Please welcome our new SDS Tutor!

I am very pleased to introduce to you today a new SDS tutor, my good friend and colleague Dr Fiona Kennedy: SDS Trainers

Fiona has a vast clinical experience in mental health (from anxiety through eating disorders and PTSD to psychosis and personality disorders) and learning disability fields. Fiona’s main orientation for many years has been Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and she is an established and well respected figure in the field.
Dr Kennedy will be delivering two very practical and highly demanded courses for us:

• Working with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and
• Teaching Clients to Use Mindfulness Skills

Please explore the website for detailed description of the courses and download PDF leaflets for further particulars.

As you are our continuous supporter we here at SDS decided to offer you a special deal to make training more accessible at this difficult and financially uncertain time: for 24 hours only you can book these courses online with 50% discount, paying only £70 + vat for each.

I hope you will find these courses useful for your work and take advantage of this short-term offer.

I will be in touch shortly with some feedback on our recent debates.

Best wishes
Paul Grantham

Mindfulness Meditation Increases Well-Being in Adolescent Boys

'Mindfulness', the process of learning to become more aware of our ongoing experiences, increases well-being in adolescent boys, a new study reports.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge analyzed 155 boys from two independent UK schools, Tonbridge and Hampton, before and after a four-week crash course in mindfulness. After the trial period, the 14 and 15 year-old boys were found to have increased well-being, defined as the combination of feeling good (including positive emotions such as happiness, contentment, interest and affection) and functioning well.

Professor Felicia Huppert of the Well-being Institute at the University of Cambridge said: "More and more we are realising the importance of supporting the overall mental health of children. Our study demonstrates that this type of training improves well-being in adolescents and that the more they practice, the greater the benefits. Importantly, many of the students genuinely enjoyed the exercises and said they intended to continue them -- a good sign that many children would be receptive to this type of intervention.

"Another significant aspect of this study is that adolescents who suffered from higher levels of anxiety were the ones who benefitted most from the training."

The success of this initial study has recently led to the creation of an exciting 8 week mindfulness curriculum for schools in both the state and private sectors. This new curriculum, which includes games and video clips, should have even greater benefits.

(More information by clicking HERE)

Another link: mindfulnessinschool