Mindfulness for Mental Health Wellness

Kirby Matchett, a Social Worker with Horizon Health Network, passionate about Mindfulness, organized Mindfulness Based Meditations for stress reduction in Miramichi to promote mental wellness

“Despite considerable research into stress and anxiety and seemingly innumerable approaches to stress management and reduction, stress is an unavoidable fact of life. It’s the human condition and always has been. We all live with and cannot escape from uncertainties, difficulties, illness, aging, death and an inability to fully control life events. In recent years, technology and information overload have accelerated the pace of living, and the complexity of everyday life seems to be mounting. Our brains get overwhelmed by this pace of life leaving us susceptible to frustrations, worry, anxiety, panic, and even self- judgment and impatience.” Stahl & Goldstein, 2010  

Imagine if we could cultivate inner resources for dealing with stress, pain, and illness? John Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., a molecular biologist with a long term meditation practice, suggested we could do just that.  He founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre. His early research with patients suffering from anxiety and chronic pain showed significant reductions in symptoms.

Kirby Matchett, a Social Worker with Horizon Health Network, passionate about Mindfulness, organized Mindfulness Based Meditations for stress reduction in Miramichi to promote mental wellness. “It was an area of interest for me, especially in light of working with many people coping with anxiety disorders and stress related illnesses. I contacted local Physician Dr. Lehnert, who has extensive training in Mindfulness, and pitched the idea of offering meditation sessions, as another option to reduce stress. The partnership was formed and we have been offering monthly meditation sessions together since April 2015.”

According to Matchett, Mindfulness is defined as paying attention, on purpose, non-judgmentally to our moment to moment experience. “We are frequently on auto pilot, caught in an endless stream of thoughts and emotions with little control over them. Mindfulness can teach us to STOP and become aware of our actual present moment experience. We can learn to become aware of the sensations in our bodies. We can notice our breathing. We can notice the sensations of smelling, tasting, hearing and touching. We learn to relax and just BE instead of always DO.”

Local Physician, Dr. Tom Lehnert, stumbled upon mindfulness and meditation during a professional burnout several years ago and he was looking for ways to relieve his stress and suffering. “I started to listen to CDs and over the next few years attended several workshops with prominent mindfulness teachers throughout North America, including Jon Kabat-Zinn. I quickly realized that I wasn’t the only one who could benefit from the positive effects I noticed in my life and started teaching mindfulness and meditation to community groups and my patients in 2010.” 

“We all yearn for more stillness and balance in our busy lives but find it difficult to stop the constant stream of worrying, planning, and getting things done. Practicing mindfulness and meditation on a daily basis has taught me to relax and be more present for all the precious moments of my life, including being more present with my patients. I learned to really ‘smell the roses’.”

The way to learn to have more mindful moments throughout our day is to practice mindfulness meditation. For a dedicated period of time every day we sit down and pay attention to our breathing, our bodies, our thoughts and emotions. Through practicing meditation regularly we build up our mindfulness muscle. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of Mindfulness Meditation for mental and physical health including depression, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure, chronic pain and more.

For more information on Mindfulness Based Meditations contact:

Kirby Matchett, RSW
Addictions & Mental Health Services
Services de traitement des dépendance et de santé mentale
1780 Water Street, Suite 300, Miramichi, NB, E1N 1B6
(506) 778-6383 P ; (506) 778-5296 fax