Inventory Work

“It is on strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. 

So we must dig and delve unceasingly.” 

– Claude Monet

Understanding Inventory

in·ven·to·ry

/invənˌtôrē/

noun

a complete list of items such as property, goods, or the contents

Many people have heard this term in the business world.  Taking inventory of something happens frequently.  It simply means to track the content of something: a store, a business, etc. 

The word inventory is also tossed around a lot in the behavioral health industry and nearly anyone with any type of recovery awareness has heard it be used.  But for those not familiar, it can be hard to understand how inventory has anything to do with recovery.

Taking a Personal Inventory

The premise that change only happens with the information that we can acknowledge gives way to the necessity of self-reflection.  Self-reflection is possible by taking a personal inventory of ourselves.  

A personal inventory means to make a list of our content – or, what makes us, us. This can happen in a number of ways, sometimes intertwined, sometimes inventoried individually:

Parts-of-Self Inventory

These are foundational parts of ourselves, such as:

And more.

Moral Inventory

These are reactions or feelings we have toward the things that make us, us (and thus, others as well).

And so on.

Personality Inventory

These are examples of characteristic and behavior traits that describe us:

And so on.

These are just a few examples of inventories we may participate in which benefits our emotional recovery efforts.  There are many more, and many more versions that utilize similar concepts in different ways.

The Benefits of Taking a Personal Inventory

When we experience trauma, it creates pain.  Pain then is part of our developmental makeup, and can become a component of who we are.  We must explore those parts of ourselves to understand them and subsequently change the unwanted parts. This is where doing a personal inventory can be helpful.

Without healing, life can become a repetitive state of learned negative thoughts, feelings, reactions, and behaviors.  

By taking a neutral look at the parts of ourselves that we become aware of through a personal inventory, change and healing can happen.

At The Bridge to Recovery, we utilize the personal inventory approach in a number of ways to explore, assess, and amend destructive patterns of behavior.  To learn more about our program and how we may be a good fit for you, a loved one, or a client, we invite you to reach out to us today.