Innovative use of therapies help people in the community

When we talk of innovation, we often think of how it applies to technology, but innovation as a phrase has a far wider meaning. People can be innovative in the way they apply their knowledge for wider benefits.

People practicing Mindfulness outdoors.The Centre for Mindfulness Research & Practice at Bangor University is a case in point. They have extended the use of mindfulness-based therapies, originally developed for people with depression, for a broad range of people and situations.

Mindfulness an integrative mind-body based approach that helps people change how they think and feel about their experiences. As Rebecca Crane Director of the Centre explains: “Mindfulness training involves cultivating the capacity to ‘attend to’ whatever is happening in ways that are purposeful and well-balanced.”

Mindfulness has been integrated with cognitive therapy to form an approach called Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

MBCT was developed and researched originally for use by people with recurrent depression. This first trial of MBCT took place at Bangor University, led by Professor Mark Williams who is now at Oxford University. The results showed that MBCT halved the expected rate of depression recurrence in those who were vulnerable to relapse. As a result, the approach was recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence [NICE] as a cost effective treatment for preventing relapse in depression, and so can be prescribed by GPs.

Since then, the Centre at Bangor University has adapted the programme to a range of situations, from using it in the primary school classroom so that children are in a mind-frame ready to learn, to providing a supportive technique for people dealing with chronic pain. Since 2003 the Centre has been collaborating with Alaw Ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd to offer mindfulness classes to people with cancer and their carers and also now works with Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Pupils at Ysgol Pen y Bryn, Colwyn Bay, practicing mindfulness.‘Paws B’ is  the name for the mindfulness element in the curriculum at Ysgol Pen y Bryn, Colwyn Bay, so named as the approach teaches the children that our minds can be a bit ‘all over the place’ like puppies that need to be trained to concentrate. According to Tabitha Sawyer, Assistant Headteacher, the pupils are more ready to learn after a short mindfulness practice. “We’ve been amazed at how the children have taken to it and how they’ve responded. They recognise in themselves that they they need to bring their attention back into the classroom after break time for example. And though young, they can recognise the benefits for themselves.”

Research is now underway at other primary and secondary schools in north Wales to evaluate the effects of mindfulness training for both teachers and pupils.

The Centre has also been working with foster parents to teach them skills to cope with the stresses and strains of the important role that they have.

Explaining their approach, Eluned Gold, from the Mindfulness Centre at Bangor University said: “the aim of the programmes is to help foster parents to cope with the demands of the role and with their own stress levels, so they are better able to parent the children in their care.

“We are assessing the effects of mindfulness training on the parents’ own stress levels, on their well-being and on their coping strategies. We are also interested in how improvements in parental well-being will impact on the children being cared for.”

In the last eight years, around 2000 people in north Wales have followed mindfulness courses which support people to flourish, reduce stress and increase wellbeing. In January 2014, the Centre is offering for the first time an eight-week course specifically for people with depression and anxiety.

Rebecca Crane receives the Award for the Best Impact on Public Policy and/or Public Services Award from Vice-Chancellor Prof John G Hughes in the inaugural Research and Impact Awards.The Centre now has an international reputation for excellence and leadership, was the first university based mindfulness centre in the UK. They have projects with other local organisations in north Wales as well as many further afield and internationally, and their work is impacting on policy and the provision of services locally in north Wales, across the UK and in Europe and America.

The University recently recognised the Centre’s work, awarding Director Rebecca Crane, the Best Impact on Public Policy and/or Public Services Award  in the University’s inaugural Research and Impact Awards, for the Centre’s work on the ‘Implementation of Wellbeing Enhancing Mindfulness-Based Interventions’.

Publication date: 25 September 2013