Bariatric Leaflet: Specialist Weight Management and Bariatric Psychology Service

Specialist Weight Management and Bariatric Psychology Service: Our aim is to help people lose weight and improve their health, well-being and quality of life. Our strategy is practical, individual, respectful and compassionate. Whether or not you choose to have bariatric surgery achieving these aims usually requires long term lifestyle change.

Leaflet Details

Patient Information

Contents

• Meet the team
   
• How can the psychology service help me?
   
• What we offer
   
• Individual sessions
   
• In-person groups
   
• Pre-recorded online workshops
   
• Preparing for bariatric surgery
   
• Resources

Meet the Team

How can the psychology service help me?

Our aim is to help people lose weight and improve their health, well-being and quality of life.

Our strategy is practical, individual, respectful and compassionate.

Whether or not you choose to have bariatric surgery achieving these aims usually requires long term lifestyle change.

We recognise that each person is different. Our strategy is to help you consider the options for moving forwards, find out what works for you, learn from what doesn’t work and tackle challenges so that you can stay on track with your plans and achieve your goals.

What do we offer?

Individual Sessions

We provide education, support and therapeutic intervention for a wide range of psychological issues directly related to eating, weight and bariatric surgery.

Examples of our work include:

• Supporting people with specific problems related to eating e.g. binge eating or emotional eating
   
• Supporting people with problems specifically related to weight e.g. social anxiety and avoidance
   
• Supporting people in making the behavior changes required to achieve sustained weight loss and improved well-being
   
• Supporting people to think through the pros and cons of surgery and whether it is the right option for them and when
   
• Providing guidance around mental health problems which may influence eating habits, self-care, eligibility for bariatric surgery and reactions to bariatric surgery
   
• Supporting people who are adjusting to changes after weight loss e.g. mood changes, anxieties about eating, body image or relationships
   
• Resilience building: working with strengths, qualities, resources and values
   
• Signposting

Groups

Eating, Health and Wellbeing

Where does it take place?

This is an online group

How many sessions?

This group has six 2-hour sessions

What is the aim of the group?

The group aims teach psychological skills that can be used to make sustainable behavioural changes.

What is covered?

• Mindful eating, coping with cravings and urges, regular eating,
   
• How to challenge negative thoughts, compassion, values-based goal setting and coping with worries

ACTivity Group

Where does it take place?

This is an in person group at Woking Leisure Centre

How many sessions?

This group has six 2-hour sessions

What is the aim of the group?

This is a jointly facilitated group with the team physiotherapist to support people who are struggling to be physically active

What is covered?

• Psychological barriers to exercise e.g., body image concerns, low self-esteem and/or low motivation
   
• Physiological barriers to exercise e.g., medical conditions, breathlessness
   
• How to incorporate exercise into your life

Pre-recorded Online Workshops

Our online workshops provide:

• Information and education about psychological aspects of difficulties associated with weight and eating
   
• Opportunities to reflect on and learn from your own experiences
   
• Guidance on strategies which may help you to make the changes needed to achieve your goals

You can access these workshops through your Training Tracker account by pasting this link into your browser.

https://asphwm.trainingtracker.co.uk/

Or scanning the QR code below

If you still need to have your Training Tracker account set up you can contact the service on 01784884620

Awareness of behavior

The aim of this session is to help you identify some of the influences on your weight and eating behaviour. We know that making changes to our behaviour is really difficult. Often we might know what to do, but find it difficult to put these things into practice. We will invite you to consider this further by examining the advantages and disadvantages of making changes. We will look at the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger to help you to notice and pay attention to different cues for eating. Finally we will explore different ways of responding to these cues and influences through mindful eating and self-care activities.

Mind Body Awareness

This session introduces mind-body medicine and explores a whole person approach to understanding health and wellbeing. We will learn the role that our mind and psychology has on our health and weight. We are also going to explore how you can start to reconnect with your body and how this can help benefit your physical and mental health. We will do this by using different mindfulness practices so help us to get more present, respond differently to our emotions and start to reconnect to our bodies.

All or Nothing Thinking

Do you often use the words words ‘always’, ‘never,’ ‘everything’ or ‘nothing’ either in sentences or when thinking about your eating? Perhaps you feel like you’re 100% on a diet or 100% off the wagon. This could be a sign of ‘all or nothing thinking’. This session explores this thinking style to help you understand what all-or-nothing thinking is, and how it may show up in your life. We will then think about why we adopt this strategy, and whether it is working for you to create the life you want to live. Finally, we will consider some alternative ways of thinking about health behaviour change.

Body Image Workshop

This session explores the way you feel about your body. The aim is to help you understand what body image is and where it comes from. This workshop is not designed to get you to love or even like your body but rather, support you to practice a range of skills that can help you live the life you want to live, in the body you have right now!

Psychology of Eating

This session focuses on the principles of intuitive eating and supporting you to eat in line with your body’s needs. There are seven modules in this workshop beginning with understanding and improving your relationship with food. This module supports you to bring awareness to your current relationship with food and the impact of restricting food. This is followed by connecting with your hunger where you’ll practice tuning into your body’s signals and the different types of hunger. The third module focuses on cravings, where they come from and a practice for working with cravings. Part four explores the rules you may have adopted around food and whether these are working for you and your goals. In module five, you’ll learn about fullness and how to listen to when your body has had enough food through practical exercises. Module six covers finding satisfaction with food, and supports you to understand what you really want to eat through body based inquiry. The final module explores your relationship with exercise and how to find joy in movement.

Emotional Eating Workshop

This session explores the emotional reasons we may eat. For example, eating when we are sad, lonely, bored, angry, anxious or stressed. It helps you identify why we emotionally eat, explore your relationship with food in more detail and give you time to practice a range of alternative ways to cope.

Are you considering bariatric surgery?

Bariatric surgery can be an effective tool to support people lose weight and improve their health. However, this surgery is life changing and it is important that you take time to understand the risks that can be associated with it.

‘The Psychological Risks Associated with Bariatric Surgery’ booklet which is designed to give you an overview of some of the most common psychological risks associated with bariatric surgery.

https://www.ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk/leaflets-bariatric

Psychology and Bariatric Surgery Education Session

For anyone considering bariatric surgery, you will be required to watch an educational video that provides you information on the psychological considerations in relation to surgery. When you have watched the video, you will be required to complete some questions to demonstrate your understanding.

This can be accessed on your Training Tracker account.

Resources

We understand that life is often challenging and this is likely to continue even when you are trying to lose weight and improve your health.

You may be experiencing a range of difficulties which make it hard to make and sustain changes to your diet and lifestyle e.g. problems with physical or mental health, relationships, money, caring responsibilities or housing.

You can refer yourself and access support from other services in the area that may better support your needs. We have put together a list of helpful contacts below.

You may be interested in some of the following recommended resources:

• Living With Bariatric Surgery - D. Ratcliffe
   
• The Weight Escape - J. Ciarrochi, A. Bailey and R. Harris
   
• The Intuitive Eating Workbook - E. Tribole and E. Resch
   
• Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World - M. Williams
   
• Mindful Eating - J. Chozen Bays
   
• Just Eat It - Laura Thomas
   
• Body Positive Power - Megan Crabbe