Onebright hosts a set of professional mental health workshops for mental health awareness week.
This week, CBT experts Onebright have been hosting a range of mental health workshops for law professionals, which address topics such as procrastination, self-critical thinking and technology addiction.
However, in a high-pressure industry like law, these feelings and thoughts can often hinder performance and leave professionals leaving depleted and less than their best.
Leading CBT providers, Onebright believes that cognitive behavioural therapy techniques can be the answer to overturning repetitive, negative patterns that can hinder performance and mental wellbeing.
As a result, the firm has been hosting a range of workshops this week for mental health awareness week that has been specifically designed to not only identify negative or unhelpful cognitive distortions but also offer tips and advice based on evidence-based CBT practises.
Workshop 1: Procrastination and performance
Anyone who often finds themselves putting off larger important tasks and favouring little more digestible tasks is all too aware of falling into the trap of procrastination.
Although everyone falls victim to procrastination at some point in their life, constant procrastination can significantly affect people’s productivity in both their professional and personal lives. This often triggers mental health problems such as anxiety, shame, guilt and workplace stress.
It is estimated that workplace procrastination in particular costs British businesses £76 billion a year, with professionals thought to be spending an astounding 218 minutes a day.
Onebright was shocked to learn the detrimental impact procrastination was having on the UK economy so held a workshop this week discussing the link between procrastination and performance.
Conducted by Professor Marcantonio Spada, the session outlined the nature of procrastination, reviewed the causes and shared three tips on how professionals can overcome procrastination.
Discussing the workshop, Professor Spada said
“It was great to be back at CMS to share insights on how to understand and begin overcoming common mental health difficulties. The staff were engaged and stimulating.”
Workshop 2: Self-critical thinking and confidence
At some point in most people’s lives, they will experience self-critical thinking and low self-confidence. Negative self-talk can have a significant impact on professional performance, and this workshop, conducted by Dan Kolubinski, aimed to help professionals understand the nature of their own self-critic. Kolubinski also encouraged attendees to investigate how having a different relationship with their self-critic could have a more positive outcome on their self-esteem and confidence.
Kolubinski’s research has explored the beliefs people have about their self-critic and has involved developing an understanding of the justifications people use for being harsh on themselves when they make a mistake.
Outlining some of the critical tips shared during the workshop, Kolubinski said
“The staff at CMS perform at a very high standard. It was interesting to discuss how to challenge self-criticism without negatively affecting performance.”
Workshop 3: Addiction to technology – a threat to wellbeing
Technology has become such a prevalent part of modern day society and its increased popularity and seen it become so ingrained in everyday life that it raises the concern of technology addiction.
We see people mindlessly scroll on their phones every day; hands firmly gripped to their devices. Toddlers now even seem to intuitively know to touch screens and expect a reaction.
So what impact does this have on our mental health?
Professor Spada’s workshop on technology and addiction explored this topic and aimed to help professionals learn how to identify unhelpful patterns of technology use. The workshop also reviewed the impact of unhelpful technological engagement on physical and mental functioning and shared tips on how to adopt a balanced and healthy approach when using technology.
Workshop 4: Managing stress and burnout
Burnout and stress can cause significant changes to an individuals physical, psychological and emotional health. Extreme exhaustion can also lead to mood and anxiety disorders and can often be caused by taking on too many responsibilities personally and professionally.
In this workshop, Tricia Worthington offered guidance on how to identify physiological and psychological responses to stress and to work with the body, mind and emotions to alleviate symptoms.
Workshop 5: How mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) can help with stress and mood disorders.
Although people acknowledge that stress is now part of our daily lives, people find it hard to identify what it means.
This workshop, which was held in Glasgow and Edinburgh by BABCP accredited CBT therapist, Kitty Burton, invited the attendees to explore the signs and potential consequences of stress. The session gave an overview of two evidence-based structured mindfulness programmes – Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and discussed how these can help with stress and depression.
Mindfulness has been practised for thousands of years, but it has now entered common language due to clinical research studies showing its benefits in reducing stress, improving wellbeing and treating recurrent depression.
Discussing the week’s sessions, Onebright’s Director of Clinical and Business Operations, Shamira Graham said
“I am so thrilled that we developed such an innovative programme of specialist events to support CMS in their expansive wellbeing and mental health strategy. The topics were selected based on insights from trends we see from our on site CMS clinic and offsite psychological support. We recognise the need to dovetail health promotion as part of early intervention to prevent or manage the shift into mental ill health.”