Change UP
What is it?
The Change Up group is a 10 week therapy group which is aimed at helping people overcome a range of emotional problems. This includes problems with obsessions and compulsions, panic and social anxiety. It is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques and is run by NHS psychologists.
What does each session involve?
The group is designed to help you deal with intense or uncomfortable emotional experiences that may be getting in the way of your life. We will invite you to talk in the group but nobody will be put on the spot. The group provides learning through course material and practical tasks. These are tasks done in the group and to be done at home. We do invite people to talk about common shared difficulties. We do this as it helps with our understanding of your difficulties and helps people to see how common their difficulties are. We ask that you only share what you are comfortable with other people knowing.
You will receive a free folder of resources and worksheets. These will be used throughout the course and you can continue to use them at home afterwards.
The group is a closed group. This means that only people who are invited to the group can attend and new people will not join after the second week. Participants need to be able to commit to attending all of the 10 sessions in order to gain maximum benefit.
This group may not be suitable for some people so you cannot self refer. However, you can book an assessment appointment (below) with a clinician and together you can decide if the group seems right for you.
How will this help me?
Course Content
For best results, try to come to every session so you don’t miss any important information. Each session is split into two parts, separated by a short break.
Introduction – looks at how we can experience emotions as strong, intense and uncomfortable and at times emotions may seem to take over our life. Motivation for change and goal setting are discussed and we consider how this applies for ourselves.
Understanding your emotions – looks at how emotions have a purpose. Emotions can be broken down into thoughts, physical sensations and behaviours and starting to notice this can make them feel less overwhelming. The session looks at how noting the triggers, responses and consequences of emotions can help us understand our emotional experiences.
Emotion awareness and focusing on the present – looks at how increased awareness of our emotions as they unfold can be important in how we respond to emotions. Learning to objectively and non-judgmentally observe our emotions and our reactions to them is discussed and practised, as well as ways we can anchor ourselves and be in the present moment.
Understanding thoughts – looks at how the way we interpret the world around us can influence our emotional experiences. The session looks at how the way we interpret things can be automatic and suggests ways we can practice being more flexible in the way we view things.
Understanding behaviours – looks at the tendency to avoid things that lead to uncomfortable emotions and discusses how this emotion avoidance may provide relief in the short term but tends to make things worse in the long term. The session looks at how some of the behaviours we do when we feel strong emotions can become unhelpful and how taking a different action can help.
Understanding and confronting physical sensations – the role of physical sensations and the way we interpret these in our emotional experiences is explored. Ways to begin tackling these physical sensations are discussed and practised.
Facing your emotions in the situations in which they occur – the benefit of tackling and confronting uncomfortable emotions is explained and we look at ways we can do this in day to day life. Participants are assisted in developing a hierarchy of exposure tasks that are relevant to their own difficulties.
Putting it into practice – the session focuses on putting the skills learned in previous sessions into practise, including planning and doing tasks at home and within the sessions. This helps us develop new experiences, associations and responses to uncomfortable emotional experiences.
Putting it into practice – the session focuses on putting the skills learned in previous sessions into practise, including planning and doing tasks at home and within the sessions. This helps us develop new experiences, associations and responses to uncomfortable emotional experiences.
Recognising your accomplishments and looking to your future – looks at how making changes can be a journey that takes time but the skills learned can help you continue to make progress and be able to respond in a helpful way to your emotions.
The Change UP group is based on materials from the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders with permission from the author David Barlow and colleagues.
When and Where?
All courses are delivered regularly throughout the year at a range of venues across Fife.
Dunfermline: Carnegie Conference Centre, Halbeath Road, Dunfermline, KY11 8DY
Kirkcaldy: Templehall Community Centre, Beauly Lane, Kirkcaldy, KY2 6EX
Lochgelly: Lochgelly Centre, Bank Street, Lochgelly, KY5 9RD
Glenrothes: Lomond Centre, Woodside Way, Glenrothes, KY7 5RA
Cupar: County Buildings, Cupar, KY15 4TA
St. Andrews: St. Andrews University (Arts lecture Theatre and School 5, United College), KY16 9AX
Leven: Sailor’s Rest, High Street, Methil, Leven, KY8 3EF
Please see booking for dates and times.
