Tai Chi in Neuro-Rehabilitation
What you'll learn
- The need for mind-body approaches in community neuro-rehabilitation services, in response to diverse difficulties for people with neurological conditions.
- The folklore traditions around the origins and characteristics of Tai Chi.
- A summary of the evidence base of the application of tai chi interventions for complex health and neurological conditions.
- An exploration of the internal, psychological dimension of tai chi practice, and the clinical relevance of such.
- The conceptualisation of this internal dimension using the concept of flow state experiences.
- A programme of research to use flow to adapt the learning and practice of tai chi for people with neurological conditions.
- The role of tai chi and related practices (yoga, mindfulness) in offering new directions for fatigue management for neurological conditions.
- The use of tai chi and mindfulness as forms of emotional support for people with aphasia and restricted verbal communication.
Requirements
- Professional training in (or studying for) a core neuro-rehabilitation profession and/or mind-body practice such as tai chi, yoga, qi gong or mindfulness.
Description
This course briefly covers the rationale, theory and evidence-base for the use of Tai Chi and related approaches (qi gong, yoga and mindfulness) within neuro-rehabilitation. A critical perspective is offered on existing gaps in the literature and inter-relationship of research findings with clinical need and gaps in service models.
The specific application of tai chi in fatigue management and wellbeing support for people with aphasia is considered in turn. In addition to powerpoint-based didactic learning, experiential practical qi gong exercises are demonstrated to help professionals experience the concepts we discuss in the course. This course is NOT an instructional programme in how to teach tai chi movements to people with neurological conditions.
Who this course is for:
- Physiotherapists; Tai Chi Instructors; Clinical neuropsychologists; clinical psychologists in neuropsychology; psychotherapists; counsellors; speech and language therapists; occupational therapists; rehabilitation doctors and nurses; students
Instructor
- 3.9 Instructor Rating
- 15 Reviews
- 149 Students
- 2 Courses
Dr Giles Yeates (DClinPsych; MSc (Clin Neuro); BSc (Hons); AFBPS; C Psychol) is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist dedicated to pioneering interventions and initiatives within community settings that support the mental health, relationships and communication with people with neurological conditions and their significant others.
Dr Yeates has over 20 years’ experience in community neuro-rehabilitation, vocational rehabilitation and neuropsychotherapy, and his worked in internationally-renowned and pioneering NHS services such as the Community Head Injury Service, Aylesbury and the Oliver Zangwill Centre, Cambridgeshire. Within these services, Dr Yeates has developed the integration of family work within community neuro-rehabilitation service models, and pioneered the adaptation and use of a couples therapy approach (Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, EFT) in the rehabilitation of love and relationship closeness for people with neurological conditions. Finally, Dr Yeates has continued established traditions within neuropsychological rehabilitation on the use of psychotherapy groups and individual psychodynamic interventions.
Dr Yeates has a background in Chinese martial arts (tai chi and kung fu), and an additional interest is the use of these practices to simultaneously respond to concurrent physical and psychological needs of survivors. This work has been developed in NHS, private and academic settings.
More recently Dr Yeates has moved away from health service-based models of service support to work as a clinical neuropsychologist within long-term community resources within the third/voluntary sectors, partnering with charities to deliver web-based resources to survivors and their significant others on a wider scale. This has been an exciting transition to fully realise the remit of a social model of neuro-disability within his clinical practice.
These pioneering projects have developed symbiotically with an active research and dissemination programme. Previously contributing to clinical psychology training in neuro-rehabilitation and research as an honorary tutor at Oxford University, Dr Yeates is now an active academic at the Centre of Movement, Occupational and Rehabilitation Sciences (MOReS), Oxford Brookes University. Dr Yeates is editor of both a journal (Neuro-Disability & Psychotherapy) and book series (Brain Injury), both of which support clinicians to share their innovations in practice.
Dr Yeates was invited to be Chair of the Thames Valley United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) in 2019, where he and his colleagues brings all of these strands (NHS, private, third/voluntary and academic activity) for the benefit of people with neurological conditions in the Thames Valley area of the UK.