GCU plays key role in UK Parliament mindfulness event
Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) honorary graduate Major Dr Patrick Burgess MBE, psychology staff and students, and our Armed Forces Champion are attending a UK Parliament mindfulness event today (18 October).
Major Dr Burgess, innovator and lead of mindfulness courses within the armed services, is one of the keynote speakers at the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group 'Mindfulness in the Services: Strengthening Resilience within the Armed Forces’ event.
GCU’s Armed Forces Champion Jim Castle, Head of the Psychology Department Dr Kerri McPherson, Reader in Applied Health Psychology Dr Kareena McAloney-Kocaman, and DPsych Counselling Psychology students Emily Beveridge and Ketaki Thosar were invited to attend the event in Portcullis House, Edinburgh.
Dr McPherson said: “We have been working with Major Dr Patrick Burgess MBE, innovator and lead of mindfulness courses within the Armed services and honorary GCU graduate, for a number of years.
“In 2021/22, DPsych Counselling Psychology students Emily Beveridge and Ketaki Thosar began a programme of research that is designed to generate evidence about the benefits of Major Burgess’s online mindfulness course. Brief findings from Emily’s systematic review and empirical project will be shared with attendees at the Parliamentary event.
“Emily’s work provides important evidence that participation in a mindfulness intervention can reduce psychological stress in military personnel. Moreover, participants in Major Burgess’s mindfulness-based training programme reported it to be both acceptable and feasible.
“Emily highlights the need for future research to investigate the impact of Mindfulness Based Training Programme (MBTP) on mental health outcomes, and it is hoped this event will support collaborative efforts to delivering this in the future.
“We are delighted to have been invited to participate in this important event, and to see the important work of our Counselling Psychology trainees being recognised.”