Introduction

WTW - Professional Advice at Your Fingertips

Have you ever tried express how you were feeling, but couldn't find the right words? Were you ever really sad, angry, or worried, but kept those feelings to yourself? Do you worry about a loved one's health, emotional stability or behavior, but don't know how to bring up your concerns? Have you ever needed to Confront Someone or Hold them Accountable, Take Responsibility or Apologize, Defend Yourself or Deny Something, Forgive Someone or Support Someone, but you weren't sure of the right words to express yourself?

All of us have experienced problems finding the right words to express our thoughts and feelings and we all have needed some direction at times to deal with life's problems and difficulties. Everyone could benefit by having easily accessible and inexpensive professional advice at their fingertips.

The WTW System not only gives direction to handle your problems but more importantly gives you the Specific Words you need to Change Your Life, Improve Your Emotional Well-Being and Maintain Overall Physical and Mental Health.

WTW provides the word scripts and letters that will help consumers:

Now anyone can find their true inner voice and have the confidence to express their feelings without fear, confusion or worry of embarrassment; now each of us can receive the sound advice and clinical direction we need by having access to this comprehensive communication wellness library in the comfort of our home.

The therapy letters and scripts promote assertive emotional expression and empower the individual to resolve their problems independently. The WTW letters and dialogue scripts help the user transfer internalized negative emotions into outward expressions of thought and feelings.

As a wellness tool, WTW provides the life changing letters and scripts that help us identify, understand and release the negative stress and emotions we all feel at times. Each of us has felt afraid, confused and helpless when we didn't have the proper skills and knowledge to deal with a particular life problem. WTW'S professional words and direction provide effective and healthy ways to cope with the stress and damaging emotions that we often fail to resolve. As a result, WTW can improve our overall physical and emotional health.

WTW System Design

The WTW System contains the first of its kind comprehensive library of nearly 9000 professionally written and clinically reviewed therapy letters and communication scripts that directly address the daily life problems and emotional stressors we all face as humans. Dr. Minotti's Words To Wellness Communication System (WTW) offers carefully chosen and measured words in clear, professionally scripted letters to help users express their feelings and initiate conversations that resolve, repair or bring closure to relationship problems and daily life issues. The WTW System offers everyone a highly effective communication model for initiating dialogue, responding to and providing ongoing feedback.

WTW was founded with the sole purpose of providing consumers access to a home or web based communication and wellness resource. The goal was to develop an easy to use system that would help users alleviate life stressors and promote physical and emotional wellness. It was important that the new system achieve this without the stigma, accessibility and affordability issues that exist in the current healthcare and wellness system. WTW's aim was to develop both a classification system that would help users identify their problems and feelings and a communication library that would accurately reflect their thoughts and feelings. This first of its kind resource would allow users to release their internalized negative emotions, promote healthier lifestyles, and reduce overall health costs by billions of dollars annually.

WTW addresses nearly 9000 different human interpersonal issues within 36 Specific Life Problem Areas. The WTW System helps the user address their concerns assertively without the stress of having to talk to the individual in person. The WTW system is an interactive communication process that guides the user through a 9 stage process of problem identification, emotional awareness, empathic development, emotional expression, emotional release, emotional healing and communication feedback. WTW eliminates the buildup of emotion that creates stress, anxiety, depression, anger, and fear. It can provide a true cathartic release. WTW helps users develop a greater inner confidence to assertively manage and resolve difficult life stressors and bring about important wellness changes in their lives.

Using the WTW System, is like having your own private therapist helping you identify, process and express your emotions in the comfort of your home or office. For some it has the potential to reduce the need for formal professional intervention from doctors, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, mediators, or counselors. The WTW letters and dialogue scripts help the user transfer internalized negative emotions into outward expressions of words. By proactively addressing stressful and difficult relationship issues, The WTW System can stop the incremental buildup of negative emotion that often creates the need for more intensive mental health interventions. The goal of Dr. Minotti's WTW System is to help the user effectively manage their unresolved emotional difficulties on their own.

Product Innovation and Competitive Positioning

WTW'S competitive advantage stems from a strong first to market position. Over two decades of clinical experience and 10 years of academic training went into the development of the WTW Therapy Letter Library and the four innovative WTW classification systems.

All problem identification and emotional release strategies in the mental health and communication fields are universally prescriptive techniques. They try guiding the user toward goal attainment without understanding that the largest obstacle to resolving relationship problems is the difficulty people have finding the right words to express their thoughts and feelings.

Most individuals are too embarrassed to admit they don't have adequate communication skills to put their feelings into words. WTW provides the consumer an easy roadmap of words and letters to express those feelings in a healthy and appropriate manner. There are no treatment interventions or communication systems that provide anything remotely close to WTW'S expansive 9000 letter library. WTW not only gives them the words to express themselves, but also helps each user identify the life problems and the emotions that they are feeling. This is especially helpful to the millions of people that don't know what to think or feel when they are in the middle of a major life crisis or serious emotional problem. WTW provides the user with the following 5 innovative system components to achieve wellness goals:

1. It's often difficult to recognize the impact that stress has on us.

The WTW system provides the first of its kind wellness and problem resolution measurement system to track WTW'S impact on the consumer using 11 different wellness variables. WTW uses self-reporting scales to measure important physical and emotional wellness variables, problem identification skills and problem resolution skills.

2. Identifying and understanding the source of our stress and emotional problems can be a confusing process that negatively impacts our health.

The WTW system helps the user identify and review their feelings and problems confidently with the first of its kind relationship problem classification system that outlines nearly 1000 human interactional problems.

