The aim of the Mindovergut.com resilience program is to help individuals identify and utilise psychologically focused strategies in order to promote resilience, optimal health, and overall quality of life.

The Mindovergut.com resilience program consists of 7 modules, each targeting a specific set of areas and factors known to exacerbate and/or maintain gastrointestinal difficulties and associated psychological distress. The modules are designed in a step-like fashion, with each module building upon the strategies that have been learnt previously.

The Mindovergut.com program is based on a combination of stress management, cognitive behaviour therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. Stress management strategies (such as relaxed breathing) are utilised to reduce stress and the physiological impact that stress has on the body (e.g., increased muscle tension around the gastrointestinal tract). Cognitive behaviour therapy strategies utilised in this program include cognitive flexibility (identifying and challenging unhelpful thinking patterns that promote stress and gastrointestinal symptoms e.g., ‘My gastrointestinal is getting worse’) and exposure work (planned activities whereby individuals confront a situation which they currently avoid due to unwanted distress). Finally, acceptance and commitment therapy strategies (e.g. mindfulness) are utilised to help individuals adapt how they experience and respond to negative cycles of distress associated with living with gastrointestinal symptoms.

The Mindovergut.com resilience program consists of 7 modules, with each module designed to be completed per week. Each module will take approximately 30 minutes to complete and homework activities take around 20-40 minutes per day. Participants are recommended to undertake the modules and related practice activities at a pace that suits them and their situation. Participants will have access to the program for up to 16 weeks, although they can contact the investigators to request longer access to the program if necessary.

Prior to starting the program, you are asked to complete an intake questionnaire (approximately 45 minutes). After completing the intake questionnaire, you will also be automatically emailed each week, for the next 6 weeks, and invited to complete a brief 2-minute post-module feedback questionnaire. Finally, eight weeks after completing the intake questionnaire, you will be asked to complete a post-program questionnaire (taking approximately 35 minutes to complete).

Module One, entitled “Promoting a Growth Mindset”, lays the foundation for the many skills and strategies you will learn as part of this Program overall. Too often, resilience and optimal health is blocked by negative thinking. As part of this Module, you will learn how to develop a positive growth mindset and get your mind to start reorienting itself towards positive aspects of your life and experiences and acknowledge them, even during times of physical and or psychological distress. Importantly, this module will also talk about and ask you to identify potential barriers to taking part in and completing this program.

Module Two, entitled “Moving Towards Your Vision for the Future”, is focused on identifying your values-based goals to help you move towards the life you want to live. A key aspect of building resilience and optimal health is to identify and engage in those activities in life that give us meaning, that is, your values.

Module Three, entitled “Stress Management”, targets stress and psychological distress. As part of this Module, you will learn how to not only reduce your overall stress levels but also how you can use slow, relaxed breathing to help calm your body during peak levels of distress.

Module Four, entitled “How You Think Impacts How You Feel: Mindfulness, Acceptance and Cognitive Defusion” targets catastrophising and rumination about symptoms. This Module explores the role of emotions and thoughts, and how by being observant of one’s experiences (rather than getting caught up in them), we can break the negative cycle of thoughts, feelings and emotions that perpetuates distress.

Module Five, entitled “How You Think Impacts How You Feel: Cognitive Flexibility,” targets similar processes to Module 3 but is aimed at building your cognitive flexibility. In other words, this Module helps you identify and challenge the thoughts that facilitate distress and poor symptom management. 

Module Six, entitled “How You Act Can Impact How You Think and Feel: Exposure Work”, targets avoidance and safety behaviours, helping you confront your fears through planning and engaging with exposure-based activities.

Lastly, Module Seven, the final Module, is entitled “Reviewing and Overcoming Setbacks” and is aimed at consolidating all that you have learnt in the previous six Modules. This Module will help you identify strategies which you might use to overcome future setbacks and challenges and provides you with other resources which you may find helpful on your journey towards optimal health and resilience.

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McKay, M., Wood, J. C., & Brantley, J. (2019). The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. https://www.newharbinger.com/9781684034581/the-dialectical-behavior-therapy-skills-workbook/