We know that family carers’ wellbeing is extremely important. But, for many family carers, looking after ourselves can feel like another impossible task to fit into an already busy day. In this webinar, we will explore the usefulness of mindfulness and how you can use techniques in a flexible way in your day-to-day lives to support your wellbeing.

This webinar is tailored to parents and carers of children with an intellectual or developmental disability. Professionals that work with families are welcome to attend if they’d like to understand more and share the learning with families.

Speaker programme:

Dr Samantha Flynn, from the University of Warwick, will present research findings from family carers (both parents and adult siblings) of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities about their experiences of an online mindfulness programme, peer mentoring, and any perceived impacts on their wellbeing and wider family life, to inform family carers of the benefits and provide examples of how they can apply it to their lives. As well as being a researcher, Sam also has a 6-year-old daughter who is autistic, and is the co-host on the Cerebra podcast, the ‘Calm in the Complicated’.

Sue Hutton, from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre in Toronto, will lead a session on experiential mindfulness practices. Sue has helped develop and evaluate an adapted Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for family caregivers, as well as neurodiversity-affirming mindfulness adaptations for autistic adults. Sue is a long-time social worker supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families and is also a family caregiver in the community.

If you would like to learn more about mindfulness practices for family caregivers, please book here.