3. Sometimes people know what they are feeling but they don't have confidence to express their feelings in an assertive and healthy manner. This is why most negative emotions are internalized and why stress and emotional problems negatively affect our health.

The WTW system offers consumers the right words to express their emotions and resolve social life problems. It provides the first of its' kind expansive library of nearly 9000 professionally developed and clinically reviewed letters and social dialogue scripts.

4. Healthy communication requires us to give feedback to each other but knowing how to respond is not always clear.

The WTW system provides the first of its' kind communication response format system that gives users seven clear and simple categories of response to express their feelings. Having a clear list of response formats can make the process easier for anyone seeking to share their feelings. The WTW library is categorized into 36 life problem areas that contain nearly 1000 specific problem topics. The user reviews each life problem area and decides on a life problem topic; they make a final decision by choosing the WTW communication response format that most closely fits their communication needs.

(WTW communication response formats):

  1. Confront, set limits and/or hold someone accountable;
  2. Take responsibility and/or apologize to someone;
  3. Deny something or defend oneself;
  4. Forgive someone;
  5. Disclose something to someone;
  6. Encourage and motivate someone to work on a problem;
  7. Congratulate or thank someone who resolves their problem;

Using the response formats above, users are given the healthy words to repair a relationship and set appropriate boundaries and limits within that relationship. They can also continue a dialogue using the different response formats to resolve the issues they are experiencing with someone.

5. Knowing how to construct a letter that expresses our feelings in an appropriate and healthy manner is a challenge for most of us.

WTW provides the first of its' kind comprehensive letter response templates (17 in total), that provide blueprints to construct healthy letters or response scripts for individuals that want to write their own letter.

About the Developer

Thomas A. Minotti Ph.D., LCSW-R, ACSW, is creator and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WORDS TO WELLNESS (WTW), a one-of-a-kind communication system and library of nearly 9000 professionally written relationship letters and dialogue scripts covering over 1000 different life problems. Dr. Minotti combines his knowledge from over a decade of advanced academic and doctoral training with 25 years of private practice experience to develop this revolutionary communication wellness system. Dr. Minotti completed 10 years of advanced academic, graduate and doctoral training in Psychology and Social Work at St. John Fisher College and the State University of New York at Albany.

Dr. Minotti has been practicing in the Mental Health field for over 30 years. For the past 25 years, Dr. Minotti has been Clinical Director and Senior Partner of Clinical Counseling of the Finger Lakes, a large private mental health outpatient practice in the Southern Tier of New York State. Having completed over 35,000 therapy hours with his clients, the user can feel confident knowing that Dr. Minotti personally developed and clinically approved the wording in each letter. The WTW System is like having Dr. Minotti as your own private therapist providing you with direction, advice and validation on thousands of problems without ever needing to leave your home.

WTW gives users an easy and effective communication platform to initiate difficult conversations and resolve personal problems independently. It helps users identify and express their emotions freely and confidently while advancing their own personal healing and wellness. WTW is a must use system for everyone seeking to unburden themselves from negative feelings and thoughts that create depression, anxiety, anger, fear and hopelessness in their life. WTW will change the landscape of interpersonal communication as we know it.

The 9000 "Therapy Letters", created by Dr. Minotti, took over ten years to develop and came out of his 30 years of experience listening to and understanding the basic issues and problems that individuals face in life. It became clear to Dr. Minotti during the thousands of therapy hours spent with his patients, that even though many people were aware of their feelings, they had a difficult time translating their feelings into words and actions. After repeatedly hearing how difficult it was for his patients to put their feelings into words, Dr. Minotti began to develop this revolutionary and comprehensive communication system. For over two decades, Dr. Minotti has recognized that treatment was much more effective when his patients could put their feelings into effective words. Once the patient was able to express and communicate their feelings more assertively, they immediately reported an improvement in their over-all sense of well-being and health.

Dr. Minotti invites all of you to use his WORDS TO WELLNESS system and start your own personal journey towards emotional healing today. The responses from Dr. Minotti's patients who have used his system range from patients feeling immediately confident to express themselves, to patients feeling a total sense of relief that they no longer have to keep all their feelings inside - feelings that they had wanted to get off their chest for a long time. Dr. Minotti's patients had a total appreciation for the Therapy Letter Communication System because it validated their feelings and allowed them to express themselves confidently and assertively for the first time. Dr. Minotti's Therapy Letter Communication System will provide anyone the same confidence to express their concerns and address difficult issues in a respectful and assertive way.

Wellness Science

The Science Validating WTW's Role in Wellness, Health Outcomes and Emotional Intelligence

A. The Science

The American Medical Association and the World Health Organization estimate that 75% of all physical and mental illnesses are related to stress and unresolved internalized negative emotions. Being able to live stress-free and experience positive emotional health, lies in our ability to identify and process feelings. Internalized and repressed feelings skew our emotional equilibrium. Burying feelings and thoughts also create vicious behavioral cycles. We now understand many effects that emotional repression has on the body. Studies have shown that moodiness makes the human body more prone to ischemic attacks. We also know that the degree, to which someone buries feelings, leads to different mortality rates among people. It is not only the frequency and intensity of negative emotions that impact our health but also the process we use to resolve stress.

The science of neuro/bio-immunology clearly demonstrate that the nervous system and the immune system are in a constant interaction via biochemical messages. Adler (1974) demonstrated that lymphocyte levels decrease when stress or unresolved negative emotions exist. A twelve year study by Stibich (2008) showed that a strong correlation existed between personality types and life expectancies. Sixteen hundred men were followed for twelve years and evaluated on personality inventories measuring neuroticism, stress, depression and anxiety. After twelve years, 50% of those who rated high on neuroticism were alive compared to their counterparts of whom 75% were still alive. The research summarized that loving, optimistic and happy individuals who successfully manage negative emotions and stressful life occurrences, fare much better with life expectancy than their counterparts who experience anger, pessimism, depression and internalized negative emotions.

