I have had the pleasure of facilitating the ACTivate your life course, here at the Hospice of the Valleys for the past few years and have continued to support many Hospice patients, family members and bereaved relatives with the principles that the course encourages people to consider and adopt.

ACTivate Your Life is a psychology course based on a new approach to therapy – “ACT” (that stands for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).

We believe that everyone can benefit from this course – that includes people with emotional problems, mental health issues, physical health conditions, and even people who have “no problems at all” (although this is a rare condition!).  ACTivate Your Life offers help to people with emotional issues including anxiety, depression, stress, worrying, low self-confidence, unwelcome thoughts, panic, lack of motivation, unwanted habits, addictions, etc. etc.  It can also be helpful for people with physical health conditions that are painful, or disabling or very worrying.

Of course, during a pandemic, face-to-face work has been a challenge, to say the least, and any group work currently remains impossible.  I was pleased to see that Neil Frude, who developed the course, has provided a series of videos that will act as a compromise and alternative until we can spend time together again.

In the meantime, I would encourage anyone who would like to learn how to take less notice of thoughts that trouble them to have a look at the links.  There are 4 videos, each lasting approximately 45 minutes, and accompanying written synopses and Activity Sheets as well as some guided Mindfulness audios. Here are the links to the courses in English and Welsh

Jonathan Pearce

Head of Family Support Team