2 Mindful therapy

In ‘Mindfulness’ from Mad or Bad: A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology, you read about how mindfulness has been found to be helpful for many mental health difficulties, and you explored some of the ways in which mindfulness can work in counselling practice with clients.

Watch this animation, created by some of the course authors at The Open University, for a bit more about why the mindfulness idea of ‘being present’ is so useful – in general, and in therapy in particular.

Being present in therapy – key ideas in therapy
Transcript (opens in new window)

Activity 2 Mindfulness in counselling

From reading the chapter and watching the animation, come up with a list of ways in which therapists or counsellors could bring mindfulness into their work with clients.

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Discussion

There are three ways in which counsellors can bring mindfulness into therapy:

  1. counsellors offering mindfulness ideas and practices to their clients
  2. counsellors practising mindfulness themselves
  3. cultivating a mindful therapeutic relationship.

You’ll cover these in more detail next.

OpenLearn - Mindfulness in mental health and prison settings
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