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This activity has been submitted to the Ohio Nurses Association for approval to award contact hours. The Ohio Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. (OBN-001-91)

A Pandemic and Mindfulness Workshop Summary / Outline

This workshop offers professionals new and uniquely powerful content to assist clients with unpacking the emotions and trauma of a pandemic experience. This will provide the practitioner with new resources, perspectives, and skills (many concrete takeaways) to help address what has been called the next pandemic, “the mental health pandemic.”

We will explore the impact of living in a new reality – a pandemic experience. This new reality is that the threat of a virus can be present almost any time, any place, anywhere. As a result, the individual (be it client, patient, or practitioner) is subject to contracting it, leaving their safety and well-being at risk. 

Subsequently, there are a plethora of challenges over a wide spectrum of society that impacts most any individual on a mental and emotional level, many of whom may or may not be conscious of it at any given moment. 

NOTE: There will be several experiential exercises throughout the presentation to assist with integrating the content. 

This presentation includes an extensive digital manual - all presentation content, practitioner manual, and client handouts.

NOTE: There will be a review of research studies, published research articles, and articles from nationally recognized nonprofit organizations focusing on national health issues to help us explore the pandemic impact on individuals in the following areas:

· Being in quarantine – isolation and boredom 

· Racial and ethnic injustice

· The impact on education: parent-teacher-student-school social worker experience

· The challenges to frontline workers

· The impact of a friend or family member contracting the virus

· The feelings/emotions that arise when simply leaving the home

· Employment

· Grief

In addition, there will be an exploration of the mental/emotional challenges connected to the above topics.

1. Using the pandemic as a springboard, this unique content will assist the practitioner with uncovering and identifying the client’s deeper therapeutic issues. We will explore:

· A detailed look at the use of Defense Mechanisms that are being used to an individual’s detriment. While these same defense mechanisms have a definite short term benefit, they also contribute to having long term adverse effects. 

· A “Simplified Approach to Therapeutic Issues” will be introduced to assist the clinician in helping the client move through pandemic issues. 

· A “Composite Picture of Pain” will include “The Four Primary Therapeutic Issues” clients face. 

· In addition, a “Diagram/Chart of Painful Emotions” will be utilized to provide the client with a better visual understanding of their “buried” emotional content.

2. Included throughout the presentation is an examination of how the individual is being “triggered” mentally and emotionally by the presence of a virus or by the pandemic experience itself. This will include:

· How these triggers correlate to an individual’s past childhood pain and/or trauma.

· Review of the CDC’s six guiding principles of trauma informed care in relation to these triggers.

3. This presentation will integrate basic mindfulness, as well as unique mindfulness skills to assist in addressing pandemic issues. This will include:

· Learning to be the Observer of mental and emotional content

. This enables the client to acknowledge negative content while not taking it personally and becoming    stuck in it.

· Introduce concrete skills to address intense emotional content

· Introduce and guide participants in various types of breathing techniques

· Skills to assist in addressing and alleviating some of the mental and emotional impact related to a pandemic.

· Expose habits of the mind that don’t support us.

· Discussing the concepts of “commitment” and “practice” as means to empower and assist clients in establishing a firm foundation of practicing mindfulness.

4. Exploration of the impact of secondary trauma on clinicians and the mental and emotional byproducts of this, along with suggestions for self-care.

5. Investigate more thoroughly the “core” underlying issues are in relation to the stress of pandemic issues and go beyond the symptoms. 

6. Pandemic fatigue and its source will be examined; as well as, investigate and address mental and emotional content underlying the fatigue itself.

· The investigation will include unique perspectives and approaches on how to deal with pandemic fatigue.

PLEASE NOTE: Full disclosure: The examination of this content will involve looking more deeply into the deeper issues of a pandemic on a mental and emotional level, as well the its’ aftereffects. Therefore, the content being presented has the potential to trigger an individual’s history of trauma. The participant should consider the potential challenges or risks involved in this type of content BEFORE registering for this workshop. Any questions, contact David Fiala - 440-708-8028.

Objectives:

1. Describe mindfulness interventions that can be applied to an intangible threat such as a pandemic.
2. Describe the mental/emotional challenges related to various pandemic situations.
3. Identify symptoms of pandemic fatigue and the various issues contributing to the fatigue.
4. Demonstrate various breathing techniques to assist in letting go of mental and emotional symptoms related to a pandemic experience. 
5. Identify the CDC’s six guiding principles for trauma informed care and their practical application.
6. Identify various defense mechanisms used to respond to challenging situations.
7. Demonstrate therapeutic mindfulness interventions to use with the client.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact David at mindyourego@gmail.com
 

Outline:

• What is mindfulness?
• Mindfulness and the Past, Present, and Future
• Incorporating the ten primary (life-changing) attitudes into your practice of mindfulness
• Various ways for clients to apply mindfulness:
• Giving up one’s addiction to thinking
• Let go of upsetting emotions and negative self-talk
• Change a negative mood into a positive one
• Relieve other symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression
• Stay relaxed and calm during the day by creating a quiet mind and learn how to maintain it
• Self-Compassion - promoting self-care and self-forgiveness
• Using mindfulness to enjoy life
• The impact of mindfulness to improve one’s ability to focus and be the Observer
• Being the Observer of challenging situations which enhances one’s ability to        distance oneself from challenging "issues”
• Use the experience of Present Moment Awareness to learn and enjoy life as it is
• The “real” root causes of stress and learn how mindfulness overpowers most        stress and enhances one’s ability to let go
• The role emotions play in contributing to the client’s stress, anxiety, and depression
• The role resistance plays in the client’s inability to let go of stress, anxiety, and depression
• How clients can use breath and other new and unique coping skills, in conjunction with mindfulness, to address stress, anxiety, and depression
• Expanded perspective of the power of focusing
• Applying mindfulness to renew an individual’s perspective on life