From Zindel Segal, Ph.D., co-founder of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
“Chris Molnar, Ph.D. offers a high quality MBCT training that adheres to the principles of participant experiential learning and treatment fidelity”
“There is no better way to learn mindfulness and MBCT than to experience it for yourself. "
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an adaptation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with much-older wisdom practices. Originally developed to prevent relapse in people with recurrent depression, MBCT and its adaptations have been shown to not only reduce relapse of mood disorders, but also reduce current symptoms and /or protect from relapse in conditions such as PTSD, OCD, Panic, GAD, other anxiety, & related disorders (e.g., substance abuse). Broadly speaking, MBPs are of benefit for people with disorders marked by Neuroticism as described by Costa & McCrae, X and Barlow, X) and associated experiential avoidance (Hayes, X). Through effective integration of scientific findings and theory about emotional processing and the cognitive, physical, and overt and covert behavioral elements of emotion, MBCT has been shown to be a trans-therapeutic intervention of benefit to those with a range of transdiagnostic disorders. This is in part through increasing metacognition (aka "decentering" , "deidentification", etc.) and changing how one relates habitually with unwanted internal experiences in mind and body. Moreover, the mindfulness skills developed in MBCT are foundational for the range of compassion-based interventions that also have transtherapeutic benefits for those with emotional disorders.
The path for competently and ethically teaching MBCT to those with emotional disorders includes, but is not limited to, participation in the traditional 8-session MBCT program in the role of participant-practitioner. The participant-practitioner model of competence development supports professionals in implementing MBCT with the population they already have expertise serving. It also offers the opportunity to observe experienced professionals modelling implementation of the MBCT curriculum elements with people exhibiting symptoms the trainee practitioner wants to develop skills for treating. Importantly, the model offers opportunities for receiving feedback from peers in role plays in a consultation setting to enhance competence through deliberate practice in a community of peers.
In this workshop, developing clinician teachers will directly experience the MBCT treatment protocol . Professionals will also practice guiding short MBCT practices & receiving feedback from professional peers and expert MBCT instructors. Feedback is offered in the context of a relational mindfulness practice that invites contemplation, reflection, & inquiry about implementing the "Guiding Practice" Domain of the Mindfulness-Based Interventions - Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC). The Guiding Practice Domain outlines the "bones" or essential elements of each MBCT formal practice including: the 3 step breathing space - regular & responsive versions; body scan; mindfulness of sounds and thoughts; two ways of knowing; sitting & movement formal practices, and mindful eating. Professional participants will also practice implementing the relational mindfulness practice of Mindful Case Consultation (MCC), with a focus on implementing MBCT with challenging cases in individual sessions while maintaining self-care.
Practitioners will develop foundational skills for implementing all elements of the MBCT curriculum in this training. Further, through developing the habit of formal and informal personal mindfulness practice in the role of participant they can enhance both intra- & inter-personal effectiveness in responding to challenges that arise in MBCT skill development and implementation with clients. For more about training pathway & becoming an MBCT teacher visit https://www.mbct.com/mbct-training-pathway/ or read article by MBCT co-developer Zindel Segal, Ph.D. at www.philabta.org/EBP about increasing access to high quality professional training Home - Access MBCT .
Required reading throughout MBCT training.
The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, Second Edition 2nd Edition
Mindfulness-Based Interventions - Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC)
Baer, R., Crane, C., Miller, E., & Kuyken, W. (2019). Doing no harm in mindfulness-based programs: conceptual issues and empirical findings. Clinical psychology review, 71, 101-114.
Suggested Reading
Crane, R. S., Eames, C., Kuyken, W., Hastings, R. P., Williams, J. M. G., Bartley, T., ... & Surawy, C. (2013). Development and validation of the mindfulness-based interventions–teaching assessment criteria (MBI: TAC). Assessment, 20(6), 681-688.
Dimidjian, S., & Segal, Z. V. (2015). Prospects for a clinical science of mindfulness-based intervention. American Psychologist, 70(7), 593.
Kramer, G. (2007). Insight dialogue: The interpersonal path to freedom. Shambhala Publications.
Molnar, C. (September, 2017). Playing in the ocean of awareness: Innovations in mindfulness training. The Pennsylvania Psychologist Quarterly, pages 16-17.
Molnar, C. (June, 2014). Peer groups as a reflecting pool for enhancing wisdom. The Pennsylvania Psychologist Quarterly, pages 9-10.
CE Learning Objectives
Following this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the structural elements of four formal mindfulness practices that adhere to evidence-based Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) designed to teach participants to deconstruct emotion (pleasant or unpleasant) into the mind, body, and behavior elements.
2. Describe two examples of covert (mental) or overt (observable) behaviors that reflect the “doing mode of mind” that arises when there is a discrepancy between one’s desired verses actual internal state.
3. Describe one specific way that an unpleasant emotion state can contribute to the risk of recurrence of transdiagnostic emotional disorders.
4. Describe examples of typical automatic thoughts (ATs), measured by the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ), and how a negative / & or depleted mood / emotion state impacts retrieval processes of ATs.
5. Describe two examples of the “being (present) mode of mind” that serves as an antidote for the doing mode of mind’s focus on the past & / or future.
6. Describe one way that the being mode of mind can reduce the risk of recurrence of distress in transdiagnostic emotional disorders associated with automatically perceiving thoughts as facts.
