• Tuesday 13 January, welcome session

• Tuesday 20 January, session 1

• Tuesday 27 January, session 2

• Tuesday 3 February, session 3

• Tuesday 10 February, session 4

• No session on Tuesday 17 February due to half-term

• Tuesday 24 February, session 5

• Tuesday 3 March, session 6

• Tuesday 10 March, session 7

• Tuesday 17 March, session 8

Times: All sessions are 10.30am - 12noon. There will be a short break half way through each session.

Location: The group will take place online via teams, using the same link for each session. Please test out in advance that you are able to connect to the Teams meeting.

• explore how minority stress affects our wellbeing

• develop an understanding of thoughts, feelings and behaviours through CBT techniques

• learn and practice strategies for negative thoughts

• identify experiences and activities that feel affirming to our identities

• practice self compassion and future planning

• meet a supportive peer group

We discussed what stress is, which can be defined as 'a state of physical, mental and/or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.' We talked about the kinds of thoughts and feelings we have from stress, and how this might effect the ways we act with others.

We identified some of the current key stressors in our lives, and empathetically reflected on these experiences.

5 things you can see

4 things you can hear

3 things you can feel

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

Adjust the length of time your hold each breath depending on what feels good for you. Repeat as many times as you need.

Try to pay attention to what stress comes up in your next week. What were the events that triggered the stress? What did this make you feel? How did this make you want to respond?

You could note this down on a bit of paper or your phone.

In groups we brainstormed how minority stress looks/feels/smells/tastes like.

We wrote down some of our earliest memories and messages around being TNBI+ (using Appendix D), and discussed as a group how some of these messages impact us.

We wrote down a negative thought, then threw it away, considering how it felt to get rid of that negative thought.

Use the worksheet to help you learn to identify different kinds of thoughts that come up for you during your week. You can refer to the session 3 additional material in the recap for examples to help you.

Appendix G - Automatic thought record

Use the table to note down situations where automatic thoughts have come up for you. Try to identify whether this was negative or positive, how it made you feel, and the consequences (ie. behaviours) it led to. Think back to the CBT triangle.

Redirecting thoughts

Whilst bringing awareness to your negative thoughts, can you try to redirect any of these? What strategies could you use to do this? (eg. observing the thought without getting swept into it, replacing it with a positive one)

Thinking traps (Appendix E) can arise in many different ways so we looked at how these different automatic thoughts turn up for us, and questioned whether these thoughts are helpful. We briefly talked about negative vs positive thoughts, which you can read more about in the document attached and practice in Appendix F.

Don't think of a pink elephant... did you think of one? We shared some strategies for how to talk to ourselves in ways that help our negative thoughts eg. treating yourself like a friend, letting thoughts pass through without judgement.

Ways to shift our brain away from negative habits:

• making a list of positive thoughts about yourself

• congratulating yourself mentally when you do something you feel good about

• projecting into the future - imagining yourself in a different situation to show your brain change is possible

• planting positives - creative little positive messages or moments to feel good about yourself

There's power in what we do rather than what we think we are.

We brainstormed some examples of ABCD thinking...

A - activating event

B - belief/thought it leads to

C - consequence of the thought

D - dispute or debate the thought

Fill in the work sheet and return to it regularly to practice your daily self-talk, ground yourself, and change thoughts from unhelpful to helpful ones.

ABCD method (Appendix L)

Just like we did in the session, use this worksheet to note down some activating events that happen during your weeks and what thoughts this lead to. Consider offering yourself different perspectives on these thoughts and beliefs.

As you take a slow deep exhale, think of something stressful you want to let go of.

A hope box (or bag) can contain important objects to you, quotes, photos, cards, sensory objects like fidgets, scraps collected from out and about, anything really that brings you joy or feels affirming.

Goal Setting (Appendix O)

Use the worksheet to write a contract with yourself of a goal and a reward for doing it.

1. Discussion around supportive and affirming activities, and barriers to these (see document)

2. 3 types of compassion:

   • Mindful balanced approach

   • Self-kindness

   • Common humanity

3. Goal setting of one affirming activity (appendix O)

4. Heads up about hope box for session 6

1. Defining 'goals' ad what SMART goals means (specific, meaningful/measurable, adaptive, realistic, timely)

2. Set some goals of different lengths (appendix P)

3. Considered why a goal is important to us, what obstacles there are and ideas for how to overcome them, weighing up pros and cons of achieving or not the goal.

4. Talked through our hope boxes and added to them. Shared poems, song lyrics, memories.

If you are feeling stressed or a

bit down, take a few minutes to go through your hope box to remind yourself of some of your accomplishments and what helps you feel important and cared for.

Time: from 10:15am to 12.

Location: Ground floor meeting room, St Peter's Health Centre, 30-36 Oxford St, Brighton BN1 4LA.

1. Our social support network - we identified who is in our networks, how affirming they are, online/offline etc.

2. Made a plan for how we can strengthen a part of the social support network.

Not a phase: Not A Phase – Uplifting the lives of trans+ adults across the UK

Trans Can Sport

Trans Can Sport