Recorded Webinar – 2 hours

Presenter: Dr. Ray Owen

Covid-19 has affected all of us in so many ways, both personally and professionally. As Health and Social Care professionals, we might find ourselves supporting a range of people:

• Someone grieving for a loved one who died, or other COVID related changes & losses (employment, contact with relatives,  altered life plans)
• A person with ongoing ‘Long Covid’ fatigue and breathlessness, unable to resume their old life
• An ITU nurse or doctor, still affected by the things they saw, the choices they had to make,
• Ourselves, dealing with any or all of the above

Though these may look like quite separate problems, ‘transdiagnostic’ approaches such as Acceptance & Commitment Therapy allow us to see the common factors, and bring the same therapeutic skills to bear.

In this 2 hour webinar, we will focus on the benefits of one aspect of the ACT approach,  the concept of Values: what really matters to a person, what they want their life to be about.

Through a combination of presentations, reflective exercises and discussion, participants will learn:

• How Values relate to life-changing experiences, including our own
• How they can help us build a new, fulfilling existence even after trauma and/or chronic health problems
• How to identify key Values rapidly within sessions
• The relationship between Values and acceptance
• The role of Values in learning to cope with traumatic memories
• How Values can act as ‘compass bearings’ to choose new life-directions
• How to use Values to inform effective goal-setting to move forward

It will be suitable for a wide range of health and social care providers who find themselves supporting others with the impact of Covid.

No previous knowledge or experience of using Acceptance & Commitment Therapy is required

About Your Presenter

Dr Ray Owen is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Health Psychologist with over 30 years experience of working in Physical Health settings within the NHS. He has substantial experience of teaching and supervision in a wide range of contexts, both within the Health Service and on a freelance basis. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an accredited facilitator in the national Advanced Communication Skills Programme for senior cancer practitioners. He is also an Association of Contextual Behavioural Science Peer Reviewed Trainer.

He has taught extensively on ACT in physical health contexts, and is the author of two successful self-help books published by Routledge – ‘Facing the Storm (2011)’ and ‘Living with the Enemy (2014)’, both of which were shortlisted for the BMA Popular Medicine Book of the Year Award.