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Programs

Description of Programs

Anxiety

Anxiety is your body’s response to danger. The danger can be real. You might only think it is real. Usually, anxiety doesn’t come from a real danger. Instead, it comes from worrying about what might happen.

Anxiety is the body’s alarm system. Anxiety protects us when we are in danger. When we are in danger, we become more aware. We are very cautious of the possible danger. You might have heard of “fight or flight”. Our body gets ready to either fight or run away. This is a good thing if we are actually in danger. However, if we’re not really in danger, it’s not so good. Our body might not relax. Instead, it keeps being alert. It is ready to run or fight. We’re anxious. This is a problem. But we can learn how to deal with anxiety.
 
You will learn several things in this online program:

  • What anxiety is.
  • How anxiety affects your emotions, your mind, body and behaviour.
  • How to reduce anxiety by learning CBT skills.
  • Use CBT skills to change your responses to anxiety triggers.
  • Develop strategies to track and reduce your anxiety response.

Depression

You are not alone in what you are experiencing.

Depression has no limits and boundaries. It can affect any type of person at any given time in their life. Everyone experiences feelings of sadness that are part of regular mood changes. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is different from regular feelings of sadness. It lasts longer. It is more intense. It affects your personal and professional life. In fact, you do not even need to feel sad or depressed to be diagnosed with a clinical depression. If you stopped being interested in what you used to enjoy, you might be depressed.

People who experience symptoms of depression often think that they are losing control. They say that they no longer recognize themselves. Unfortunately, others sometimes say things like “get over it already”. “Just get it together”. Depression is not just a temporary state. You can’t simply will yourself out of depression. But you can learn skills and coping strategies in order to make positive changes in your life to lessen the impact of depression.

Through this online program you will:

  • Learn more about what depression is.
  • Learn how it affects you emotionally, mentally, physically, and behaviourally.
  • Learn Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) skills to reduce depressive symptoms.
  • Put these skills to work to change your responses to depression triggers.
  • Develop strategies to track and reduce your depression response.

 Grief and Loss

Grief is any reaction you have to loss. It includes the thoughts, feelings, physical reactions and behaviours you have that are related to this loss. The symptoms associated with grief can be stored in the body, and manifest themselves in different ways.

Grief is personal and its experience is grounded in different elements of our own life and of our relationship with the loved one. Our personal traits, culture, network of support, and life circumstances will influence our grieving process. Our relationship and history with the loved one, and the circumstances of death, will impact our path through bereavement. Not all grief is the same; each person has his or her own individual reaction.

You will learn several things in this online program:

  • Types, stages, and domains of grief
  • Self-compassion and self-care
  • How to cope with grief and loss in a healthy way

Insomnia

Sleep needs vary across ages and are greatly affected by lifestyle and health, but most adults require between 7-9 hours of sleep. Wakefulness is a normal part of sleep. It is normal to wake around 3 to 4 times a night. Waking up more than this throughout the night can be a sign that you’re experiencing anxiety or some form of insomnia.

In this program you will learn:

  • How the environment, surroundings, or specific triggers affect your sleeping.
  • The thoughts that cause your insomnia. If a thought is negative, it blocks out all other perspectives.
  • How thought patterns work and how they influence emotions. This lets you take control of what you think and how you feel.
  • You’ll become aware of physical symptoms (such as headaches, fatigue, insomnia) connected to negative thoughts and emotions. You’ll develop healthy responses to these symptoms.
  • You’ll understand why you react to a situation in a certain way. You’ll see how your thoughts affect your feelings. You’ll recognize how your body responds to difficult situations. This lets you develop ways to manage these triggers and helps you change your sleeping behaviour.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

This AbilitiCBT program is designed to help support individuals who may experience symptoms of unwanted intrusive thoughts, images, and/or habitual actions that you perform to alleviate the distress you might experience. AbilitiCBT can help!

You will learn several things in this program:

  • What OCD is and how it affects your emotions, mind, body and behaviour.
  • How to manage OCD by learning cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skills and using them to change responses to triggers.
  • How to develop coping strategies to track and reduce distress caused by OCD and better manage daily activities.

Pain Management

Pain can be something we sense with our body or something we feel with our emotions. Some people experience pain even though there may not be a clearly defined physical cause. The problem might instead be something that affected the person emotionally. If you focus on your thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, and environment, you can affect the way you cope with and experience your pain.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can work for people with chronic pain. It helps people with low back pain, headaches, arthritis and fibromyalgia. CBT can also help with cancer pain and the pain that comes from treating cancer. CBT helps you improve how you react to chronic pain and how it affects your life.

Through this online program you will: 

  • Learn more about what pain is.
  • Learn how it affects you emotionally, mentally, physically, and behaviourally.
  • Learn cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skills to reduce symptoms.
  • Put these skills to work to change your responses to pain triggers.

Social Anxiety

This AbilitiCBT program is designed to help support individuals who experience stressful and uncomfortable thoughts and feelings in social situations such as public speaking, dating or talking to people in groups. If you avoid these types of social situations and they are impacting you, AbilitiCBT can help!

You will learn several things in this online program:

  • What social anxiety is and how it affects your emotions, mind, body and behaviour.
  • How to reduce social anxiety by learning cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) skills.
  • Use CBT skills to change your responses to social anxiety triggers.
  • Develop strategies to track and reduce your social anxiety response.

Trauma Support

Trauma is an emotional and/or physical response to an event(s) that overwhelms a
person’s ability to cope.

Each person experiences trauma differently. No matter who you are, experiencing a trauma is extremely difficult and can severely affect your ability to function. Your reaction to trauma is normal, and this program can help deepen your understanding of yourself as well as help you cope.

You will learn several things in this online program:

  • To understand your reaction to traumatic experiences
  • To identify how trauma affects you emotionally, mentally, physically, and behaviourally 
  • To develop skills to manage and reduce symptoms related to your traumatic experience(s)

Burnout*

Burnout is a common experience in the workplace. It is a feeling of emptiness, exhaustion, and poor self-esteem that can come from being overworked, overwhelmed, and underappreciated in your job. It can impact your physical and mental health, your relationships, and your ability to do your work. Since the pandemic, with the added impact of world events, rates of burnout have increased.

This program aims to help you recognize signs of burnout and understand what might have led to you feeling burned out. You will reflect on your values, beliefs, and needs. Customized information is provided to suit your situation. This program will help you learn how to balance different areas of your life to remain healthy, productive, and fulfilled.

You will learn several things in this online program:

  • What burnout is and common causes and risk factors
  • How to manage burnout and reduce it in the future
  • Self-care and compassion
  • The theory of “cognitive behavioural therapy” and useful skills to take with you into future challenges

*Note there is a customized Burnout program for identifying Healthcare Workers who may be struggling with burnout and associated compassion fatigue and/or vicarious trauma.