Programme Details & Costs

What does it involve?

The programme itself is very simple and beyond the basic principles, there really isn’t very much to learn. It’s much more like learning to ride a bike than doing a PhD. You could read hundreds of books on riding a bike, but they won’t really help you to ride one; the only way to learn is to get on and push the peddles. Mindfulness is essentially a skill, which you develop with practice.

Once you start you’ll find there is a momentum to the practice, the more you practice, the quieter your mind, the clearer things become and the better you feel. I’m not pretending that it’s always easy, it requires real effort and there may be times when you wish you had never started, but you’ll soon find that no matter how hard it gets it is always easier and less painful than not doing it, so there’s a real incentive to keep going.

I’ll teach you a series of techniques that will allow you to take more control of your inner reality and with the clarity that brings, to get the most from your life and manage yourself effectively in the world. It’s a skill for life not just for controlling addictions and you will continue to use and develop your practice long after we’ve finished working together.

How long is does it take?

I’ve known clients with very deeply entrenched addictive behaviours stop completely after the first session. It’s really not that uncommon!

Most people are on top of it within a few weeks but with others the addictive patterns die out more gradually over time. Either way is fine, we have to work with reality and we won’t really know until we get started.

If you were to cut your thinking by 25% it would be enough to deal with your addictions, but it won’t be enough for you, because you’ll want to go all the way. It’s that addictive drive in you! I sometimes have coaching sessions with clients who I first worked with 5 or 6 years ago, their addictions died long ago, but they still have the odd one to one session to help develop their practice further. I’ve been practicing for 8 years and the experience is still deepening for me. I’m not sure there really is an end to it. It’s the best addiction yet.

If possible I prefer to work with people for between 9 and 12 months (although we’ll usually only meet monthly after the first 12 weeks). I find that after about 9 months the practice is second nature for most people and whatever happens in their life, they automatically deal with it mindfully rather than running with their addictions. Once you’ve mastered this you have broken the addictive patterns for good. The chances of relapse are then very remote and it’s safe for me to let you go.

The programme is usually in two parts the: The teaching stage and the relapse prevention stage.

What is the teaching stage and what does it cost?

There are no hard and fast rules, but the teaching stage usually consists of 10 x 1 hour one to one coaching sessions at my office in Central London. It is useful to get the first 3 sessions in quite quickly because they have key information that you will need to apply the practice to full effect. We’ll usually meet weekly but towards the end of the teaching stage we may spread the sessions to fortnightly, but that depends on how it’s going. In between the sessions I’ll coach you by phone and the phone coaching is available throughout the whole period.

The cost of the teaching part of the programme is £1000 inclusive. This includes ten one to one coaching sessions and as much ongoing phone coaching as necessary. If any medical and detox services are required they are charged directly by the provider.

You will be asked to commit to the 10-12 week programme and really give it your all. I’ll give it 100% and since it’s your recovery we are dealing with, it’s only fair that you do the same. At the end of this stage we’ll review the situation and come up with a plan from there, we might need to meet regularly for a while, but usually clients are on top of the addictions by then and we will move to the relapse prevention stage of the programme.

What is the relapse prevention stage and what does it cost?

It isn’t easy to keep all this going on your own, and at times it may seem like the whole world is trying to pull you back into the madness, so I find that things go much smoother if we stay fairly close for a while. We would usually meet up for a coaching session once a month, it helps to remind you of the techniques and as you move much deeper into your practice you’ll begin to see the greater significance of what you learned right at the beginning. We can meet more frequently if you want, that’s fine, I don’t want you to be dependant on me but at the same time I don’t want to cut you loose too soon, so we’ll play it by ear. The phone coaching is included so you can always call me if you find yourself getting lost or if something comes up that you need to discuss.

The relapse prevention programme usually includes one coaching session a month and ongoing phone coaching as required at a cost of £120 per month.

I also run a weekly group for advanced practitioners which you can tap into later on, it’s not for the faint hearted, and only for people who are skilled with the techniques, but when you are ready, you’ll be invited to join and it’s a really good way to stay happy and well in yourself, as well as being an excellent support group.

Where do we go from here?

If what you’ve read adds up for you, then there is a very good chance that I can help. Why don’t you call me for a chat or request an assessment by phone or e-mail.

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