Mindfulness-based therapy for managing fatigue
Therapist training and CPD
This course will incorporate the best practice in the fatigue management and mindfulness fields and is underpinned by the lived experience of fatigue.
Practitioners will learn by experiencing mindfulness-based fatigue management strategies and then reflecting on their experience as a bridge into their work within supervision groups to support skill development and implementation
Trainer Fiona Mckechnie
This mindfulness-based programme has been developed by listening to hundreds of people living with fatigue. However, listening to our own experience is the basis for the approach because:
Mindfulness can only be understood from the inside out. It is not one more cognitive-behavioural technique to be deployed in a behaviour change paradigm, but a way of being and a way of seeing that has profound implications for understanding the nature of our own minds and bodies, and for living life as if it really mattered. (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
This involves exploring one’s own experience and developing this with guidance from teachers and fellow travellers, inhabiting our experience and sharing with others; as mindfulness-based therapists, clinicians, teachers, whatever we call ourselves, we work within our own humanity,
The nature of a mindfulness-based programme, of whatever flavour, is that the practitioner is using mindfulness, firstly for themselves in their own life and work and secondly as the basis for their interactions and how they help people.
A hallmark of the mindfulness based approach is that progress is not defined by how well one meditates nor how many symptoms are present but how much more happiness, curiosity, patience and engagement one develops and how this can support the life we want to lead, which seems to take it very much beyond a clinical intervention into the way life is lived regardless of health status.
Mindfulness practice as the basis of a mindfulness approach
When teaching others to use mindfulness is is essential to have experience of the practices being taught. While the practices on the mindfulness for fatigue programme are based in MBCT/SR, they have been nuanced and adapted to work with the particularities of fatigue conditions. We will be exploring this in detail and considering the rationale for these adapations and experiencing them in our own lives.
BAMBA
The requirements of the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA) are that practitioners have a formal practice including daily formal practice and regular retreats . Of course, it is possible to see this as something for working hours and then to feel squeezed in work time to do this. However, this misses an opportunity for mindfulness to be part of the clinician’s life and to support every aspect of it. This supports the group’s lived experience and takes it beyond a technique aimed at managing health.
Practicalities
The programme will consist of:
· 6 sessions of live small group mindfulness teaching (not recorded as we will exploring our personal responses)
· 6 online modules with materials including video, audio and text for you to develop your own practice and ask questions in the group hub (this will also mean you can “keep up” with any missed sessions material and do the practice as well as review it later).
·
1 day retreat. an opportunity to explore the practices in a sustained way.
Each module has a 2-hour live session with theory, practice, inquiry based around a theme and reflection on how this can integrate into clinical work- for example - activity management; rest; brain fog; movement; setback management
Cost:
£300 reduced to £275 if paid in full or it is possible to pay 3 instalments of £100 a month
***please note this is a rate for the beta version of the first course in a new platform and this price cannot be guaranteed going forwards.
Numbers will be limited to support the interactive nature of the group.
Additional coaching is possible subject to availability at £60 per hour or group supervision at £130 for up to 4 people
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Dates 2024
course will run on Mondays 7-9pm
- find out more zoom sessions 7pm (you do not have to have signed up for the course to attend, it is just to find out more and decide if it is right for you)
session 1 -
session 2
session 3
session 4
(no session 27 May)
session 5
(no session 10 June)
on-line retreat day Sunday 9th
Session 6