Next Move - Participant's Workbook (Group Instruction)

The Next Move Participant Workbook is the hands-on companion to the Under Constraint program. It guides participants through structured reflection and skill practice built around cognitive behavioral change principles, with a clear focus on one thing: improving how you think, respond, and choose in high-pressure moments.

This workbook is designed for group settings and is commonly used in jail/prison outreach, re-entry groups, and community programs where participants are working on real-life change in real-life constraints.

Chess is the mirror, but the work is personal. Participants don’t just talk about change. They practice it.

What participants will do inside this workbook

• Identify triggers, patterns, and “autopilot” reactions that lead to bad outcomes
• Learn how thoughts, emotions, and behavior connect (and how to interrupt that chain)
• Separate what can’t be controlled from what can be influenced right now
• Build a repeatable habit: pause, name the moment, choose a better next move
• Reflect honestly, without excuses, and plan responses that hold up under stress

How it fits into the full program

This workbook is intended to be used alongside:

• Under Constraint (the concepts and framework)
• Under Constraint Facilitator’s Guide (the session structure and group delivery plan)

Together, they form a complete curriculum: the book provides the “why,” the facilitator guide provides the “how to run it,” and the participant workbook provides the “do the work.”

If you’re running groups and want participants to leave with more than motivation, this workbook gives them a concrete path to cognitive and behavioral change, one decision at a time.