Psychologist Reuven Bar-on (2006) developed one of the first measures of emotional intelligence (EI) that used the term "emotion quotient". He defines emotional intelligence as being concerned with understanding oneself and others, relating well to people and adapting to and coping with ones' immediate surroundings so to be successful when dealing with environmental demands. Bar-on posits that EI develops over time and that it can be improved through training, programming and therapy. The WTW system directly speeds up the EI learning curve by providing the individual with raw materials that immediately promote emotional awareness, processing and expression. The WTW system reinforces the advancement of emotional intelligence and improves ones' adaptation to difficult life demands.

Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence (1995), hypothesized that the way we handle our emotions is a far more important factor in life than traditional intelligence. Goleman's model outlines four main EI constructs:

Self-awareness - the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions. Self-management - involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances. Social awareness - involves the ability to sense, understand and react to other's emotions while comprehending social networks. Relationship management - involves the ability to inspire, influence and develop relationships with others while managing conflict.

Goleman, like Bar-on, believes that EI competencies are not innate talents, but rather learned capabilities that must be worked on and developed to achieve outstanding performance. The WTW system offers the individual all of the components that Goleman and Bar-on hypothesize as necessary to develop and foster emotional intelligence. The WTW system directly provides the user with information that reinforces and teaches self-awareness and social adaptation while improving the ability to manage both areas.

Clearly, scientific evidence supports that the emotional release of internalized conflict and negative emotions can have a dramatic impact on physical wellness, emotional functioning and mortality. Past research has demonstrated that anxiety and stress are closely linked to tumor promotion, gastrointestinal problems and plaque on arteriole walls, reproductive problems and numerous other physical anomalies. The WTW system guides the user through the processes of emotional awareness, problem identification, empathic development, emotional expression, emotional release, problem resolution and maintaining healthy relationships. In doing so, the WTW system promotes mental and physical wellness in our lives and improves our emotional intelligence capabilities.

B. Statistics

Alarming facts about mental and emotional illness in the United States and why the WTW system is so needed!

The following statistics and facts have been reported by:

Fact Number One: in 2007, 57.7 million Americans suffered from Mental Health problems.

Fact Number Two: in 2007, 29 million received Mental Health treatment costing $67 billion.

Fact Number Three: in 2007, 28.7 million Americans suffering from Mental Health problems did not receive any Mental Health treatment.

Fact Number Four: The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that another 50 million Americans, suffer from Mental Health problems but are unwilling to seek treatment - bringing the total underserved to 78 million Americans each year.

Fact Number Five: Costs for Mental Health treatment have risen dramatically over the last three decades.

Even when adjusted for inflation, the United States is now spending over 10 times the amount we spent on mental health care in 1980.

C. WTW compliance with all major health practice standards

The WTW system was designed as a self-directed and recovery-focused mental health wellness system. It was developed from 25 years of evidence-based practice. The WTW system is in compliance with all of the standards of practice and treatment set out by the major medical and mental health organizations within this country.

1. The WTW system reflects the Managed-Care and Brief Solution Focused Treatment models promoted over the past three decades that recommend shorter, problem focused and solution based treatment.

2. The WTW system directly supports the goals of The Institute of Medicine, The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, The Center for Mental Health services - The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that agrees mental health and substance abuse services should be:

3. The WTW system directly supports The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations' (SAMHSA) goal that mental health recovery requires the consumer to be:

4. The WTW system supports the goals of the Consumer And Family Recovery Movement as outlined in the 2010 Mental Health Report from the Surgeon General that encourages:

5. The WTW system supports the emotional management and health goals of The Academy Of Family Physicians in 2010. The academy states that "good emotional health" requires the ability of the individual:

WTW's Nine Stages Of Emotional Wellness Development

Dr. Minotti's Therapy Letter Communication System is an active communication process that guides the user to release negative emotions and eliminate problems, concerns and issues that they are experiencing. Using The WTW System reduces the emotional buildup of internalized conflict that directly affects our physical and mental health. It helps the user resolve difficult emotional issues in their life by transferring internalized negative emotions into outward expressions of feelings in script and letterform. This process can achieve a true release or catharsis for the user.

The WTW System guides the user through a nine stage process of emotional awareness, problem identification, empathic development, emotional expression, emotional release, problem resolution and forming and maintaining healthy relationships. WTW promotes mental and physical wellness in our lives and improves our Emotional Intelligence capabilities, promoting overall inner peace and good health.

As An Individual Begins To Use The WTW System, They Are Guided Through A Series Of Nine Transformational Stages:

  1. Pre-WTW Measurement
  2. Problem Identification
  3. Emotional Processing/Validation
  4. Empathic Development
  5. Emotional Release and Expression
  6. Problem Resolution
  7. Emotional Catharsis and Healing
  8. Enhanced Emotional Competencies
  9. Post-WTW Measurement

Stage 1. Pre-WTW Measurement (Baseline)

In the first stage, WTW users are offered eleven self-report rating scales to measure important emotional and physical wellness variables as well as problem identification and resolution skills. The WTW system offers rating scales for depression; anxiety; self-esteem and inner confidence; helplessness; understanding the problem; understanding how to resolve the problem; emotional awareness; empathy; problem resolution achieved; overall well-being; and physical wellness.

