Interventions offered in individual care plans will vary but may include the following:
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness means
- paying attention,
- in a particular way,
- on purpose,
- in the present moment,
- without judgement (Jon Kabat-Zinn)
The Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Course teaches a number of Mindfulness Meditation Practices with elements of traditional CBT, helping participants to learn to bring awareness to their experiences, their thoughts, their body, their senses and emotions, in a compassionate and non-judgemental way. This can allow the development of a different, more helpful relationship to life and difficulties. The course is 8 weeks long, each session lasting 2 and a half hours. At the NHS Centre for Integrative Care we have added an introduction week to allow a taster of the practices and a chance to find out more about the course before committing and a mid-course silent practice session to deepen the experience of the practices.
Our MBCT course teachers are fully trained. They meet the UK Good Practice Guidelines for Mindfulness-Based Teachers, i.e. they are suitably trained, committed to continuous professional development, are appropriately insured, and are receiving supervision for their teaching.
MBCT is useful in long term chronic conditions, anxiety and depression, and addiction.
Heartmath-based cardiac coherence
More info coming soon…
Counselling
NHS Centre for Integrative Care offers a counselling service for those who need longer or more frequent appointments to talk about their problems.
Counselling involves one to one sessions of about 50 minutes, usually on a weekly basis for between 8 and 20 weeks.
Our counsellors are placement Counselling Psychologists who are in their final year at Caledonian University and have been trained in person centred counselling, CBT, and other techniques designed to support people to improve their mental health and wellbeing. They can help people work with issues like anxiety, depression, bereavement, coping with physical health challenges, eating disorders, anger management, obsessive compulsive disorder. They can also help when someone needs time and space just to be listened to as they explore challenging life events.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art making to engage and enable people in developing a greater understanding of themselves and their life circumstances. Using art materials to create images or objects offers another way of communicating feelings and expressing ideas that does not rely on putting thoughts into words.
Art therapy offers a tangible way to explore connections between experiences, thoughts and feelings in a safe, confidential and non-judgemental therapeutic relationship. This process can enable individuals to find new perspectives on challenging issues in their lives and aims to encourage wellbeing, increase autonomy, raise self-esteem and self-awareness.
Do you have to be good at art?
No artistic ability is needed for people to participate and benefit from using the art materials in art therapy sessions and the art therapist does not make any judgements on whether an artwork is good or bad. A wide range of art materials are made available within the art therapy room, such as paints, pastels, clay and fabrics, as well as having access to CICs inspiring garden space.
Who can benefit from Art Therapy?
Having a creative, safe and non-judgemental space to express and reflect can benefit people who are experiencing change in their lives connected to physical, emotional or relationship difficulties. For some people the opportunity to find new perspectives on past experience may enable beneficial change and growth in the lives they are living now.
The artworks made in sessions can enable a more objective way of thinking about emotions, as the imagery can become a safe place to externalise feelings. The physical artwork can hold or contain feelings in its creation that can then be shared and reflected on together with the art therapist. In a group setting this process extends to include sharing and reflecting with other group members.
Outpatients
Referrals to art therapy can be made by any of the doctors or health care professionals at the Centre for Integrative Care. At an initial assessment meeting with the art therapist the individual will be able to discuss how art therapy may be beneficial for them and think together about whether individual or group art therapy sessions may be suitable. Individual art therapy sessions take place weekly with the art therapist in one to one sessions of 1 hour, that allow for the individuals creative processes to develop over a number of weeks. Group art therapy takes place in a small group of around 6 people, weekly for sessions of 2 hours.
Music Therapy
Music is one of the creative and natural expressions of being human and can have a multitude of purposes, can stir memories and resonate with our feelings, helping us to express them and to communicate with others.
Music Therapy uses many musical components and the above qualities to provide a way to relate within a therapeutic relationship, hopefully allowing for people to build connections with their inner selves and with others around them.
Clients are seen as part of the integrative care approach on an individual or group basis, depending on individual needs.
Physiotherapy
The Physiotherapy Team at the Centre takes a ‘whole person’ approach to health and wellbeing. At the core will be your involvement in the supported management of your health to help you to cope better and do more of what you enjoy.
With a long term condition it is easy to become focused on your physical difficulties. We hope to be able to work with you to support your well being as a whole, looking at solutions for difficult issues and helping you to;-
- Manage your energy well to reduce the impact of fatigue.
