Bipolar Education Programme Cymru (BEPC)
BEPC is an award-winning group psychoeducation programme that aims to improve the quality of life for people with bipolar disorder.
The course enables individuals to better manage their condition by understanding the symptoms of bipolar disorder, identifying their triggers and monitoring their mood to help them stay as well as possible.
There are 10 sessions, each run in a group format with between 8 and 12 people. These combine presentations, informal group discussions and short exercises. The modules include:
- What is bipolar disorder?
- What causes bipolar disorder?
- The use of medication in bipolar disorder
- Psychological approaches to bipolar disorder
- Lifestyle approaches bipolar disorder
- Monitoring mood and identifying triggers
- Early warning signature
Family members and close friends of the group participants are also given the option to attend an additional session where they can find out more about bipolar disorder and meet other people in similar situations.
BEPC is available to people diagnosed with bipolar disorder, over the age of 18 and living in Wales.
Online taster sessions
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NCMH partnered with Bipolar UK to hold several online taster sessions of BEPC.
Facilitators were joined by experts in lived experience and in the field of mental health to discuss:
- What is bipolar? Causes, myths and misconceptions, the impact of COVID-19
- Approaches to managing bipolar: lifestyle, psychological, medication
- Self-management: triggers, early warning signs, mood monitoring
- Family and friends: How bipolar disorder can present, how to manage crisis situations, stories of people’s experiences
- Women, pregnancy and childbirth