Users are asked to rate how they've been impacted by the issues, concerns or problems that they are going through. They are recommended to report their level of impairment both prior to and after using the WTW system.

Users are given the following instructions in the Pre and Post WTW system measurement phase:

Using the scales below, please rate how you've been impacted by the issues, concerns or problems that you are going through. It is recommended that you measure your level of impairment both prior to and following each time that you use the WTW system. Comparing the differences in your self-report measures will further clarify for you how the WTW system has impacted your emotional and physical health as well as your problem identification and resolution skills.

Measurement scale

1. Depression Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE the level of depression you are experiencing that you believe is caused by the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

2. Anxiety Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE the level of anxiety you are experiencing that you believe is caused by the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

3. Inner Confidence And Self-Esteem Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE your current level of inner confidence and self-esteem that you believe was impacted by the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

4. Helplessness Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE the level of helplessness you are experiencing that you believe is caused by the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

5. Level Of Understanding The Problem Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE to what degree you understand the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

6. Level Of Understanding How To Resolve The Problem Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE to what degree you understand how to resolve the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

7. Level Of Emotional Awareness Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE how aware you are of your feelings about the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

8. Level Of Empathy Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE the level of how much you care about the other person's feelings that you are having the issues, problems or concerns with.

9. Level Of Problem Resolution Achieved Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE the level of problem resolution that you have achieved regarding the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

10. Over-All Level Of Well-Being And Sense Of Empowerment Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE your over-all sense of well-being and the sense of empowerment you have related to the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

11. Physical Wellness Rating

On a scale of 1-10, PLEASE RATE the level of physical problems you are going through that you believe are caused by the issues, problems or concerns that you are going through.

Users are recommended to use the WTW system if they rate any of the impacts at a 2 or greater and are strongly encouraged to utilize WTW if they rate life impacts higher than 3 for any variable.

Stage 2. Problem Identification

In the second stage of using The WTW System, the user begins to identify and define the parameters of a life problem by answering a series of questions that lead the user to choose from four General Life Problem Areas that contain 36 different Specific Life Problem Areas. Dr. Minotti's Therapy Letter Communication System offers the user 36 Specific Life Problem Areas to help them identify, recognize and associate their feelings with a specific life problem area. The user is involved in problem identification and emotional processing by choosing one of the Specific Life Problem Areas that most closely reflects their feelings. Reviewing the content under a specific problem title helps the user become more aware of their feelings and emotions thereby providing the catalyst for greater emotional awareness.

The emotional content contained in WTW'S Life Problem Areas also brings about collateral awareness to other feelings that the user may have not yet identified. This process helps the user continue to develop a deeper emotional awareness. Reviewing the 36 Life Problem Areas will bring about a sense of normalcy to what the user is feeling and cause them to be more relaxed. Being validated and put at ease will help the user unlock even more subconscious feelings that were buried or internalized. The second stage of The WTW System helps the user define exactly what aspect of life is creating the emotional stress or concerns they are having.

Stage 3. Emotional Processing and Validation

In the third stage of The WTW System, the user must examine their feelings even more closely in order for emotional processing and validation to occur. After identifying the Life Problem Area(s) most similar to what the user was experiencing, the user in this third stage must review and choose Specific Therapy Letter Topics that are found within their Specific Problem Life Area. The therapy topic(s) available will be descriptive of the issues that the user is seeking help for. The WTW user's feelings become validated as they read Specific Therapy Letter Topics that describe how they are feeling and thinking. After becoming aware and able to identify their feelings, the user continues processing their emotions by reading other Specific Therapy Letters Topics that closely reflect their situation. The content contained in the Therapy Letter Topics will help reinforce and validate the person's feelings while offering various options and ways to express those feelings. As a result they begin to realize that they are entitled to the feelings, thoughts and opinions they've been experiencing.

Stage 4. Empathic Development

In this fourth stage, the WTW system provides the user specific therapy letter content that reflects what they are thinking and how they are feeling. In Stage IV, the user would check one of the nine action formats and the therapy letter script exactly referencing their choice would be available to review.

Once the WTW user is more aware of their emotions and is more comfortable to express those emotions, they are inherently more capable to identify emotions in others and are more likely to be tuned in to the emotional experience of others. Once a user has had their own experience of emotional awareness and release, that process of self-awareness produces a future capacity for empathy towards others. Empathic feelings are usually framed by an individual connecting with their own emotional experiences.

The WTW System produces emotional outcomes for the user that over time will help them develop greater empathic awareness. Such emotional awareness and expression leads directly to becoming more sensitive to the feelings of others and to developing an ability to empathize emotionally. It helps develop in the user an intuitive sense of what it feels like to experience such emotions. In doing so, the user develops and improves their emotional intelligence, empathy and human competence to build and maintain strong and functioning relationships.

Stage 5. Emotional Release and Expression

At this stage of the WTW system, the users are offered an opportunity to actively express their thoughts and emotions by delivering a Words to Wellness Therapy Letter or Script directly to another individual.

The user will have options to send the letter exactly as it is written via:

Words to Wellness Therapy Letters can also be used in part or in their entirety as scripts to read to someone or rehearse and memorize for face to face interactions. The users can Skype the therapy letter message or video/audiotape themselves reading the letter.

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Example: if the user chooses a level-I confrontation letter they would see a pop up next to the text box advising the following:

Stage 6. Problem Resolution

In the sixth stage of the WTW process, the sender and the receiver can utilize any of the Nine Action Therapy Formats for ongoing communication, dialogue or feedback. Using WTW in this way helps individuals fix or resolve the specific topics addressed or any interpersonal relationship problem they're having.

