Alison Sedgwick-Taylor https://www.astpsychology.co.uk/ and her organisation A Mindful Practice has, since 2020, introduced over 600 GPs and Primary Care staff in Gloucestershire, UK, to Mindfulness, through Practice Events, Tasters, Silent Retreat Days and formal MBCT Training.

A tailored MBCT 8-week course has been provided for GPs and Primary Care staff to alleviate their stress and wellbeing and to ultimately improve patient outcomes. The course has been iteratively co-created with participants to be as accessible and meaningful as possible and address their expressed pain points. The University of Bath Centre for Mindfulness and Community  https://www.bath.ac.uk/research-centres/bath-centre-for-mindfulness-and-community/ Professor Paul Chadwick and team have independently evaluated the programme using quantitative and qualitative methods and found significant and profound impact on staff levels of stress, wellbeing, compassion and very interesting data on the impact on clinical practice. The Programme aims to create sustained cultural change in primary care by embedding the work in local NHS Wellbeing services (The Gloucestershire Wellbeing Line), the development of champions, a buddy system, online monthly community of practice, and ongoing seasonal silent retreat days.

In this presentation, Alison will deliver a meditation typical of the course, present the delights, difficulties and discoveries of programme delivery and share the results which are being prepared for publication. A few GP course participants may also be in attendance to part of the Q&A session to enrich our discussion.

To gain a flavour of the work have a look at a few of her co-created films:

https://youtu.be/rDvi1zQcwzw