I will aim to regularly update this section so do check back in soon – in the meantime, here’s some resources for starters
Books about ACT
Becoming Mum – Koa Whittingham – This book is written by a Clinical and developmental psychologist who is also a mum about using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to cope with the journey from trying to conceive towards parenthood. The book also covers coping with miscarriage.
Get out of your mind and into your life – Steve Hayes
ACT made simple – Russ Harris
The big book of ACT metaphors – Stoddard & Afari
The Reality Slap by Russ Harris
Books about Compassion Focussed Therapy
The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert
Mindful compassion; how the science of compassion can help you understand your emotions, live in the present and connect deeply with others by Paul Gilbert and Choden (Buddhist monk)
Compassion Focused Therapy for Dummies by Mary Welford
The Compassionate Mind Guide to Overcoming Anxiety by Dennis Tirch- This book is written mainly from the perspective of compassion-focused therapy, but also includes techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy. This might be particularly helpful for people who are both anxious and overly self-critical.
The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Managing Your Anger by Russell Kolts– A book based on compassion-focused therapy on how to bring compassion to the pain of anger and feeling threatened.
The compassionate mind guide to recovering from trauma and PTSD by Deborah Lee – A book based on compassion-focused therapy on how to bring compassion to people who have survived trauma and abuse.
The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Ending Overeating by Ken Goss and Paul Gilbert- A book based on compassion-focused therapy for people who binge or suffer from disordered eating.
The Compassionate-Mind Guide to Building Social Confidence by Lynne Henderson – A book based on compassion-focused therapy for people who are shy or suffer from social anxiety.
A fuller list is available to browse using the following link –
https://contextualscience.org/amazon_self_help_bookstore
Mindfulness apps
Mind the Bump
Smiling Mind
Head Space
Websites
Website of the association of contextual behavioural science – the biggest collection of ACT resources and information and strongly tied to research and the evidence base
https://contextualconsulting.co.uk/resources/embed#?secret=XX1pzCP62c
Contextual consulting organise training and ACT supervision for therapists and also offer therapy for people who need it. They have an excellent collection of free resources for learning more about ACT including MP3 audio exercises, handouts and video clips.
https://contextualscience.org/blog/act_grief
This is a blog post written by Russ Harris about his experience of his son being diagnosed with autism. The content of the post is applicable to grief more generally though, including following the loss of a pregnancy.
Mumsnet is a great resource for practical and helpful information that can sometimes be hard to get hold of when you need it most. I’ve often been surprised that what I want to know about is only covered online on mumset – particularly true for miscarriage.
https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/en/Resources/Overview
A great set of self help resources, resources for looking after family members and resources for professionals that complement using an ACT approach
https://www.babcp.com/Default.aspx
If you’re in the UK and don’t want to access free therapy on the NHS for any reason, the BABCP website may be a good place to start in looking privately for a therapist
Home
Provides information and resources about various aspects of miscarriage, including finding counselling, how miscarriage affects employment and pregnancy after miscarriage. There is also a section with stories of other women’s experiences of miscarriage and a forum where women can share their thoughts and feelings about miscarriage with each other. The forum has a specific board for pregnancy loss during coronavirus. There are also threads on recurrent loss, infertility, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy among other topics. You need to register to read and post in the forum, which makes it a safe space for forum users. The Miscarriage Association also host a private Facebook group and offer a pregnancy loss helpline and an online chat service too.
Tommys are a charity providing information and support for parents in relation to miscarriage and stillbirth. They also offer support in relation to neonatal loss. There are video animations on various topics relevant to miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal loss as well as information to read on other parents’ experiences. Also, there is information on awareness raising campaigns Tommys are involved with, such as the “Tell me Why” campaign regarding the fact that 71% of parents are not told why their loss occurred. Tommys also have information on their website regarding relevant research and fundraising.
Miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death – rights to time off and pay for parents
Maternity action are a helpful resource regarding your rights to paid time off from work if you need that information.
MiscarriageACT 