The WTW System offers its users a highly effective model of initiating dialogue, responding and providing ongoing feedback with nearly 9000 letters and scripts to choose from. By sending or directly expressing a WTW Therapy Letter or Script, the user releases the negative feelings and thoughts that they were holding onto. This emotional and cathartic release is an important step in the psychological and physical healing process that occurs in Stage 7 of the WTW System.

Stage 7. Emotional Catharsis and Healing

At this stage, the user's mind and body can begin to heal. By sending the Therapy Letter, the user has taken personal control over the issues, concerns or problems that had created the internalized negative emotions and physical difficulties. Even if the user is unable to fully resolve the issue with the receiver, they can be relieved that they tried everything possible to mediate and dialogue through the problem. As a result they begin to experience less guilt and stress in their lives and start to experience new feelings of confidence and empowerment going forward into Stage 8.

Stage 8. Enhanced Emotional Competencies

In the Eighth Stage of The WTW System, users who have experienced even one successful attempt at taking personal control over their life stressors will identify on self-report measures feeling immediate positive changes to their self-esteem, inner confidence, ability to assert themselves and an overall sense of well-being and empowerment.

The new skills and confidence developed by using the WTW system helps the user feel empowered to fulfill their goals and meet their own emotional needs. Once feeling empowered to manage one's emotions and achieve one's life goals, the WTW user will inherently seek out and nurture healthier relationships in their life. By reinforcing healthy emotional management and healthy relationships, the WTW user will experience a greater sense of emotional well-being and contentment, while being spared the dangerous physiological and emotional effects of repressed and internalized emotions. Overtime, the user will continue to develop and improve their emotional intelligence, empathic ability and human competence for building and maintaining strong and functioning relationships.

It is in Stage 9 where the user can report and compare these improved skills and competency measures.

Stage 9. Post-WTW Outcome Measurement

In the ninth and final stage of the WTW process, users fill out the same rating scales that they completed in Stage I. After doing so, they are able to compare their earlier responses with those given after using WTW. Users are able to recognize the direct impact that WTW has had on their problem identification and resolution skills as well as on their emotional and physical health.

Users are given the following instructions in the post WTW system measurement phase:

Using the scales below, PLEASE RATE to what degree you are now being impacted by the issues, concerns or problems after using the WTW system. Comparing the differences between your Pre-WTW answers and your Post-WTW answers will define more clearly to what degree the WTW system has impacted your emotional/physical health as well as problem identification/resolution skills.

The WTW System empowers individuals who felt helpless, confused or victimized when they were having difficulty expressing their feelings and thoughts. The WTW System legitimizes and validates the user's feelings - giving them a voice that they can trust to express themselves. At last, everyone can have professional advice and a legitimate voice to express their feelings.

The WTW System provides every user clinical direction to work through their personal life stressors on their own. All of this professional assistance is available without ever leaving the privacy of your home, talking to or visiting any professional expert, or having to worry about stigma, confidentiality and accessibility issues; and all this help at a fraction of the cost of formal counseling, talk therapy, or visiting your doctor.

Specific Consumers

1. Any individual or person desiring self- help advice or Mental Health treatment content will benefit by the WTW system. Spouses, parents and teens, grandparents, siblings, friends, partners, coworkers and bosses, girlfriends and boyfriends can all benefit by using WTW.

2. Over one million Mental Health professionals practicing in the medical, Mental Health, human service or educational field can benefit by utilizing this communication and wellness system as a major resource tool in their work with patients, clients and students.

The following is the current estimated number of Mental Health practitioners by profession practicing in the United States. (2002 SAMHSA-US Department Of Health and Human Services)

Psychiatrists - 42,000; Social Workers - 660,000; Psychologists - 88,000; Nurse Practitioners - 17,000; American Counseling Association (ACA) Counselors - 51,000; Marriage And Family Therapists (MFT) - 47,000; Pastoral Counselors - 2,812; Certified Sociologists - (New Field In 2002);

Total Mental Health practitioners estimated in 2002 is 909,812 and, in 2010, over 1,000,000.

One can see that from 2002 through 2010, over 100,000 new Mental Health practitioners entered the field.

The WTW system can be used by professional practitioners as a reference guide for working with their patients, clients and students to address specific counseling questions and issues during therapy.

Practitioners can reference WTW to:

3. All corporate entities that engage in the development, procurement and dissemination of health and wellness content will benefit by utilizing the WTW system. The WTW system will help corporations expand their companies' innovative wellness programming content and provide a service tool for their human resource and personnel departments to enhance their employee assistance programs and provide low cost clinical advice to their workforce.

4. All private and public health insurance companies would benefit by recommending or mandating that their insured's use the WTW system prior to engaging in costly formal treatment.

Our nation collectively spends $67 billion on Mental Health treatment annually. The AMA and World Health Organization statistics estimate that 75% of all medical conditions are caused or exacerbated by unresolved anxiety, stress and internalized negative emotions. These Mental Health driven illnesses cost the U.S. an estimated $1.4 trillion annually. Using their estimates, if the WTW system reduced even 1% of the healthcare expenditures in this country, billions would be saved annually.

Data from Dr. Minotti, the WTW developer, the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration and The 2010 Mental Health Report from the Surgeon General, suggest that up to 30% of the $67 billion in Mental Health expenditures can be eliminated using the WTW system. The facts supporting this claim are:

Dr. Minotti estimates that between 25% and 30% of all his Mental Health therapy patients over the past 25 years could have been successfully treated using the WTW system without ever needing the patient to enter formal counseling or therapy. These are patients who had entered counseling to obtain basic advice, direction, or just needed their feelings validated. Approximately 30% of Dr. Minotti's patient load have been discharged within 1-3 sessions during his 25 years in private practice.

