Lifestream helps ‘good people getting better’
by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
Trever, the 12 year-old hero in Catherine Ryan Hyde’s book “Pay It
Forward,” upon his teacher’s challenge to “think of an idea for world
change — and put it into action,” decides that he’s going to do
something nice for three people. When they ask how he can return the
favor, he explains to his mother, he’s going to say that they have to
“pay it forward,” and help three other people each. That way, nine
people are helped. The concept, of course, is that good deeds cascade
exponentially, and the world changes. Recently, the book was made into
a
movie with Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt.
The pay it forward concept is only one of the philosophical pillars of
the 20-year-old self-improvement seminar called Lifestream. Others
include responsibility, trust, balance, acceptance, social
contribution,
communication, honesty and commitment.
Lifestream was founded in Chicago in 1973 by Jim Quinn, whose wife
Therese is still an active facilitator. It was brought to Jacksonville
in 1984 by Art and Martha Thiesen. Nancy Altman serves as the president
of the 12-person board, and her husband Dr. Jim Altman, is another
facilitator. Not surprisingly, the concept originated on the West Coast
in the 1960s when businesses saw this as a way to help employees
inter-relate.
It’s corporate roots are evident if you watch their video, where
Lifestream seems to be about productivity and success. Corporations
like
DiscoverTec, St. Vincent’s, State Farm, BellSouth, Baptist Medical
Center and the Federal Reserve Bank have all encouraged their employees
to attend Lifestream seminars, and some even pay for it.
Testimonials explain how Lifestream helps you work harder, focus better
and improve the bottom line.
But when you talk to both the facilitators and the participants, it
seems more personal. They talk about “experiential” scenarios designed
to implant Lifestream’s core values. They talk about writing a life
script, about developing critical boundaries for life decisions and
learning when you can and can’t cross them. They talk about walking
around with your “heart open,” saying that it’s scary but empowering.
Nancy Altman calls it “reality testing,” activities created to be a
metaphor for life experiences that can then be applied as a vehicle for
gaining insights into the self. In an age when the trendy new thing is
life coaching, she says Lifestream teaches people to be their own life
coach.
Asked why he came to Lifestream, Donny Lamey, who runs DiscoverTec in
Jacksonville and was a team leader at Marywood last week for the
advanced seminar, said that people he knew who had been through the
program were successful, confident, charismatic, had good direction in
life and were generally better able to answer life’s questions.
“Lifestream gives you the tools you need to work through day-to-day
issues,” said Lamey, who is on Lifestream’s board and pays for his
employees to attend the program (all of basic and half of advanced).
“It
manifests in how you see yourself and how you relate to other people.”
According to Nancy Altman, a study of medical students at Ohio State
University, another active seat of the program, showed marked
improvement in the grades of those who went through Lifestream. And
half
of the “12 Who Care” in Jacksonville are Lifestream graduates.
Lifestream “success seminars,” are for all ages. The three-day “basic”
workshop is held at Jacksonville University; the five-day “advanced” is
at the Marywood retreat just south of Mandarin.
Children, teens, and adults have separate classes, as the exercises
change depending on age. Parents are encouraged to join the children
and
teen classes so that they can bring common experiences, knowledge, and
problem solving skills back home.
Nancy Altman said at a children’s workshop last week, a nine-year-old
daughter of a Duval County school vice principal, said near the end of
the seminar, “I know why we are able to grasp these concepts better
than
adults, we have more of our real selves.”
Debbie Haley, who is on Lifestream’s board of advisors, made the “Pay
It Forward” analogy. She said part of the social commitment is
encouraging people to do good deeds. Both she and Robert Forsyth said
that they were drawn to Lifestream by people they knew who had gained
“powerful tools to help them get through life.” Forsyth said that he
joined because his girlfriend was magnetic, people wanted to gravitate
toward her. “It changes the whole way people perceive you,” he said.
“People begin to trust you, strangers will ask you important,
philosophical questions.”
Nancy Altman said that while stress may often be the catalyst for
people who sign up for Lifestream, it’s really supposed to be about
“good people getting better” and “getting the optimum out of life.”
Each
class is responsible for developing a community service project (that
will hopefully involve others) as a way to take the skills and concepts
they’ve learned in class and apply them to the community.
In the last few months, Lifestream has sponsored workshops for children
at the Webb Center for the mentally challenged, worked at the Aslan
House for the critically ill, worked with children with Down’s
Syndrome,
joined the Mentors Who Save program, and in April they’ll be walking
with the American Cancer Society.
Nancy and Jim Altman are no strangers to using progressive techniques
to help students learn about life. In 1974 they founded the Mandarin
Farm School and Learning Center with Melissa and Conrad Weihnacht.
Serving grades 9-12 and with a 10-1 teacher to student ratio, the Farm
School believed in mixing ages in a classroom, and in teaching children
different and unique ways to relate to each other.
Nancy Altman said this all really started when she was invited to
participate in an experimental program in education at the University
of
Florida, where she and the other founders of the Farm School met. It
was
out of that curriculum that the principles of the Farm School were
founded, and later applied to Lifestream. Nancy Altman said they were
ahead of the curve with the ideas that there are levels of emotional
intelligence. “There are ways to magnify individual strengths, help
kids
glean important information, and helping students feel empowered,” she
said. The Farm School was purchased in the 1980s and is now the
Greenwood School for the disabled.
Nancy Altman has a master’s degree in counseling from JU and a master’s
degree in social administration with a specialty in social science from
Georgia Southwestern University. Jim Altman has a Ph.D. in education
and
behavioral disorders and currently works for the Duval County School
Board managing the popular Excel program, an alternative real-world
problem solving initiative at S.P Livingston Elementary.
Loud music calls the participants back to the Casa de Caridad, one of
the houses at Marywood where Lifestream is just gearing up for more
experiential scenarios after dinner. Nancy Altman discounted any notion
that Lifestream is cultish.
“Why would the Florida Board of Nursing give credits as part of their
continuing education program?” she asked. “We’ve got lots of Chamber
people involved.”
Lifestream has affiliate offices in Toronto, Columbus, Cincinnati, and
Rochester. It’s $400 for basic and $1,200 for advanced courses.
Lifestream just went non-profit last May and she said there’s a
complete
money-back guarantee.
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