A Balanced Approach to Living Well in Powys.

Phoenix Mindful Living

learning to live with ease.

We were really excited to meet up with Nikki Thomas-Roberts who told us all about the amazing Balance Programme, currently being offered to unpaid carers and volunteers in Powys. The next programme starts on the 5th August, Nikki tells us all about the benefits and what's involved below.

 Where did the idea for the Balance Programme come from? 

Powys Care Academy and Powys Council commissioned Phoenix Mindful Living, a company run by Nikki Thomas-Roberts to undertake a scope to find out what we could do to enhance support to Carers and Volunteers living in Powys. The Balance Programme was designed to meet the needs of Carers and Volunteers based on engagement work and feedback undertaken by PAVO, CREDU and Powys Council. The programme has been trialled over the past six months and many participants have taken part. What has worked really well has been the 8 week Mindfulness Based Living Course,  one day Balance Retreat and one to one sessions to support participants with space, time, skills, resources and connection to other Carers and Volunteers in safe and friendly environments.

Nikki Thomas - Roberts

Who is delivering the sessions and what is their background? 

Nikki runs Phoenix Mindful Living. She is a Registered General Nurse, works as a Wellbeing Development Practitioner, has worked for 39 years in cancer care, Leadership and Organisational Development since starting her career in cancer care at the age of 16. Nikki was also a young carer and has a caring role for her two sons. Like her three children, Nikki is herself Dyslexic and has relentlessly looked for ways to support her emotional wellbeing and fellow NHS staff, nurses and Doctors over the past twenty years. Understanding how Compassion based mindfulness can impact and support individuals including herself, drives Nikki to teach these techniques both in the UK and the USA.

What does a typical 8 week programme involve?

The Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) is generally run on MS Teams, the sessions are 2 hours long and run on a Wednesday afternoon 2.30-4.30pm or Friday mornings, 9.30-11.30 am

We can always negotiate other times, such as evenings or weekends if this works better. The course starts off with very gentle compassion based mindfulness techniques and practices, to help the participant really ‘feel’ how to be mindful. So that when it comes to weaving these skills into everyday life, they have already experienced it. Compassion practices are really important because often Carers and Volunteers give so much of themselves in their caring roles, often they can feel overwhelmed and sometimes lose the essence of themselves. Self-compassion supports individuals to not feel so isolated, to know that as a race we are connected to others and to understand why it’s important to keep ourselves in the loop of compassion as best we can. The Powys Programme creates very small groups who empathise and connect with each other in terms of the difficulties we are all facing sometimes, this in its own right, can be really helpful to participants.

Who is the programme for and who can access the service?

Initially the Balance Programme was designed with Powys Carers and Volunteers in mind. After the success of the first pilot, we have also rolled the programme out to Health Care workers too.

Balance Mindfulness Session. 

What are the benefits of attending? 

Participants will experience how to meditate, develop skills to manage their emotions and to regulate emotions more skilfully. Learning how to weave these new skills into everyday life, so that mindfulness is not something else to do, but being more present and generally being  mindful helps participants live with more ease.  Even on a short course or a one day retreat, Carers and Volunteers have left knowing more about how their mind works; what effect this has on their bodies; actions and emotions and how to soothe themselves even in moments of real difficulty. Participants have fed back to us how they feel they’ve learned to be more present and how to experience moments of contentment, ease, joy and positive emotions too.

Being aware of these positive emotions helps us balance some of the difficulties we experience in life.

In what ways has the programme supported unpaid carers?

Balance has done just that, helped Carers and Volunteers Balance their needs with the needs of others. This is still work in progress and it is our intention to grow the programme organically, which means we’re directed by what works for Carers and Volunteers. For example, we have developed a way of meeting participants where they are. Despite running retreats and sessions online, we know that there is a much greater need and to meet this challenge, so we have designed ‘ Mobile Mindfulness in The Good Karma Camper,’ which means we can come out to small communities and villages, organisations and youth groups and run short mindfulness sessions where Carers and Volunteers live, all over Powys. Our Retreats have provided a lovely space too, time to chat in a safe environment, encouraged walking meditation and a connecting over lunch. Learning skills and tools together in a fun and friendly way to support emotional health issues. The Balance Programme is not Therapy, however the practices and programme can have a therapeutic effect. Mindfulness can be used to manage many emotional health issues including Anxiety and Depression.

Supporting Emotional Health

Is there a respite support service in place to support carers to attend?

Yes there is. This is vital if we are to reach Carers and Volunteers. We can link up with Powys Council for support in supporting the cared for.  

Do you have a case study you can share with us?

Cecilia recently completed one of the 8 week programmes and really felt the benefits, here is what she had to say about her experience.

Where is the programme held? 

Over MS Teams and in person. So far we have held several sessions and  two 8 week MBLC’s on line and two Retreats at Bronllys Hospital at the Basil Webb Centre. One to one sessions can be done on line or over the phone. We are looking to set up Retreats further afield across Powys county as and when needed, to accommodate Carer and Volunteers individual needs.

Bronllys - Basil Webb Centre

When does the next programme begin and how can people book a place?

The latest online course (delivered over Microsoft Teams) begins on Wednesday 26 April, 9.30-11.30am, with further sessions, at the same time, on 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 May, and on 7 and 14 June.

To find out more and to book your place, please contact Nikki Thomas-Roberts, of Phoenix Mindful Living, on: phoenixmindfulliving(at)gmail.com 

If you don’t have the time to attend an eight-week course, staff and volunteers working in the health and social care sector can also attend a one-off, three-hour, free Harmony and Balance Session (for up to eight participants) over Microsoft Teams. The next available dates for these are Wednesday 31 May, 1.30-4.30pm, and Wednesday 26 July, 9.30am-12.30pm.

Where can people find out more about the programme? 

Please contact phoenixmindfulliving@gmail.com or contact Nikki on 07803472316 between 6-8pm on week evenings and anytime on Saturdays.