Psychology Covid-19 Series

Member price for Stage 1: £387 + VAT
Non-member for Stage 1: £455 + VAT

Member price for Stage 2: £268 + VAT
Non-member for Stage 2: £315 + VAT

Member price for Stage 3: £268 + VAT
Non-member for Stage 3: £315 + VAT

Timing for Stage 1: 9.30am-5.00pm
Timing for Stage 2 & 3: 9.30am-12.45pm

Overview

This new series is being offered by BPP in response to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. It consists of three linked, evidence-based sessions. The series has been designed to help nourish and protect your mental health and resilience throughout the pandemic and its aftermath.  The sessions can be booked individually.

The series is written and presented by a psychologist specialising in resilience and vulnerability in the context of adverse, or potentially traumatic, events. She teaches, and is currently involved in a research study, in this field.

Who should attend

All professionals, including, but not limited to;

• Legal
• Finance
• Business
• Healthcare

Stage 1: Psychological survival skills for the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond

You will learn how to develop your own resilience, having been provided with a framework of evidence-based techniques that helps you to identify your own stressors; understand how your physiological responses, cognitions, emotions and behaviour contribute to your experience of these stressors; and learn how to adapt or modify those elements.

The course includes recent scientific data on Covid-19 and specific risks associated with it including depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, loneliness and uncertainty. Because this course encourages frank discussion amongst delegates, a powerful effect is the normalisation of experiences and the realisation that you are not alone – which is of vital importance during lockdown and whilst working from home. You will be provided with a plan to help you develop your own resilience skills over time and with resources you can use during the pandemic and beyond for help, support and further information.

It will cover:

• How resilience is characterised and what factors lead to greater resilience
• How to use internal and external resources to increase resilience
• How to use a CBT-based exercise to challenge maladaptive cognitions, emotions and behavioural responses to adverse events
• Which particular aspects of lockdown/working from home might cause difficulties and how to ameliorate their impact

Stage 2: Disaster psychology: Adapting positively in the recovery from, and aftermath of, the Covid-19 pandemic

This session explains how the Covid-19 pandemic will follow the classic disaster cycle, with psychological responses corresponding to each point in the cycle. You will learn that what you may be experiencing (such as fear of being infected or dying; fear for your job security and of financial difficulty; and the profound sense of isolation) are common in pandemics. You will also learn that resilience is a common outcome for those affected by disaster, and what practical steps you can take to enhance that resilience, whilst minimising your exposure to the most detrimental of risk factors. Because some people do suffer adverse effects, this session explains symptomatology and methods of accessing help and treatment. Finally, you will learn about growth through adversity, a concept for which there is a strong evidence basis. You will discover that suffering can indeed lead to benefits, including the development of positive changes in psychological wellbeing.

It will cover:

• How a disaster moves through cycles and what tends to be experienced in each
• How to increase resilience
• Symptomatology of some common disorders arising from disaster exposure and how to access help
• Why growth can follow adversity and how you may gain benefits such as improved psychological wellbeing

Stage 3: Wisdom for well-being

Wisdom has roots in religions, spirituality and philosophy across the world, and this course introduces you to what science has discovered about it. With a focus on one evidence-based model of wisdom, you will reflect upon ways in which you might develop your own wisdom. You will then learn evidence-based elements of subjective well-being and psychological well-being to which wisdom can contribute and see how these concepts interweave. So, you will learn about elements of psychological well-being such as self-acceptance, purpose in life and personal growth, and elements of one model of wisdom such as prosocial attitudes, tolerance, and coping effectively with uncertainty. Finally, as wisdom also plays a role in positive adaptation from the experience of adverse events, we build on the introduction of that concept in Stage 2 to help you strengthen your resilience and psychological well-being, and even discover benefits resulting from your experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will cover:

• The elements of scientific models of well-being and wisdom
• How these elements might have been applicable to you in connection with your own life experiences
• Which of these elements you would choose to work on and develop
• How wisdom is associated with positive adaptation to adversity
• How to apply what you have learned to your own experiences in the future to develop your wisdom and well-being

Questions?

BPP | Tel: 0330 060 3303 | Email: ldicas@bpp.com