The Benefits of Including Mindfulness Practice in Counselling Sessions for

Individuals Living with Multiple Sclerosis

Jean HudsonBCouns., Cert Sand Play Therapy & Symbol Work

ANZACBS Conference RMIT Melbourne 2016

Welcome

I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are meeting. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be here today

Presentationu Identifying the key benefits of mindfulness in session for client and therapist

u Understanding the subliminal signals between client and therapist in session

u Experiential grounding exercises

u Overview of various mindfulness techniques I use in session

u Brain hemispheres & how mindfulness supports bringing the client’s implicit memory into explicit memory and cultivates intimacy with awareness

u How mindfulness helps the client to concentrate on body sensations; healing mind and body which:

u Assists with – pain relief and acceptance of chronic illness

u Reduces anxiety and depression

u Improves psychological function and quality of life

Sometimes it is external factors that are denying your client’s mind the calmness it needs to engage in counselling

Real and perceived fearsu Traffic

u Parking

u Child care issues

u Family/work issues

u Fear about being judged

u Fear about what will happen in session

Simple Grounding Exercise

u A short punctuation in a busy day between finishing one activity and starting another

u Before starting the car

u Beginning a meal

u Before an interview/ counselling session

u Between clients

u Informal Mindful Practice: in the shower, brushing teeth, housework

u The Comma. A few seconds to a couple of minutes of mindfulness

“The Full Stop” and other techniques to facilitate client self regulation (5-30 mins)

u The 4-7-8 Exercise (relaxing breath) or yogic breathing

u In-breath 1..2..3..4 Hold breath 1..2..3..4..5..6..7.. Out for 8 (4 cycles only)

u Relaxed Breathing

u In-breath 1..2..3..4 Pause 1.. Out-breath 1..2..3..4 Pause 1.. (5 to 10 mins)

u Mindful Breathing and body scan

u Guided mindful meditation using the 5 senses

u Somatic techniques

u For clients suffering from trauma or bereavement

u Notice Five Things

u Physical activities – drop the anchor

Everyone knows the popular myths about the two brain hemispheres

u Right brain:

u artistic, musical, spatial, intuitive, and holistic

u Left brain:

u linear, rational, analytical, and linguistic.

u There is some truth in these labels.

u fMRI now allows us to see images of living brains and records regions active during mental activity

Subliminal signals between client and therapist in sessionu Counselling effectiveness requires:

u Integration of both right-brain and left-brain processing.

u Mindfulness enhances this integration.

u Expressive therapies

u not only what the counsellor does or says – but the quality of the counsellor's interaction with the client

u this interaction is at the core of effective counselling

u Neuroscience literature suggests that hemispheric processing for both counsellor and client is bidirectional.

u The counsellor's right brain to right brain attunement informs unconscious intuition and creativity for both counsellor and client.

Mindfulness supports bringing implicit memory into explicit memory

u “Focused attention helps us to see the internal workings of our own minds; to be aware of our mental processes without being swept away by them; to direct our thoughts and feelings rather than being driven by them. By developing the ability to focus our attention on our inner world, we’re picking up a scalpel and re-sculpting our neural pathways. How we pay attention shapes the structure of our brains.”

Dr Dan Siegal

Mindfulness helps concentrate body sensations; healing mind and bodyu Research on mindfulness-based

interventions have been applied in the treatment of:

u Multiple Sclerosis

u Chronic fatigue syndrome

u Insomnia

u Heart disease

u Eating disorders

u Substance abuse

u Anxiety

u Depression

u Chronic pain

u Promotes longevity

Mindfulness can help manage stress & anxiety

u Inevitable in life

u Some clients are trapped in cycles which are debilitating

u Fears about the future – hoping for pleasure and dreading pain

u Mindfulness trains the brain and mind to bring attention to the present moment. The present moment is usually pretty safe. Doing this can really help cut anxiety

u Yogic and abdominal breathing

u Drop the anchor exercise.

Mindfulness can help reduce depression

u Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy yields a 60 per cent chance of preventing relapse.

u If antidepressants carried a guarantee, no one would relapse

u Meditation and medication is a double protection

u Mindfulness empowers the client to help themselves

Mindfulness assists with chronic pain relief and acceptanceu Thinking about self and not others

diminishes brain activity

u The “stop and look” manoeuvre reduces overthinking and emotional reactivity, and boosts the “rest and recovery” effect

u Thinking about the pain – past and future. Being mindful of our bodily response to pain and if this response increases the suffering

u If stressed because of pain – practice relaxation which releases endorphins

u Acceptance stops the exhausting constant struggle with pain

Mindfulness improves psychological function and quality of life

It takes timeu Psycho-education

u Neuroplasticityu The brain is constantly rewiring

itself, throughout our lives

u MRI – increased neural connections after 8 weeks of mindfulness

u Practice u 15 mins 5 days a week.

u 100-200 repetitions

u and takes about 3 months to consolidate

Mindfulness maximises client and therapists self-awareness and resourcefulness

References:

Garrison, K. A., Scheinost, D, Worhunsky, P. D., Elwafi, H. M., Thornhill, T. A., Thompson, E, Saron, C, . . . Brewer, J. A. (2013, Nov. 1). Real-time fMRI links subjective experience with brain activity during focused attention. Neuroimage 81(110-8). doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.030

Harrison, E. (2006). How Meditation Heals. Berkeley, C.A. Ulysses Press.

Hassed, C. (2014). Playing the genetic hand life dealt you: epigenetics and how to keep ourselves healthy. Melbourne. Anderson Publishing

Pearson, M & Wilson, H. (2012). Sandplay & Symbol Work: emotional Healing & Personal Development with Children, Adolescents and Adults. Melbourne. Doculink Australia.

McGilchrist, I. (2009). The master and his emissary. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

McKenzie, S. & Hassed, C. (2012). Mindfulness for Life. NSW. Exisle Publishing

Field, T. (2014). Integrating Left-Brain and Right- Brain: The Neuroscience of Effective Counselling. The Professional Counselor, 19-27

Schore, A. N. (2012). The science of the art of psychotherapy. New York, NY: Norton.

Thank you for your attention.

jean.hudson@MSWA.org.au