This estimation is also supported by the SAMHSA 2007 National Drug and Health Survey update that states that 20-30% of all adult Mental Health counseling patients leave treatment after only attending 1-3 sessions.

This estimation is further supported by the 2010 Mental Health: Report from the Surgeon General, indicating that approximately 46% of those receiving Mental Health services do not even have serious enough symptoms to be diagnosed with a Mental Health disorder. They are classified as having "Mental Health problems" rather than Mental Health disorders.

The WTW system can provide the same level of clinical results and professional direction that are provided to 30% of formal therapy patients, without ever needing them to engage in costly formal Mental Health Services. The WTW system could save up to 20 billion dollars annually on that population alone. This would be a substantial cost savings to the public and private health insurance industry as well as to the nation.

Insurance companies should recommend using the WTW system to all insured prior to authorizing counseling sessions.

5. The NIMH estimates that 78 million Americans each year experience Mental Health problems but do not engage in any treatment. This population could directly benefit from having access to the WTW system. According to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (SAMHSA 2007) - part of the U.S. Health And Human Services, many of the underserved are located in rural areas or are members of different minority groups. Many serious and costly medical conditions evolve from this underserved population of 78 million.

It is estimated that $1.4 trillion dollars is spent annually on medical conditions arising from this underserved population. High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, joint problems, gastrointestinal problems, reproductive problems, heart and vascular problems, cancer, etc. are often causally linked to stress, anxiety and unresolved internalized negative emotion. The severity of these medical disorders may be substantially reduced or eliminated if earlier interventions could be made available to reduce stress and assist with emotional release and expression.

The WTW system provides an early self-help intervention system that if implemented nationwide could become a primary prevention program reducing the healthcare impacts of this underserved population.

In 2007, SAMHSA studied 5 million of the 78 million Americans who had Mental Health problems but did not seek treatment. Their reasons for not seeking treatment were:

The WTW system eliminates almost all the reasons that the underserved consumers haven't accessed treatment. Trust issues, fear, stigma, cost, accessibility, cultural sensitivity and a desire to do it yourself, are no longer issues when using the WTW system.

WTW's self-directed web based treatment delivery system supports the Surgeon General's 2010 Mental Health Service delivery goals of providing more sophisticated and comprehensive Mental Health Services to rural and minority populations through the use of advanced telecommunication and computer technologies.

The WTW system was created as a user-friendly Mental Health treatment system that is not stigmatizing and is substantially less expensive to utilize than formal treatment. It was designed to take advantage of the newer web-based/information-based technologies and computer service programs that would allow for immediate communication, expression of feelings and service access at affordable costs.

Product goals and benefits for consumers

WTW encourages assertive communication and healthy emotional release. It is like having your own private therapist helping you identify, process and express your emotions without the need for formal professional intervention from doctors, psychiatrists, mental health professionals, mediators, or counselors.

By using the WTW system, one-third of the current individuals seeking mental health treatment could achieve emotional healing and problem resolution without ever needing to engage in expensive formal counseling. WTW gives consumers the specific words they need to change their life, improve their emotional well-being and most importantly improve overall physical and mental health.

The WTW system helps the consumer achieve the following outcomes:

  1. Manage Personal Life Stressors More Effectively:

    The WTW system helps the user become empowered to manage personal or family life stressors more effectively and prevent serious mental health or emotional problems from developing. WTW provides a problem identification, emotional expression, release and resolution system that the user can implement in the privacy of their home. If the WTW is utilized on a regular basis, users will become much more confident to express their feelings openly in all life situations.

    The WTW system inherently teaches the user to be more emotionally aware and able to identify, process and express their feelings. Individuals will experience the physiological and psychological benefits of the WTW system after they identify, understand and express the emotions that burdened them. As a result, users become motivated to engage in healthier relationships. They learn to resolve the negative emotions and conflict that occurs in their life more effectively and efficiently.

  2. Reduce the Need for Mental Health Treatment:

    The WTW system helps the user become empowered to manage and improve mental health and emotional problems that already exist thereby reducing the need for more intensive mental health treatment services.

  3. Improve Assertive Communication Skills:

    The WTW system helps the user become empowered to expand and improve assertive communication skills by providing healthy words to express difficult or confusing feelings that they were previously unable to express.

  4. Improve and Repair Relationships:

    The WTW system provides problem identification and resolution strategies that helps empower the user to improve and repair relationship problems and set appropriate limits and boundaries within those relationships. Therapy letters in general provide a more reasonable and productive format for sharing difficult, complex and intense feelings than face-to-face or phone conversations.

  5. Reduce and Eliminate Anxiety, Depression and Negative Moods:

    The WTW system helps the user become empowered to reduce or eliminate anxiety, depression and negative moods by guiding them to express and release unwanted emotions and feelings that create such symptoms.

  6. Increase Inner Confidence and Self-Esteem:

    The WTW system helps users develop increased confidence and self-esteem by providing strategies for them to take control and resolve personal problems. The WTW system empowers the user who feels insecure, has low self-esteem and poor assertion skills. It provides a communication platform for the user to express exactly how they feel without the need for initial or subsequent face-to-face encounters. By working through problems in this way, the user feels empowered to address and resolve problems that may have otherwise been avoided.

    The WTW system eliminates the problem for users who have had difficulty coming up with the correct words to express how they feel. By having professionally written letters at their disposal, users are less likely to worry about saying the wrong thing. This system transforms difficult conversations that are often avoided into communication successes that release internalized emotions and promote health and wellness.

