MBSR Teacher Training Intensive

Train to facilitate MBSR programs. This is the second module of our MBSR Facilitation Certificate Program.

This 6-day training intensive will provide participants with the opportunity to study and experience the foundational underpinnings, mindfulness practices and specific exercises that are the framework of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. The themes, rationales, intention and practice skills of each MBSR session will be reviewed and practised.

As part of this highly interactive training, trainees will experience many aspects of the MBSR program. Trainees are then given the opportunity to practice facilitating various components of the MBSR program under the supervision and guidance of the TTI facilitators.

Inherent in this training is the necessity of a personal mindfulness practice as a platform from which to teach. The delivery of MBSR requires the facilitator to integrate what it means to embody a non-judgmental, present-moment focus with an understanding of how this supports and strengthens such mind states as kindness, compassion and equanimity.

This training intensive will utilize didactic and experiential teaching modules. The curriculum includes both large and small group learning, with opportunity for role-play and simulated client-facilitator encounters. There is daily meditation practice, yoga/mindful movement, and periods of silence. The ethical underpinnings of teaching MBSR will be discussed.

Who Should Attend
This 6-day teacher training intensive is primarily intended for social service workers and other professionals wishing to teach MBSR. Prerequisites for the intensive training include participation in an 8-week MBSR program, formal mindfulness training equivalent to Mindfulness Core Concepts, and a regular mindfulness meditation practice. Trainees are also expected to participate in a 5-7-day Silent Retreat before or soon after taking the TTI.

How many Continuing Education Credits (CECs)?

Apply Before Registering
If you have not already been accepted into one of the Centre’s Facilitation Certificate Programs, please apply here 

Timing: 45 in-class hours

Fee: Varies based on whether online or in-person and also the retreat location and your choice of single or double accommodation
As a charity, we do not charge taxes.
Payment, cancellation and refund policies

Participants Will Learn
• How to articulate the foundational principles of the MBSR program
• To demonstrate the basic MBSR teaching skills
• The central role of mindfulness meditation practice for general wellness and self-care in the regulation of emotions and behaviours
• How to articulate the rationale for a facilitator’s ongoing mindfulness meditation practice in teaching MBSR
• To discuss and outline formal and informal meditative practices and mindfulness as a mode of being in daily life

What To Expect (in-person)
This training will combine elements of a clinical training workshop and a meditation retreat. You can expect to spend some periods in silence and others in active discussion and interaction. The course will follow a concentrated schedule, starting at 7:30am and ending at 8:30pm each day. Registrants will not be provided with a detailed agenda beforehand; instead the schedule and time breakdown will be addressed at the opening session of the retreat.

What To Expect (online)
As with the in-person TTI, you can expect to spend some periods in silence and others in active discussion and interaction. Trainees will follow a slightly-less concentrated schedule with most days beginning at 10am and ending at 7:30pm. Online registrants are provided with additional information regarding the training agenda so that they can create working groups and prepare in advance. The MBSR TTI Online also includes an overview of how to deliver MBSR in the virtual world. You will learn how to interact with your participants in the online space, taking into consideration the privacy and safety concerns that come along with this.
Please note that only an overview of delivering MBSR Online is possible during the MBSR TTI; trainees are encouraged to take the Centre’s
Learn to Deliver Mindfulness Groups Online workshop before delivering online.

 

This MBSR teacher training is a top notch program that has equipped me to confidently facilitate MBSR.  The process and requirements are well thought out, and the guidance and contact with the facilitators and mentors is far more accessible than I could have imagined. 

The program is immersive and highly experiential, and unlike other training I’ve completed in this area, it provides invaluable frameworks and rationale that bring clarity and consistency to what might seem to be a purely organic process.  

Trish Sullivan

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