Tuesdays 10am-12pm
From 10th September – 29th October
If you’re living with Fanconi anaemia, whether you have it yourself or you’re supporting a close family member, you will likely be dealing with a lot of stress and uncertainty. Brought to you as part of the Better Together Alliance Project, this course is designed to help you to deal with the emotional burden of living with Fanconi and similar or related rare conditions.
What does this involve?
We can’t always choose what happens to us in life, but we can pause to choose how we wish to respond.
It sounds so simple… just press the pause button then calmly decide how to respond in a measured way to the problem, what to do, what to say, how to say it.
We all know pausing isn’t simple. Thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in our bodies are very powerful. So quickly we can find ourselves swept away in a torrent of fears, worries, uncertainty, despair, anger, irritation, guilt, frustration…. Often prompting us to act in ways that just add to the problem.
There are creative and imaginative ways of settling the busyness of our minds to find the clear space to choose how we want to respond to whatever life brings us, in our everyday or when going through particularly stressful times, and one way is through Mindfulness.
Mindfulness helps us find an extra energizing dimension to our lives, even when we feel overwhelmed, it helps us create clarifying and compassionate pauses for our minds to settle so moment by moment we can choose to be the person that matters to us.
During this course you will:
- Learn how to find the clear space in your mind to choose how you want to respond to whatever life brings
- Learn tools to help you be the person that matters to you even during challenging times
- Find ways to press the pause button in your mind and quieten the busyness of everyday life
To join the course, you will need access to the internet to join the 8 Zoom sessions (dates below). Ideally you will also need WhatsApp, to join the discussion group and keep in contact with your tutor. We will add you to the WhatsApp group using the number you provide when you register. If you don’t have WhatsApp or need technical support, please feel free to call The Aplastic Anaemia Trust’s helpline on 0300 102 3202 and they will assist you.
About Steven Smith
Steven has worked in both the private and public sector as a Personal Development Coach, and also as a Couples Counsellor for Relate. He spent many years as a professional Yacht Skipper and RYA Sailing Instructor, before training as a Mindfulness Teacher
He is a core teacher trainer for Breathworks, and a ‘Living Well’ Trainer and Supervisor. He runs both ‘Mindfulness for Health’ and ‘Mindfulness for Stress’ programmes and is a qualified Mindfulness in Schools teacher for young people.
Steven has lived experience of managing an ongoing chronic pain condition and uses the techniques he teaches on a daily basis to help manage pain and daily life.
When he’s not working Steven enjoys walking in the New Forest and along the South Coast, playing with his watercolour paints and making music with one of his many guitars.
“[This course has] really helped me to think more objectively and calm my mind and choose my thoughts and reactions to things”
– Previous participant
Session dates
Please add these dates to your diary! You will receive an email the day before each session as a reminder, with the Zoom link.
- Tuesday 10th September – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 17th September – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 24th September – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 1st October – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 8th October – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 15th October – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 22nd October – 10am-12pm
- Tuesday 29th October – 10am-12pm
How to register
We are delivering this course in partnership with The Aplastic Anaemia Trust who are coordinating the registrations, so you need to sign up via their website.
You will be added into a WhatsApp group, so you can communicate with the rest of the group, and send you a reminder email the day before each of your sessions which will include the link to join the session on Zoom. Please be sure to check your spam folder if you do not receive a reminder the day before each session. We will also pop the link in the WhatsApp Chat on the day of the session too.
The Little Mindfulness Workbook
In order to benefit from the course, we would like you to purchase the Little Mindfulness Workbook by Garry Hennessy. This book is available from most bookstores and online and can be ordered at a lower cost as an e-book.