The Heidelberg Competence Training (HKT) programme for developing mental strength is a psycho-educational approach that equips people with theoretically sound and practical strategies and skills, enabling them to activate their personal performance potential in a targeted and conscious manner at the right moment, and thus successfully achieve the goals they have set for themselves.
To build users’ mental resilience and enable them to realise their full potential, the HKT programme develops and strengthens the following skills in four stages:
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- First, participants formulate their own goal precisely and visualise achieving it by engaging all their senses.
- Training participants learn about the building blocks of concentration and how to put themselves into a state of concentration.
- They learn to recognise their own strengths and to consciously activate them.
- To shield one’s own plans from potential internal and external distractions, solution strategies for these distractions are developed and methods of mental shielding are explored.
This leads to the development of a positive problem-solving attitude and strengthens participants’ belief in their own effectiveness.
It is based on the model of competence-oriented prevention and health promotion. The foundations of HKT are based on psychological and neuroscientific approaches such as Grawe’s consistency theory (2004), Heckhausen and Gollwitzer’s Rubicon model (1987) and Kuhl’s personality-system interaction theory (2001). These are supplemented by educational concepts for structuring training, such as Wahl’s (2005) ‘educational double-decker’ model. Furthermore, elements from Asian martial arts are incorporated into the training through body-oriented concentration work.
According to the consistency theory of the neuropsychologist Klaus Grawe (2004), the fulfilment of fundamental psychological needs is a prerequisite for the development of motivational approach schemata and for a life characterised by mental health and well-being. The four fundamental needs are:
- the need for orientation and control
- the need for attachment
- the need for self-esteem enhancement and protection, and
- the need for pleasure and the avoidance of displeasure
Developing a clear understanding of one’s own goals and subsequently putting them into practice contributes to the fulfilment of the need for orientation and control. Through the positive experience of achieving goals and, where applicable, feedback from the environment, the need for pleasure, enhanced self-esteem and connection is satisfied. The satisfaction of these psychological needs plays a decisive role in the development of motivational approach schemata and sustainably increases motivation.
In Heckhausen and Gollwitzer’s Rubicon model of action orientation (1987, revised by Storch & Krause, 2007), a distinction is made between a motivational and a volitional phase of goal realisation. HKT supports the volitional phase – in which the intention to act already exists – by providing implementation strategies.
A key advantage over traditional training methods is the parallel use of digital and analogue principles (Kuhl, 2001). To trigger sustainable motivational and learning processes, the HKT integrates both conscious-logical, verbal-analytical (‘digital’) and imagery-metaphorical and physical-emotional (‘analogue’) aspects of learning into the training.
How can we empower people to cope with complex, demanding situations and to deliver their best performance at exactly the right moment? The Heideberger Competence Training for Developing Mental Strength (HKT) has been developed specifically to address this question. It combines personality-building teaching and learning methods with mental training in sport. This book describes both the theoretical foundations and methods, as well as areas of application and implementation. It is therefore aimed at anyone who wishes to strengthen problem-solving skills and support others in doing so.
Publisher: Springer
Publication date: 2019
ISBN: 978 3 658 24396 8
The HKT enables users to fully realise their potential in stressful situations. The aim is therefore to develop mental resilience for all types of school and all year groups. The authors present the fundamentals and methodology, but above all provide tried-and-tested examples from school practice and other fields of application. Clear photocopiable worksheets are provided for direct use in the classroom. Whilst the book’s content is primarily designed for practitioners in the school setting, it can easily be adapted by interested readers to other fields such as competitive sport, coaching or the healthcare sector.
Publisher: Beltz
Publication date: 2011
ISBN-10: 340725556X
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