WHO IS THE WORKSHOP FOR?

This workshop is for health, social and allied health care professionals working in palliative care.  The emphasis is on you and developing skills that will benefit you and the clients and families with whom you work in palliative care.

OVERVIEW

Palliative care can be complex, emotional and stressful for all involved. As health, social and allied health care professionals, what can we do to help ourselves, the clients and families with whom we work through the emotions and stress around end of life care? 

This workshop presents a contemporary approach in psychology to working with children, adolescents and families in palliative care. The workshop is grounded in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) (Hayes, Strosahl & Wilson 2011) and Personal Construct Psychology (Caputi, Foster & Viney, 2008; Kelly, 1955).

ACT is both a set of guiding psychological principles and a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy; its application is widespread including palliative care (Feros, Lane, Ciarrochi & Blackledge 2011; Burke et al 2014). The ACT framework in this workshop moves away from a ‘fix it’, ‘control it’ and if that fails ‘avoid it’ approach towards a model based on acceptance. It is important to understand that acceptance in this context means a willingness to ‘be with’ rather than a sense of giving up or throwing in the towel.

Typical approaches to managing stressful and painful events tend to rely on patterns of avoidance because in the main, avoidance works with the day to day unpleasant aspects of life; at least in the short-term. However, with the deeper issues of life, death and pain -‘try not to think about it’ or ‘don’t let it get to you’, tends to fall rather short of the mark.

In addition to the ACT framework and skills in mindfulness, participants will learn and practice guided imagery, which they can teach to clients, children, adolescents and parents. These skills can be used with pain and symptom management, sleep disturbance or simply creating a special place for the child and parent.

Participants will have opportunities to practice mindfulness exercises and skills that they can use personally and in their practice.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES  

Upon completion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the basic tenets/application of an ACT and PCP approach to working with stress and emotions in palliative care.

  • Use mindfulness, defusion techniques and principles from ACT in working with the stressors in palliative care.

  • Differentiate between avoidance and acceptance and discuss the role of mindfulness in managing emotions, especially fear and anxiety.

  • Use and develop skills in guided imagery, which they can apply to their work in palliative care. 

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

09.00 – 11.00 Pain: sensation, cognition and emotion theories - useful stuff for the everyday challenges in palliative care.

ACT 1: The Approach - Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

11.00 – 11.20 Morning Tea Break

11.20 – 13.00 ACT 2: Putting theory into practice: Towards psychological flexibility - mindfulness and defusion techniques in pain and palliative care.

13.00 - 13.40 Lunch Break

13.40 – 15.40 Guided Imagery Technique: theory, practice and demonstration. Guided Imagery Cases: review and discussion of videos.

15.40 – 17.00 Small group practice in guided imagery. Group discussion and feedback: preparing for clinical practice.

REFERERENCES                     

Burke, K., Muscara, F., McCarthy, M., Dimovski, A., Hearps, S., Anderson, V. & Wasler, R. (2014). Adapting acceptance and commitment therapy for parents of children with life-threatening Illness: Pilot study. Families, Systems & Health, 32(1), 122-127.

Caputi, P., Foster, H. & Viney, L. (2008). Personal construct psychology: New Ideas.  New York: Wiley.

Feros, D.L, Lane, L, Ciarrochi, J.,& Blackledge, J.T. ( 2011).  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for improving the lives of cancer patients: a preliminary study.  Psycho-Oncology (2011) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/pon.2083

Hayes, S.C., Strosahl, K.D. & Wilson, K.G. (2011).  Acceptance and commitment therapy: the process and practice of mindful change. (2nd ed.).  New York: Guildford.

Kelly G.A. (1955).  Psychology of personal constructs.  New York: Wiley.