Exploring how compassion can support secured service patients
Within NHFT one of our values that we pride ourselves on is that of compassion. In October 2021, leading voice on compassion Dr Sunil Lad, Consultant Counselling Psychologist at NHFT, was asked to present at the International Compassionate Mind Foundation Conference. The annual event brings together the latest scientific findings on compassion and how it can be used in working with people who experience distress and high levels of shame.
As well as working as a psychologist Sunil is also a yoga teacher and he was asked run a day workshop on Compassion Focused Therapy and Yoga as there are many overlaps between the two and how to safely have an embodied experience when working with distressing emotions and apply the qualities of courage and wisdom rather than avoidance which we often get conditioned to do.
Sunil, working alongside two psychologists facilitated a clinical workshop on working with guilt, shame and humiliation, understanding evolutionary function and how to therapeutically work with it. Sunil shared his insight and clinical experience of working in secured services of how to recognise that these emotions can be a block and are essential to work through for reducing recidivism, and improving outcomes for people.
Sunil will now be reviewing these learning and embedding this into trauma informed and compassionate care in Secured Services in NHFT; recognising the challenges we face with the population that we work with.
Listen to Dr Sunil on the Kulaverse podcast on yoga and compassion today