  7. Improve Emotional Validation:

    The WTW system helps the user feel empowered and emotionally validated. The user recognizes that their ideas, opinions and feelings do matter each time they read a WTW letter that reflects in some way how they feel. Users are validated by reading letters that closely mirror their experiences. Once they become validated, users are more confident to assert their own opinions, feelings and thoughts. They realize they have a right to feel the way they do. When users see their experiences written about in the WTW system, it reinforces and legitimizes how they feel, giving them permission to express it in responsible ways.

  8. Confront and Set Limits For Addiction, Mental and Behavioral Health or Medical Issues:

    The WTW system helps the user become empowered to support, confront and set limits with family and friends regarding addiction, mental and behavioral health or medical issues.

  9. Promote and Reinforce Overall Emotional and Physical Health:

    The WTW system helps the user become empowered to promote and reinforce emotional and physical health by eliminating the negative effects on the mind and body that arise from unresolved internalized negative emotions. The WTW system users feel more empowered to be assertive in a planned and rational way. Users can refer to the categories to help them identify life areas that they are having difficulty with; they can also develop a more thorough and complete understanding of what they are feeling by reading several other letters in the category that they've chosen. Using the WTW system will help the user further reinforce, validate, or define what they are feeling.

  10. Promote Cognitive Skill Development:

    The WTW system promotes higher emotional intelligence, ego functioning and human competence. The system will improve the user's ability to express feelings and improve overall physical and mental functioning. By reviewing and integrating the content found in the WTW system, the user is unknowingly engaged in cognitive restructuring of negative and distorted thoughts associated with the feelings and thoughts that they had internalized. By using the system, therapy letter users will learn a healthier, take action approach to handling nearly 1000 life problems areas. The professionally written scripts and letters provide healthy information schemas to rehearse, process into memory and utilize when needed.

  11. Promote Rational, Accurate and Well Thought out Responses to Life Stressors:

    Both the sender and receiver will benefit by using the WTW communication process. When a therapy letter is sent, the sender reaps numerous positive benefits. They can achieve problem identification and awareness, emotional release and catharsis, improvements in empowerment and inner confidence, enhanced cognitive awareness, relief from guilt and a greater inner peace and well-being. The receiver will also benefit by not having to respond as quickly as they would normally need to in a face-to-face encounter. This important benefit allows the receiver time to diffuse any negative moods, be less defensive and spend time examining the senders' feelings in order to calculate a response that will be more rational and useful in the resolution process. Impulsive over reactions that sometimes limit information exchange are less likely to happen when sending a letter than when one has a face-to-face encounter. The receiver of a therapy letter is afforded the opportunity to fully understand all the important feelings and thoughts of the sender without any interruption or disruption, allowing for a more accurate analysis and response.

  12. Reduce Feelings of Helplessness and Victimization:

    The WTW system directly reduces an individual's sense of helplessness and victimization by providing them with several options to express their feelings and take action. Therapy letter users learn early on that they can directly influence the problems or issues they are experiencing. The WTW system promotes problem resolution by helping the user actively solve relationship issues. The user feels empowered when they send a letter because they know they did everything they could to try to resolve the issue. The WTW system eliminates the dangerous and stress producing situations that for many individuals never seem to get resolved - situations that keep them in a virtual limbo of helpless emotional conflict and poor physical and mental health.

  13. Provide Responses to Take Responsibility, Defend Oneself, Apologize and Forgive:

    Sending a Take Responsibility and Apology letter directly benefits the WTW system user. Taking responsibility and apologizing is an important emotional release that can rid the individual of internalized guilt and shame. Sending such a letter provides a definite cathartic release for the WTW system user. The receiver of a Take Responsibility letter also benefits emotionally. When someone that you're upset with apologizes to you or takes responsibility for a problem, it can be a powerful and emotionally healing event.

    Sending a Forgiveness letter can be a very meaningful process for the sender. Finding it in your heart to forgive someone who has wronged you can be an uplifting and emotionally cleansing moment. The individual that receives a Forgiveness letter also benefits in a similar way; being forgiven for your words or actions can be an extremely healing moment in your life.

    Sending a Defending Oneself or Denying Responsibility Letter also has important benefits. The sender of such a letter benefits by having their feelings and position fully understood without the risk of being immediately discounted, interrupted, or over- reacted too. The receiver of a Defend/Deny Oneself letter benefits because they have an opportunity to fully understand the perspectives and feelings of the person that's denying responsibility or being defensive. The receiver can take the necessary time to re-examine what was said in the letter and adjust their feelings and responses accordingly. It allows the receiver time to diffuse their anger and reduce the intensity of the emotions they're feeling in order to respond in a more effective, productive and rational way.

Affordability and Access

1. Affordability: The WTW System Financial Facts.

A. The WTW system is extremely affordable for individuals. On average it costs approximately $3 for 3 therapy letters compared to $300 for 3 therapy sessions. Formal therapy costs 100x more than the WTW system.

B. If insurance companies paid only 10 cents for each of the 260 million insured, to utilize the WTW system and if WTW only eliminated half of the 30% of the formal Mental Health therapy patients who attend counseling only 1-3 sessions, the savings to the insurance industry would be over $10 billion a year for only $26 million cost annually.

Using the same cost structure, if insurance companies eliminated the entire 30% of Mental Health expenditures that pay for costly formal therapy for patients who end treatment in 3 or less sessions, a total of $20 billion in Mental Health care costs could be saved annually for the cost of $26 million.