- Move as freely and much as possible for all the benefits that will bring.
- Help you to increase your levels of physical activity.
- Address issues of pain management in the most appropriate way.
- Look at lifestyle issues such as coping with stress and managing your sleep patterns.
We will take some time to get to know you and the demands of your life. After this we can help you set some realistic goals and decide on where you can begin to make helpful changes in order to build better all round health and wellbeing.
If you are experiencing a new and unfamiliar episode of pain this is best dealt with by a specialist musculo-skeletal Physiotherapist who can assess and treat that specific issue. You can self refer to Physiotherapy of this type through your GP Practice.
Although ‘hands on therapies’ can often provide relief for some of the issues relating to a long term condition this effect is often short term. The most significant benefits often come from the skilful changes you can make to your lifestyle and coping strategies, and this is the focus and aim of the Physiotherapy service at NHS C.I.C.
Your Physiotherapy Appointments
Your first appointment will last for up to an hour. You do not need to wear sports gear! We will begin to look at the issues that affect your health and create a self management plan with you. We may offer you more one to one appointments, a place on our Moving into Balance Programme, or a combination of both.
Therapeutic Massage
More info coming soon…
Allergy Service
Out-patient clinics seeing adults and children – accepts referrals direct or from the in-house team.
Allergies are increasingly common and the integrity of the individual is affected. This leads often to a profound impact on the person and may limit their life greatly and cause anxieties and related stresses. Skin Prick Testing may give further diagnostic help.
Therapeutic options are individually tailored and include isopathy (to individual allergens, such as pollens), homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine, nutrition, movement therapy and Acupuncture. From this, a focus on health and restoring a healthy relationship to self and environment evolves.
Anthroposophic Medicine
This is an integrative medical approach. It starts with a conventional diagnosis but includes in its assessment of the patient the imbalances of the body and a psychological, mental and spiritual dimension. In particular, the practitioner works with the patient in a creative way with their life situation and illness, to appreciate the challenges of the illness and potential for growth and change. At the centre of this is an appreciation and valuing of the person in their complexity. It takes a holistic approach to health including looking at body and life rhythms such as movement, sleep and breathing.
Therapies may include homeopathy, plant and mineral-based medicines enhanced according to anthroposophic principles, and artistic therapies.
Referral can be made directly or in-house to Out-Patient clinic.
Anthroposophic Medicine considers primary prevention through education as the highest priority eg. via lifestyle counselling and nutrition for the presentation of allergies and obesity. Anthroposophic Medicine takes account of the biographical and social aspects of illness aiming to aid personal development and patient autonomy and empowering patients to share responsibility for the healing process.”
Complimentary Services
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a treatment that can provide short-term relief from the symptoms of some physical conditions. The practitioner will assess each patient’s case and treatment will be tailored to the individual and their needs. Typically, fine needles are inserted through the skin and left in position briefly, sometimes with manual or electrical stimulation. The number of needles varies but may be only two or three. Treatment might be once every two weeks to begin with, then at longer intervals as the condition responds. A typical course of treatment lasts 6 sessions.
For further information http://www.medical-acupuncture.co.uk//
Homeotherapy
When a patient first comes to us for a consultation, an integrative care assessment takes place and following this they may or may not receive a recommendation for homeopathic treatment. If a recommendation is made for homeopathic medicine, the patient is then free to purchase this privately or attend their GP.
Homeopathy is a very gentle system of holistic medicine, used by over 200 million people worldwide. It uses dilute versions of substances from the natural world. More information can be found here:
Mistletoe Therapy
Mistletoe therapy is an anthroposophical medicine and can be integrated with conventional cancer treatment. It involves the prescribed use of mistletoe by qualified doctors and nurses. The mistletoe is obtained from the European mistletoe plant (Viscum album L.) and is pharmaceutically prepared.
Mistletoe is available as ampoules for injection or drops to be taken by mouth. Mistletoe therapy does not replace recommended cancer treatment.
References
- The Cochrane Collaboration: Mistletoe Therapy in Oncology (Review) (2010) Troger W. et al., Viscum album (L.) extract therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.
- A randomized clinical trial on overall survival.Eur J Cancer (2013)
For further information on mistletoe please visit: http://www.mistel-therapie.de
Patient referrals for mistletoe are from registered health professionals involved in the care of patients with cancer.