Content: This course is designed for experienced therapists or psychotherapy supervisors who wish to implement/establish MANTRA (the Maudsley Model of Anorexia Treatment in Adults) in their team. MANTRA is a novel and highly effective therapy tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of people with AN. Treatment targets are key maintaining factors, including [a] a thinking style characterised by rigidity, detail focus and fear of making mistakes, [b] an in-expressive, avoidant emotional and relational style, [c] positive beliefs about the utility of anorexia for the person, and [d] a response of close others characterised by high expressed emotion and enabling of and accommodation to the illness. In 2017, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended MANTRA as a first line treatment for adults with anorexia nervosa. This two-day interactive, experiential, advanced workshop will teach participants to use MANTRA in patients with more complex presentations (e.g. those with personality problems, trauma histories and other significant comorbidities) and how to adapt MANTRA for patients across different illness and developmental stages (from young first episode cases to severe enduring AN). We will also address common difficulties in therapy, such as how to choose and maintain a therapeutic focus, how to marry a motivational and accepting stance with behaviour change, how to use the MANTRA formulation to optimally work with the patient, their family and team colleagues from other disciplines (e.g. dietetics), and how to deal with non-compliance, ‘stuckness’, lack of progress. Further, we will look at how to create and maintain a thriving MANTRA supervision group that is a laboratory for learning and development. Finally we will look at implications of establishing MANTRA for the wider team.
Trainers: These will include Prof. Ulrike Schmidt, Dr. Helen Startup, Ms. Kate Williams, Chief Dietician, and other senior members of the SLaM Eating Disorders Outpatient Team
Learning Objectives: The course will equip participants to: (1) deliver MANTRA in patients with more complex presentations; (2) to adapt MANTRA for patients across illness and developmental stages; (3) deal with common difficulties in therapy; (4) set up a thriving MANTRA supervision group in their team.