If formal therapy could be eliminated for the total 46% of therapy patients who do not even meet DSMV criteria for a Mental Health diagnosis, the WTW system could save another $10 billion dollars annually resulting in a total of $30 billion being saved annually for Mental Health treatment. That would almost cut national Mental Health expenditures in half from $67 billion annually to $37 billion annually.

And if only 1% of the medical costs created by the 78 million Americans who did not seek treatment for their Mental Health problem could be preventively handled by the WTW system, another $14 billion would be saved in health care annually making the total cost benefit to all insurance providers mandating the WTW system somewhere in the neighborhood of $51 billion annually.

$51 billion could be saved annually for only $26 million in cost. The WTW system will save our nation billions each year in Mental Health and Medical Health costs for individuals, corporations and all levels of government.

2. The WTW system and personal independence.

The WTW system provides:

-the flexibility to decide when, how and where the user wants to address the problems, issues or concerns they are having.

-the convenience of getting the same level of professional advice without ever needing to locate, schedule or spend hours in a therapists office. It's like having your own personal therapist always available to provide you with the professional advice, direction, support and the exact words you need to handle and cope with all your relationship and communication needs.

3. The WTW Systems' Accessibility

Understanding how to go about obtaining a Mental Health counselor can be a difficult task when one is unfamiliar with the Mental Health service sector. Decisions on choosing the right professional (i.e. psychiatry, psychology, social work, psychiatric nurse, nurse practitioner or primary care physician), can be a stressful undertaking.

WTW eliminates the need to worry about professional reputations, credentials and personality mismatches with your counselor. The WTW system is as easy as turning on your computer and clicking your mouse.

Summary And Conclusions

The Words to Wellness Communication System (WTW) is a communication and wellness system that contains nearly 9000 professionally written and clinically approved life problem scripts and letters by Dr. Thomas A. Minotti.

Dr. Minotti completed 10 years of advanced graduate and doctoral training in Psychology and Clinical Social Work at St. John Fisher College and the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Minotti has been in practice in the Mental Health field for over 30 years. For the past 25 years, Dr. Minotti has been Clinical Director and Senior Partner of Clinical Counseling of the Finger Lakes, a large private Mental Health outpatient practice in the Southern Tier of New York State. Dr. Minotti has completed over 35,000 therapy hours with his clients to create this comprehensive communication and wellness system.

WTW has the potential to change the landscape of interpersonal communication, relationship problem-solving, self-healing and physical and emotional wellness. Dr. Minotti has helped thousands of individuals in his private practice to become more assertive and confident to express difficult feelings and begin the process of personal healing.

The 9000 "therapy letters" created by Dr. Minotti, took over ten years to develop and came out of his 30 years of experience listening to and understanding the basic issues and problems that individuals face in life. It became clear to Dr. Minotti during the thousands of therapy hours spent with his patients, that even though many people were aware of their feelings, they had a difficult time translating their feelings into words and actions. After repeatedly hearing how difficult it was for his patients to put their feelings into words, Dr. Minotti began to develop this revolutionary and comprehensive communication system.

Patients immediately reported an improvement in their over-all sense of health and well-being. The responses from Dr. Minotti's patients who have used his system in practice settings range from patients feeling immediately confident to express themselves, to patients feeling a total sense of relief that they no longer have to keep all their feelings inside - feelings that they wanted to get off their chest for a long time. They no longer felt helpless and victimized by their circumstances and demonstrated a proactive behavioral response when using the system.

The WTW system reinforces emotional awareness, problem identification, emotional processing, emotional release and expression, empathic development and emotional competence. The WTW system is cathartic and healing. It is elemental in improving inner confidence, assertion skills and stronger ego function. The WTW system validates the individual's feelings and improves their emotional awareness often without the need for a professional intervention. The WTW system reduces dangerous emotional buildup and provides a sense of strength and empowerment to those feeling helpless and victimized.

WTW also promotes the user to be more proactive in seeking out formal professional treatment when needed. It helps the user identify specific symptoms and conditions that would require professional intervention. By recognizing a need for such early intervention, the user has a greater probability for a successful outcome in treatment and could reduce the need for more intensive treatment than if they waited and their symptoms worsened.

WTW's preventive and proactive problem identification system encourages the individual to treat Addiction, Medical and Mental Health issues at their earliest stages by promoting emotional disclosure, communication and problem resolution. WTW helps the user be more assertive in dealing with life stressors and guides them to take more responsibility to care for their own physical and emotional health.

The WTW system covers the majority of interpersonal, medical and mental health problems that one can experience in life. It is the most comprehensive effort ever attempted to standardize and define interpersonal problem content for emotional expression. The WTW system was designed to be user friendly and self-administered. Using letters as the vehicle for communication is less threatening for individuals who need to initiate difficult conversations.

The WTW system is a well thought out, professionally designed and scientifically supported program that will improve assertion and communication skills as well as create internal conditions for better overall physical and emotional health.

It is very likely that everyone using the WTW system will agree that it is the best way to handle difficult problems in one's life. The WTW system proves "a letter is better", when it comes to communicating difficult emotions or concerns. WTW provides life scripts that reinforce respectful relationships, healthy parenting approaches, family problem solving, assertive emotional expression and overall mental and physical wellness. The WTW system is a communication system that no one should overlook in his or her quest for inner peace and wellness.

So if you want to: feel better, have less stress, release feelings that you've been holding on to and develop greater emotional awareness, empathy, assertive confidence and overall better emotional and physical well-being; use Dr. Minotti's Words to Wellness Therapy Letters, giving you a voice and bringing back peace of mind to your world.

And always remember, "A Letter Is Better."