Having recently received training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Heidi Stanley, director and co-founder of StanleySmith Case Management, reflects on how its implementation within the business will have benefit for everyone
As it continues to build its service to clients and commitment to staff, Heidi Stanley, co-director of StanleySmith Case Management, has introduced the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help support the business’ focus on wellbeing.
ACT is a form of psychotherapy, which integrates key features of cognitive therapy and behaviour analysis, and uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies – along with commitment and behaviour change approaches – to increase psychological flexibility.
Heidi has recently undergone ACT training to equip her with additional tools when working with clients and their families and when supporting those working within StanleySmith.
StanleySmith has built a reputation for its focus on wellbeing, and Heidi’s adoption of ACT will develop that further still.
Heidi believes ACT will be a valuable approach for her to be aware of particularly when working with parents of children she works with.
“I wanted another tool to use when working with parents who have and are going through trauma, in relation to their child’s injury,” says Heidi.
“Whether their child has been involved in an accident or has had a brain injury during birth, the parents’ focus is usually on how to help their child to be in line with their peers, developmentally or to maximise their child’s potential and quality of life.
“However, we are acutely aware that whilst a parent is also suffering trauma themselves, due to their child’s injury, it is psychologically very demanding to cope with the highs and lows of also supporting their child with their additional needs.”
Heidi wanted to ensure that she remained empathic to this, but also aware of how to help the parent to focus on what is important to them, to help generate a positive focus on moving forwards for her clients.
ACT has a focus on a person’s values, for instance what is important to them and how to work towards that by taking committed actions.
Heidi says: “It’s a very proactive approach which compliments the way I work with parents in any event. I like to work collaboratively with parents on the priorities that are important for their child to help the child to maximise their potential and participate in meaningful childhood occupations.
“Through training in ACT, I can use this as another tool to ensure I continue to be empathetic and compassionate to parents, to have the awareness of ACT running through everything I do with them. It can also help me identify when a parent might need further intervention from a clinical psychologist.
“By supporting people to think of what’s important to them and think about their values – be that mixing with friends or family, or your career – and then taking committed action, it can help give a new focus and help them to make small steps towards getting on track for the things they value the most.”
ACT is also important in StanleySmith’s support of its team, with the business committed to doing all it can to prevent burnout and mental health distress amongst its case managers. Psychologist-led sessions are delivered as a forum to offload and share experiences and concerns, and ACT will help to introduce even further wellbeing measures.
“Wellbeing is very important to us, and we’re very mindful of the jobs our carers and case managers do, so my training in ACT has given a therapeutic tool to use,” says Heidi.
“We all work conscientiously for our clients at StanleySmith but it’s also good to remember our own well being and that we’re all human and need time out of work for our own values. Work life balance and having boundaries around that is important.
“Recently, since my ACT training, I have been asking different office staff members what they love about their work, what they don’t like, to see how we can do more to ensure people are satisfied in their roles.
“We can also establish that if there is something they don’t like so much, but someone else loves that, then we can make changes so that people are more fullfilled in their roles.
“That’s going to make for a happier workforce, while making sure that people’s interests and skill mix are aligned with the job they’re doing. We are approaching teamwork in that way.”
The principles of ACT will also be introduced into some of StanleySmith’s paperwork too.
“We have some documentation in case management that I want to tweak slightly, to make sure some of the themes of ACT flow through,” says Heidi.
“Professional development is something I value and I am really pleased I carried out this training. I love to work innovatively and increasing my knowledge base helps me to do this. Continued development of my clinical practice and as a company director is one of the values that is important to me.”
