Mental Freedom: Holding the Key

Kim Olver’s Mental Freedom curriculum is a cognitive-behavioral coaching program geared toward increasing clients’ sense of autonomy and positive change. Theoretically aligned with Choice Theory (CT) and Reality Therapy (RT), it places a focus on the autonomy and personal responsibility of individuals on their thoughts, reactions, and behaviors (Glasser, 1998; Wubbolding, 2000; Olver, 2024b) Altering CT’s basic needs, the Mental Freedom curriculum also applies elements of RT group coaching to teach unique metacognitive heuristics around Locus of Control, the effects of disempowering language, and re-writing one’s personal narrative to break free of self-limiting habits. A small pilot study sought empirical data to describe the impact of Mental Freedom curriculum on life-coaching clients (N=34), and was carried out using a simple pre and posttest design with scores on Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Wellbeing (1989). Results of paired t-testing statistical analysis suggest a significant positive increase on all dimensions, indicating the potential effectiveness of Mental Freedom on life-coaching clients and prompting future development of a study protocol.