– Acceptance-Based Guided Self-Help for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Published by Pavilion Publishing,  Living Your Best Life provides guided self-help materials for a person with intellectual disabilities to work through alongside a supporter such as a family member, paid carer, or mental health professional. The tools and guidance help the individual identify what is important to them and move towards a life where worries and doubts do not stop them from doing activities they enjoy or trying new things.

Each chapter includes separate sections for supporters and for the person(s) with intellectual disabilities (which can be read to them if necessary). The workbook also includes a wide range of exercises, graded by difficulty so this can be matched to an individual’s specific abilities and challenges.

The workbook is based on principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and includes advice about accepting and managing common psychological challenges such as anxiety, low mood, anger and grief.

The originator of ACT, Steven C. Hayes has endorsed Living Your Best Life.

AUDIENCE:

Family and caregivers of people with intellectual disabilities; care provider organisations, learning disability specialist clinicians including psychologists, nurses and other allied health professionals and students of these disciplines.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Jonathan Williams is a Principal Clinical Psychologist with NHS Wales. He has two decades of experience specialising in Intellectual Disabilities and has particular expertise in ACT and related approaches, with a range of journal articles in that field. He sits on the UK and Ireland committee for the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (ACBS), and he is also a national committee member of the BPS Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Robert Jones is Honorary Professor of Clinical Psychology at Bangor University, UK, and a retired Consultant Clinical Psychologist. He was formerly the Programme Director on the Bangor Clinical Psychology Training Programme and has held various senior positions in academia and the NHS over several decades. He is the author of over one hundred peer-reviewed publications and several books.