Charles Audley, PALM AFC, ACT.

Mindfulness with adolescent/young adult clients

How did I arrive at mindfulness?

Interest in Eastern traditions

Authors such as Jack Kornfield & others

Interest in tangible and self-directed therapies

Links with nature (Howell et al., 2011)

Honours thesis in Sports Psychology

Immediate grounding & versatility

A very brief history and background

Is often brought back to Buddha’s Four Foundations: awareness of the body and senses; awareness of the heart and feelings; awareness of the mind and thoughts; and awareness of the principles that govern life

Mindfulness has its roots based in traditional Buddhist practices of meditation and has been used for hundreds, even thousands of years in many parts of Asia. Even though mindfulness is sometimes practiced within a Buddhist context, its essence is universal, and for this reason it can be learned and practiced without Buddhist ideals (Kabat-Zinn, 1990)

Has now been incorporated into several Western psychological interventions including Dialectical behaviour therapy, Mindfulness-based stress reduction, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, Acceptance and commitment therapy, with plenty more in development or undergoing refinement

Time constraints!

Mindfulness, as defined by Brown and Ryan (2003), is ‘‘being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present’’ (p. 822).

More and more, wisdom is being used interchangeably with mindfulness

http://youtu.be/xoLQ3qkh0w0

I like to explain mindfulness to clients as similar to the sensation of diving into a pool on a hot day – refreshing, invigorating and enjoyable!

Defining mindfulness

Practical exercise

So simple – walking meditation

Past, Present, or Future?

Mindfulness is largely concerned with present moment awareness, but I often find clients have recurring thoughts from their past, or overwhelming concern about their future. How can mindfulness help?

Mindfulness is invaluable in helping clients to look at their past from a completely different perspective – with non-judgmental awareness. This effectively short-circuits the loop of regret, remorse and self-pity.

What about the future?

Anti-Mindfulness

Many video games

Drug use

Most television watching

Mindful?Ever had a client who stayed up night after night playing video games? Ever done the same yourself?Video gaming can easily disrupt circadian rhythms resulting in sleep disturbances such as insomnia and Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS). These cycles are already undergoing significant adjustment during adolescence (Crowley, Acebo & Carskadon, 2007).

Mindful?

Have you ever had a client ever stated they use psychedelics to expand their consciousness?

Can mindfulness help override temptation?

Is substance abuse the ultimate denial of reality?

TV watching

A very common way to “switch off”.

I included television watching as I recently asked around the unit why people actually watch tv. Many responded with “tuning out”, “relaxing”, or “why are you asking me that”?

How many of you watch 2 hours or more a day?

Exercise 1

An oldie but a goodie – the sultana exercise.

Invite your senses to behold the humble sultana!

Vision, touch, smell, taste, hearing.

This may or may not be appropriate with our clients, however, it is a reliable discussion starter.

Measuring mindfulness

Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (Gill & Hodgkinson, 2004).

39 items

Five factors: Observe, Describe, Act with Awareness, Nonjudgment, Nonreactivity

Measuring Mindfulness

Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (Buchheld, Grossman, & Walach, 2001)

30 items standard form, 14 items (short form)

Four factors: Mindful presence, Non-judgemental awareness, openness to experiences and insight. It should be noted that factor loadings suggest one common dominant factor, and three very weak secondary loadings respectively.

Bringing mindfulness into everyday activities

How about afternoon relaxation?

Chores – vacuuming, washing the dishes

Brushing your teeth

Relapse Prevention scenarios

Beginning of counselling sessions

Arriving and initiating your day at the office

Mindfulness in sport

Can mindfulness improve performance in sport? (Gooding and Gardner, 2009).

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Mindfulness as a possible mediating factor of anxiety and basketball free throw percentage.

Useful for the client, but even more useful for the

practitioner!I have found that brining an increased awareness into my thoughts and bodily sensations has really improved my output

I’m sure you may have caught your attention wandering in session from time to time. When was the last time you had a non-judgemental look at your workspace layout, decorations, colour scheme or clutter?

It’s not of course, the magic cure. It does take effort, patience, and a desire to manifest this awareness. As we continually rediscover, the default setting in the helping professions is typically client focused.

Summary

Beginning mindfulness training with the client requires very little explanation

Keep it practical – there are so many variations you can tailor to your therapeutic style

Find out what the client’s interests are and apply it to their hobby, i.e. basketball

Don’t forget how useful this can be for both you and your clients

ReferencesBaer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using self- report assessment methods to explore facets of

mindfulness. Assessment, 13, 27-45.

Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848.

Buchheld, N., Grossman, P., & Walach, H. (2001). Measuring mindfulness in insight meditation (vipassana) and meditation-based psychotherapy: the development of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). Journal for Meditation and Meditation Research, 1, 11–34.

•Crowley, S. J., Acebo, C. and Carskadon, M. A. (2007). Sleep, circadian rhythms, and delayed phase in adolescence. Sleep Medicine, 8 (6), 602-612.

Gooding, A. and Gardner, F. L. (2009). An investigation of the relationship between mindfulness, preshot routine, and basketball free throw percentage. Journal of Clinical Sports Psychology, 4, 303-319.

Gill, C. M. and Hodgkinson, G. P. (2007). Development and validation of the five-factor model questionnaire (ffmq): an adjectival-based personality inventory for use in occupational settings. Personnel Psychology, 60, 731-766.

Howell, A. J., Dopko, R. L., Passmore, H. and Buro, K. (2011). Nature connectedness: Associations with well-being and mindfulness. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 166-171.

•Kostanski, M & Hassed, C (2008). Mindfulness as a concept and process, Australian Psychologist, 43 (1), 15-21.

•Kornfield, J. (1993). A path with heart: a guide through the perils and promises of spiritual life. Bantam. New York, NY.

•Walach, H., Bucheld, N., Buttenmuller, V., Kleinknecht, N. and Schmidt, S. (2006). Measuring mindfulness – the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 1543-1555.