The Daring Way

Promises has certified The Daring Way™ facilitators onsite who use The Daring Way™ Shame Resilience Curriculum as a formal addiction treatment modality, along with other traditional and complementary approaches.

What Is The Daring Way™?

The Daring Way™ is a highly experiential curriculum based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown, who has spent the past 12 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. The methodology is designed to help people to show up, be seen and live braver lives. All material in the shame resilience curriculum was prepared using the words of the individuals studied, which is why the approach is so relatable. The Daring Way™ model examines the culture of scarcity, comparison, and shame that is so prevalent in today’s society (especially among those struggling with addictions and co-occurring mental health disorders) and teaches ways to move forward into empathy, self-compassion, and wholehearted living.

The Ten Daring Way™ Guideposts for Wholehearted Living include:

1. Letting go of what people think, and cultivating Authenticity
2. Letting go of perfectionism, and cultivating Self-Compassion
3. Letting go of numbing and powerlessness, and cultivating Resilient Spirit
4. Letting go of scarcity and fear of the dark, and cultivating Gratitude and Joy
5. Letting go of the need for certainty, and cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith
6. Letting go of comparison, and cultivating Creativity
7. Letting go of exhaustion and productivity as self-worth, and cultivating Play and Rest
8. Letting go of anxiety as a lifestyle, and cultivating Calm and Stillness
9. Letting go of self-doubt and “supposed to,” and cultivating Meaningful Work
10. Letting go of being cool and “always in control,” and cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance

Through The Daring Way, ™ curriculum clients learn about the myths associated with being vulnerable, how we “armor up” to avoid feeling vulnerable and ashamed, the ways in which this armoring up process diminishes our lives, and how we can put down our “protective” weaponry. A central component of The Daring Way™ process—learning to show up, be seen and live brave—is developing empathy and self-compassion (both of which are skills that can be learned) and recognizing what our true values really are. This is The Daring Way™ pathway to accepting and even embracing vulnerability, to being shame-resilient, and to living wholeheartedly.

About Brené Brown

The Daring Way™ method is based on the research of Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW. Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past 12 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Her groundbreaking research has been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, The Katie Show, and Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday.

Dr. Brown is the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (2012), the New York Times Bestseller, The Gifts of Imperfection (2010) and I Thought It Was Just Me (2007).

Dr. Brown’s 2010 Tedx Houston talk, The Power of Vulnerability, is one of the top 10 most viewed TED talks in the world, with over 11 million viewers. Additionally, Dr. Brown gave the closing talk at the 2012 TED conference where she talked about shame, courage, and innovation.

Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing
that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.
—Dr. Brené Brown