into High Anxiety. Very high Anxiety is where you have tipped over the Leading Edge into a distress zone. Performance drops steeply when you overshoot the ‘edge’. The core features of Very high Anxiety are being full of nervous energy, being obsessive and perfectionistic and being paralysed with fear. To avoid tipping over the edge, you need to learn to ‘Balance’ on top. That also means pulling back if you are too far forward and beginning to tip.

Pirate Ships represent stressful events or threats blocking the route to your Life Goals in the Land of Opportunities. They are illustrated as Red Ships with Black Flags, which are stressful or challenging life events. Examples of threats are encountering abusive or exploitative people, facing high risk or high pressure activities, grief and loss, financial stress, natural disasters, harbouring negative thoughts and self-harm.

A Red Ship is an event encountered on the way to the Land of Opportunities that can be either friend or foe – opportunities or threats. Opportunities are Red Ships with White Flags to Engage with. Threats or Stressful Events are represented by Red Ships with Black Flags (see: Pirate ships) to defend against.

When positioned at the top of the Performance Wave, Safety Island represents you defending yourself from threats by embarking on a roundabout route to the The Land of Opportunities. By ‘going around’ the Pirate Ship, you seek temporary refuge there. You will be using a defensive coping mechanism for this - anxiety (driving your to fight or flight) or depression/low Energy (driving you to hide or submit). Safety Island can turn into Danger Island if you slip back or tip forward. This can happen by not using Coping Tools skillfully to remain in the healthy range.

Getting shipwrecked represents being unable to function due to very high anxiety or getting stuck in a deep level of depression. You can get dumped into very high Anxiety if your Rational Mind (see: Speedo) is excessively overactive. Alternatively, you can get stuck in a low Energy state of Depression if your Emotional Mind (see: GPS) is triggered too defensively. See: Danger Island

The Speedo represents your Rational Mind, which is one of your 3 coping mechanisms (see: Coping Tools) that helps you deal with threats and stressful life events. Its way of coping is through problem-solving and assertiveness. It shows your revs increasing when you use more energy to do tasks. It is located with your other Coping Tools - your GPS and Windscreen - on your dashboard.

Your Steering Wheel represents you wilfully taking action. You can either steady yourself, holding onto the wheel to maintain your course, or manoeuvre by turning the wheel in the direction you want to go. It’s the 3rd of your 3 Navigation Tools (see: MindSkills) used to seek out your Life Goals found in the Land of Opportunities.

Tug is your virtual assistant help-provider who accompanies you and Dr Egg on your mental health journey. You can learn a lot from the conversations happening between Dr Egg (your psychiatrist guide), Captain (your alter ego) and Tug. Tug has 3 Life Preservers that can give you access to help along your way. If you click Tug’s blue Life Preserver, you will instantly be able to access this Glossary. If you click Tug’s green Life Preserver, you will be able to connect to an individual mentor, clinician or coach using Telehealth. If you click Tug’s red Life Preserver, you can access innovative mental health services from organisations specialising in digital tools, interventions and information.

The Valley of Values represents meaningful values, which are attitudes, principles and ideals that can guide you on your life journey. They can also guide you towards developing the kind of character, morals and ethics that you want to have - what sort of person you want to be. This is one of your 3 Life Goals that you find in the Land of Opportunities. Examples of values are being respectful, calm and diplomatic - level-headed values that help you become an assertive person. Compassionate people tend to be open-minded, accepting and caring. Wise people are self-reflective, decisive and pace themselves.

See: Performance Wave

White flags represent Opportunities. You can find this type of flag on Red Ships. It tends to trigger Performance Waves that are positively engaging because opportunities pave the way to your Life Goals found in the The Land of Opportunities.

The Windscreen or Windshield represents your Wise Mind, which is one of your 3 coping mechanisms (see: Coping Tools) that helps you deal with threats or stressful life events. Its way of coping is through self-reflection, to help you ignore unhelpful scripts, be decisive about whether to utilise your Emotional or Rational Mind, and to pace yourself during the journey. You can find it at the front of your dashboard, which houses your Speedo and GPS - your other two Coping Tools.