Making time for yourself is something parents find hard to do. Looking after children, managing a household and fulfilling work commitments can mean that looking after yourself is low on the priority list. Yet it should be the number one priority. Without time for yourself there will be no opportunity to re-charging batteries. Reflection, rest and relaxation are all essential elements of parenting, especially when parenting children with emotional and relationship difficulties.
[Golding, K. S. (2008). Nurturing Attachments – Supporting Children who are Fostered and Adopted (p.145)]
This Mindfulness training course is informed by Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which is designed to help with low mood, anxiety and stress-related conditions. Aimed at adoptive parents, it is an opportunity for individual participants to learn new ways of managing daily life, and to learn within in a supportive group of other adoptive parents. Mindfulness can be particularly helpful in breaking patterns of negative thinking and helping you to ‘re-set’, both at regular, predictable times of day, or when events become overwhelming and you need to give yourself a ‘time in’.
Attending this course will help you to get more out of our therapeutic parenting course, giving you the confidence to emotionally regulate yourself before assisting your child.
The course facilitator is Ollie Frame.
Please note: This course is available to all adopters who already have a child placed with them and can be funded through the Adoption Support Fund.
There are eight sessions on Friday mornings
- Starting Friday 19 April until Friday 14 June, 10am to 12:15pm
- There are eight sessions on Monday mornings (with a break over May half-term)
- This is a training course so it’s important to commit to all the sessions if you can.
- Complete beginners and experienced meditators are all welcome. The course facilitator is Ollie Frame
- Location: online
- People can arrive from 9:50am and can stay behind after if they need further support.
How to book: For more information and to book your place, please contact us ASAP as places fill quickly.
Please read before attending:
In order to participate in the course, you will need access to a room where you will be alone and where you won’t be disturbed (except occasionally!), with access to a computer with a fairly good internet connection. As well as a comfortable (but upright!) seat in front of the computer, the room will need to include somewhere for you to lie down and to do some gentle movement/stretching.
For the confidentiality of the group, you will need to take measures to ensure that what other participants say can’t be overheard, which may include wearing headphones.
As much as possible, you need to begin with a very strong commitment to attend all the sessions. We understand that, of course, life does sometimes throw up unexpected challenges such as illness. Please be ready to spend some time each day listening to some (nice relaxing) mindfulness recordings.
What adopters say:
“This course has supported me to parent therapeutically. The atmosphere at home has improved, I am able to be grounded and be able to stay present and connected to my child.”
“This course offered me a safe space to learn and grow with nine other awesome parents. The eight weeks has helped me feel less stressed and increased my capacity to parent from a calm and kind place. The course is paced at your pace and introduces mindfulness as a way of life; and how you can be more present and available to parent your children. I thoroughly recommend this course to you, be prepared for it to improve your life forever!”
“This course has set me on a path to help myself by protecting my wellbeing with the use of mindful meditation, Qi Gong, self-care, and nurturing. I have been given the tools to do this in the form of audio recordings, plus lots of additional links to recordings and sites, and apps to add variety and expand my practice. The tutor, Ollie Frame, is friendly, encouraging, very knowledgeable, and supportive. He has a pleasant to listen to voice which is so essential when listening to meditations. I really enjoyed the course and can highly recommend it. I will miss my weekly session.”
Notes
- The course will be paid for by the Adoption Support Fund, and the cost will be deducted out of your child’s Annual Fair Access Limit. However, if you wish to self-fund this is also possible. The exact price will depend on the number of participants and will be approximately £210. The Adoption Support can be accessed for all adopters who have a child placed with them, even if it is prior to the Adoption Order being granted.
- Mindfulness for Adopters is being taught online using Zoom.
- There is an expectation that participants will be able to do 20-40 minutes daily practice and will commit to attend a minimum of six of the eight sessions.
- You will need a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed, which is warm and comfortable, and where it is possible to lie down on the floor.
- You will need a PC/Laptop/Macbook or Tablet with a webcam and microphone and a stable internet connection.