The PSN Workbook

The Workbook: Get Ready/Get Started, by Judy Pigott and Dr. John W. Gibson is available as a set of free downloads. You can save or print off the pages and have them all for yourself. Now's the perfect time to get started on working on the forms and ideas you always wanted and needed to get down in writing. Filling out this workbook will get you started on the road to a complete and very useful personal safety net.

Introduction and Table of Contents 

This is intended to be either a stand alone workbook, or a companion piece for the book Personal Safety Nets: Getting Ready for Life's Inevitable Changes and Challenges. The goal is to provide you with ideas, and different ways of coming to the portions of the workbook. The choices, decisions, and adaptations of these ideas are up to you.

Chapter One: What do I know right now?

Why would I want a team? If I did, who might be included and what might they need to know?

Chapter Two: Identifying Safety Net Members

Beyond, or instead of family, who could I think of including, or where might I look? What bases would I want to cover?

Chapter Three: Asking and Organizing

Focuses on communication styles and strategies. It explores how to effectively ask for, offer, decline, receive, negotiate for positive outcomes. Ways to say & hear yes and no. Ideas for inviting team members and communicating with them are included.

Chapter Four: Collecting Home and Family Information

What to be sure to include, regardless of your age or living situation.

Chapter Five: The Nitty-gritty of Your Life

Look at health-related questions, approaches and information to consider. Included is a brief look at considering, maintaining and storing insurances, general business, educational, military and retirement documents .

Chapter Six: Planning for Emergencies

Who will you tell? How will you communicate? How will you use their time & skills (your "people capital") wisely?

Chapter Seven: Pulling Your Team Together

Changes or challenges can surprise and challenge us, whether the change is "positive" or "negative," whether it's a total surprise or planned, change is guaranteed to rock our worlds. Importantly, every change involves both gain and loss.

Chapter Eight: Maintaining Your Team

Clarifying expectations, asking questions, deciding on goals and priorities, devising an action plan and group norms all lead to smoother sailing. Still there will be mistakes and misunderstandings. Dealing with these is important. Finally, there is saying "goodbye": to a particular team member, to the team as a whole, or to the need for which the team was created.

Appendix

Includes forms and diagrams that have been found to be useful.