7. Describe two examples of the difference between conceptual and non-conceptual information (& associated) emotional processing and how each mode of processing can reduce or increase risk of distress and / or dysphoria.
8. Describe the difference between an avoidance / aversion and an approach mode of relating with experience and how each can influence level of distress and dysphoria.
9. Describe the concept of ruminative brooding and how it worsens mood and predicts onset, maintenance, and recurrence of transdiagnostic emotional disorders.
10. Describe the components of the regular three-step "breathing space" practice and how it supports implementation of MBI skills in everyday life.
11. Describe the components of the responsive three-step "breathing space" practice and how it can support the application of mindfulness skills & compassionate responding in stressful situations.
12. Describe how the body scan practice can be viewed as a behavioral experiment with an intention of noticing the impact of non-conceptual information processing of experience; disengagement of attention from stimuli increasing distress; and a broadening of the attentional field.
13. Describe MBI-adherent elements of formal sitting meditation practice and how it can be considered a micro-laboratory that supports awareness of not only sensations but also habitual mental phenomena and one’s intra-personal relationship to feeling states.
14. Describe three of the nine “Foundational Attitudes” that are ways of relating with experience to support both formal and informal mindfulness practice implementation.
15. Describe elements of the informal practice of monitoring pleasant and unpleasant events and how event logs are used to support deconstruction of emotion states into their co-arising & interacting elements.
16. Describe the implementation of the informal practice of logging nourishing and depleting events and how this supports identification of factors associated with relapse prevention and self-kindness intra-personally.
17. Describe a specific way that intention and personal values clarity can reduce barriers to development, and support strengthening, of MBCT skills implementation.
18. Describe how brief assessments of mindfulness, ruminative brooding and compassion can be integrated into the MBCT curriculum to motivate practice and track outcome.
19. Describe the physiological outcome of fighting or attempting to eliminate unwanted internal experiences and how it contrasts with allowing one’s unwanted experiences and relating with kindness to the self.
20. Describe two specific ways that participation in the MBCT group supports the strengthening of mindfulness and compassion in relationship with self and / or others.
21. Describe the six teaching competence domains measured by the Mindfulness-Based Interventions - Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC)
22. Implement the Mindfulness-Based Interventions - Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC) using examples from live formal MBCT sessions.
23. Observe an MBCT teacher implement live formal MBCT sessions while in the role of a participant followed by relational mindfulness practice and feedback designed to strengthen teaching competence.
24. Describe and observe the practice of mindful inquiry after formal guided practices with participants who meet diagnostic criteria for anxiety & related disorders.
About Presenters
Mark Lau, PhD, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, and a registered psychologist in private practice at the Vancouver CBT Centre. Dr. Lau has over 25 years experience providing Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to individuals and groups; conducting MBCT and CBT research; providing leadership in developing models of mental health care delivery including innovative ways of delivering MBCT & CBT; and, providing leadership in training and education including providing MBCT single and multi-day professional trainings across North America, Europe and Australia for mental health professionals. Mark is also an MBCT teacher trainer/mentor with the UCSD Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute and is one of a handful of MBCT trainers who provide the 5-day MBCT Professional Training in North America. He has provided MBCT & Fostering Resilience workshops to psychiatrists, physicians, UBC internal medicine residents, university research administrators and college staff. Dr. Lau’s research interests include investigating the mechanisms underlying MBCT’s effectiveness, the development and validation of the Toronto Mindfulness Scale, and evaluating effective methods of disseminating MBCT and CBT. He is a former Associate Editor of the journal Mindfulness.
Chris Molnar, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and clinical investigator, founded Mindful Exposure Therapy for Anxiety and Psychological Wellness Center (META Center) in 2007. She completed post-doctoral fellowship training in traumatic stress, neuroscience, and psycho-physiology and is an expert in the assessment and treatment of anxiety, OCD, PTSD, emotional, and stress-related conditions using evidence-based practices. She teaches both Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and has also developed adaptations for highly distressed clients, using Relational Mindfulness Practices (RBPs), to meet the needs of people in both individual and group therapy settings. At META Center, she offers integrative interventions grounded in findings about the brain, emotion, and learning to facilitate mental and behavioral habit change, even in the face of severe distress. Before founding META Center, she served as a clinical investigator and therapist supported by grants from the National Institute of Health and other agencies. She is also on the editorial board of Behavior Therapy and serves the public in many ways, through professional presentations, workshops, publications, and affiliations.
Target Audience
This presentation is intended for licensed mental health professionals and advanced graduate student trainees seeking licensure. The instructional level of this presentation is BEGINNER.
Note: This workshop does not require attendees to have a formal mindfulness practice.
Continuing Education
- Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association is also approved by the NY State Education Department to offer psychology continuing education
- This program provides sixteen (16) CE credits, including 3 in ethics and 3 in telehealth applicable to e-passport holders through PSYPACT. There is not additional cost, above registration for CE credits for qualified licensed practitioners.
- PBTA is also an authorized provider of CE credits for Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Clinical Social Workers licensed in the state of Pennsylvania. Non-Psychologist Licensees outside of PA & practitioners outside of the USA please confirm eligibility with your specific licensing board.
- APA guidelines do not permit PBTA to issue partial CE credits.
- To receive a CE certificate, licensed practitioners seeking CE cannot miss more than two of the eight MBCT sessions comprised of mixed professionals and non-professionals and cannot miss any of the 6 hours with professionals only.
