Mindfulness Based Programmes

Dealing with your feelings and emotions can be difficult.

Sometimes, you may feel like you are struggling with your mental health and you don’t know who to turn to. We are here for you.

Perhaps you’ve been feeling anxious, low, stressed recently or are dealing with a long term condition and you are considering getting support to help you get back on track. At Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we offer a range of services to help you, like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or Counselling for Depression.

We also offer Mindfulness Based Programmes which incorporate a range of mindfulness practices, like breathing work and meditation practice, to support you and the mental health problems you are facing.

What is Mindfulness?

The definition of mindfulness is:

A mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

Mindfulness practice can be used by anyone to support their mental health.

If you deal with anxiety or suffer from stress, mindfulness work – like minute breathing meditation, scan meditation and breathing exercises – can help make you feel better and enhance your daily life.

Mindfulness is a type of talking therapy. If you are located in Nottingham or the surrounding Nottinghamshire areas and are aged 18 or over, you can be referred to us via self-referral or GP or other healthcare professional referral to access our services.

Mindfulness Based Programmes encourage a greater awareness of our experiences, including our thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. Often, we go through our day on ‘automatic pilot’, and this is when unhelpful habits and reactions can contribute to our difficulties.

Mindful awareness and mindfulness exercises can increase our understanding of ourselves and give us greater choice in how we respond to our needs.

Our courses encourage mindful awareness through sharing information, practising mindfulness and meditation, and exploring ways to bring awareness into our daily lives.

We currently offer two different mindfulness-based treatments:

• Mindfulness for Depression
• Mindfulness for Health

Our mindfulness-based treatments are designed to introduce new ways of relating to difficulties in our lives, whether these are symptoms of depression or difficulties that can arise when living with a long-term condition.

Both of our mindfulness programmes are taught and practised in small groups, with 2 therapists who are also qualified mindfulness teachers.

What happens in a Mindfulness group?

The groups run over eight weeks.

Each week will include a two-hour group session, with a short break, and each session will be with the same group of around 12 people. We run our sessions alternatively to include both day and evening times, to allow you to access the sessions at the best time for your schedule.

Currently, our mindfulness sessions are held online, meaning we meet every week in a private online meeting. You don’t need any experience of using online platforms, only a reliable internet connection.

Each session is structured to provide you with effective mindfulness practices and will include:

• Learning together around a relevant theme
• Practising meditations together, led by two mindfulness teachers
• Exploring our experiences of meditation and practise

You do not need any experience of meditation, just an openness to practise the recommended meditations during the sessions, as well as practising at home between sessions, over the eight-week course. This will help you feel the full effects of mindfulness and meditation.

Benefits of Mindfulness

There are several benefits of meditation and mindfulness which can positively impact your mental health. These include:

• • Reduced stress and anxiety
  • Improved emotional regulation
  • Decreased symptoms of depression
  • Increased self-awareness
  • Enhanced focus and concentration
  • Improved sleep

Mindfulness practice also has some physical health benefits, including better pain management and improved immune function, as well as other benefits, like stronger relationships, better decision-making and an increased enthusiasm for life.

Mindfulness for Depression

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (or MBCT) groups are effective in treating symptoms of depression, as well as preventing relapse for those who have recovered from depression.

The group uses mindfulness practices and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to explore symptoms of depression and recognise our own patterns of thinking and how we might best take care of ourselves.

This has proved to be very effective for some people in reducing symptoms of depression and reducing future relapse.

You might wish to consider referring to an MBCT group if you are:

• experiencing symptoms of depression
• currently well and keen to maintain this by learning about relapse prevention
• get easily caught up in unhelpful thoughts – such as rumination, worry and self-criticism
• keen to engage in an evidence-based, structured mindfulness course
• able to attend regular, weekly group sessions, over eight weeks
• keen to learn in a supported group setting
• able to access reliable internet connection for two hours a week, in a private space

Mindfulness for Health (MfH)

This course explores how mindfulness practice can help to reduce the suffering that often comes with a long term condition, chronic health issues. It is particularly effective for those experiencing symptoms such as chronic pain or fatigue, which can impact mental health because of increased loneliness or a lack of self-confidence.

The group uses mindfulness meditation practice and pacing techniques to better understand how we experience pain and suffering and how we might best take care of ourselves when facing health issues.

You might wish to consider referral to the MfH group if you are:

• living with symptoms such as chronic pain or fatigue or have been diagnosed with a long term condition
• feeling low, stressed, exhausted, , anxious or overwhelmed about your condition or symptoms
• no longer engaging in things you enjoy, or you do too much and suffer as a result
• finding it difficult to manage regular activities
• often caught up in unhelpful thoughts, like self-criticism, worry or struggling to see positives
• keen to engage in an evidence-based, structured mindfulness course
• able to attend regular, weekly group sessions over eight weeks.
• keen to learn in a supported group setting

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms and are interested in getting support through our mindfulness-based programmes which include mindfulness meditation and breathing work to support your mental health, you can self-refer through our digital assistant, Limbic, our online form, by calling us on 0333 188 1060 or via a GP or other healthcare professional.

At Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Talking Therapies, we provide services that are designed to support you as you deal with your mental health problems. We are here to guide you every step of the way.

If you or someone you know is facing a mental health crisis, get urgent help now.