The following post is from our Recovery-Centered Clinical System (RCCS) Tidbit of the Month series. Each month, the RCCS Steering Committee creates practices to support our recovery culture within our programs and among staff. Click here to learn more about the RCCS.

My Identity

A Component of the RCCS’ Exploring Identity Conversations

We are all on a journey heading somewhere. While some of us have a well thought out path and destination, others may not be so meticulous. Either way, all journeys require a vehicle to transport us. In the RCCS, we say that our identity—who we are—is the vehicle we use to take us on our life’s journey.

Our identity is shaped by our childhood, our life’s experiences, our communities, and the people we choose to spend time with. How we see and describe ourselves today is different than how we would have described ourselves years ago, and parts of our identity will be different years from today than it is now. By defining our desired future identities, we can make choices today that can lead us in the direction we want to go.

Sharing our identities with others creates opportunities for people to see each other as unique individuals with unique stories, gifts and talents. Working within the RCCS, staff partner with clients to explore their identities — in the past, now, and into the future. Desired changes for the future are integrated into treatment planning and choice making opportunities.

In this month’s RCCS Tidbit of the Month, we check in with our own identity. How do you describe yourself? What words capture those elements of you that are most important? What parts of yourself do you wish to change? What parts do you wish to develop?

Try using practice below to explore who you are today—get curious and partner with a coworker, partner, friend, or family member. For inspiration, listen to Mama Cass Elliot sing Make Your Own Kind of Music and share with others the words you choose to describe your identity and uniqueness. Make your own kind of music, even if nobody else sings along!

Practice:

Complete the My Identity - Now conversation guide. Even if you have done this before, our identity can change over time, as well as what we may want to change.
Partner with someone and share your completed Identity Now circle
Be curious. Ask your partner questions about who they are.
Is there any part of your identity you would like to change in any way?
How might your identity be different five years from today?

For Program Staff:

Use this activity with clients or partners. Assist them to explore who they are today. Encourage them to be curious and ask each other similar questions. Share a little about who you are. Remember: we are just people serving people!