Arrange training
Please contact Bill Sheate at Imagination Therapy to discuss timings and arrange a training session.
Several training options are available for UG, PGT and PGR students, from a 1-hour introduction through to workshops of 2.5 hours or 3.5 hours duration, typically for MSc and PhD students respectively, but all can be adapted and tailored to specific groups.
Mindful Learning and Resilience Skills Training (introductory session)
This introductory session introduces the idea of ‘mindful learning’ for promoting good mental health while studying at Imperial College London. It provides some simple practical self-help mindfulness, relaxation and stress management techniques to help individuals build their own personal skills to deal proactively with common issues like anxiety, stress, worry or low self-worth, and so help build long-term resilience.
Ideal as an introduction of basic skills for all UG, PGT and PGR; highly interactive, it is best tailored to cohorts to pick up specific issues related to exams, assessments, group work etc.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Understand the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
- Be more aware of their own thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and able to be a detached observer of them when necessary.
- Use simple mindfulness and relaxation techniques to help reduce stressful situations/thoughts and build long-term resilience and self-efficacy.
- Apply the concept of 'mindful learning' and be able to really relax!
Training length: 1 hour in person/ 1.5 hours online to allow for set-up and Q&A
Group size: Suitable for any group size e.g. from 10-250.
Level of Study: UG/PGT/PGR
Recommended timing: Autumn term if possible, or linked to inductions/transferrable skills.
Cost: £200 per session
Mindful Learning and Stress Management (follow-up session)
This is a follow-up session with a focus on understanding stress in more detail, our responses to stress, worry and anxiety, and techniques for changing our responses, including mindfulness, relaxation and problem solving.
Training length: 1 hour in person/ 1.5 hours online to allow for set-up and Q&A
Group size: Suitable for any group size e.g. from 10-250.
Level of study: UG/PGT/PGR
Recommended timing: Spring term or in advance of exams/major assessments.
Cost: £200 per session
MSc Workshop on Mindful Learning and Resilience - Values, Purpose and Personal Resilience Skills for Good Mental Health
Learning outcomes are similar to the PhD workshop below, but tailored to MSc students.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Appreciate how thoughts, feelings and behaviours are intimately connected and influence the way we interpret stressful situations/events.
- Define what is important in terms of their own personal values and goals, and how the PhD fits with those values.
- Conceptualise their own personal PhD situtation and problem-solving style.
- Be more in the present moment; have more control of their PhD and so enjoy the research process more.
- Use the skills acquired to change their response where necessary to stressors.
Training length: 2.5 hours in person/online (includes breaks)
Cohort: PGR
Recommended timing: Autumn term ideally, or Spring term.
Cost: £400 per session
PhD Workshop: Taking Control of Your PhD - Values, Purpose and Resilience
This is a complementary workshop to the Graduate School PhD workshop: It's Your PhD: Managing the Supervisor-PhD Student Partnership, which incorporates assertiveness skills training and a focus on the supervisor-PhD student interaction.
Training length: 3.5 hours in person/online (includes one or more short breaks)
Cohort: PGT
Recommended timing: Anytime, suitable for all years
Cost: £600 per session
The sessions are delivered by Bill Sheate, who is a registered cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist in private practice (in Bloomsbury and South Kensington), specialising in anxiety and stress in higher education. Bill is also a part-time Reader in Environmental Assessment in the Centre for Environmental Policy, where he has pioneered a 10-hour course in Relaxation and Resilience skills training as an integral part of the MSc Environmental Technology. He knows Imperial well, having been an academic here for over 25 years, with a strong commitment to pastoral care and support for students.