Mindfulness Teacher Training Level 1 – Central London

Date / Time: 1 February 2016 - 5 February 2016 All Day
Ticket price today: £0.00

Central London location to be announced.

This 5 day programme is designed to facilitate and deepen your own personal mindfulness practice. It will also provide the opportunity for you to work within, observe and develop your knowledge of group processes. The course is experiential and interactive, providing you with the opportunity to develop your MBCT and MBSR teaching skills in a safe, supportive, structured setting.

Who should attend this Level 1 Mindfulness Teacher Training course?

This Level 1 Mindfulness Teacher Training is for participants who;

• Wish to develop their MBCT/MBSRteaching skills and personal practice
• Have attended an eight week course in MBCT/MBSR.
• Have professional training and experience in the context within which they plan to teach/integrate mindfulness.
• Are committed to engaging in personal learning and development. Being prepared to engage in group processes with compassion and integrity
• Have an established daily mindfulness practice over at least one year and sufficient depth of personal experience of mindfulness practice to begin the development of competency in teaching.
• Have in-depth personal experience of the main practices taught in mindfulness-based approaches
• Have attended at least one silent retreat and one-day or two-day retreats or CPD courses where mindfulness or insight meditation were experienced.
• Have read ‘Full Catastrophe Living’ and ‘Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression’ prior to the course.

Positive Change Guru work to the UK Good Practice Guidance for teaching mindfulness-based courses. For more details visit mindfulnessteachersuk.org.uk

What will you cover?

• This relaxed, interactive course will use both small and large group processes to develop robust teaching skills.
• You will be asked to share reflections, observations and ideas in a safe and supportive environment.
• You will explore the core themes and elements of MBCT & MBSR mindfulness programmes in detail.
• Your learning will be experiential and reflective. We will cover the main practices of MBCT and MBSR programmes over the week and you will be asked to demonstrate your own teaching practice by leading small group exercises.
• You will experience a variety of practices and be asked to reflect deeply on you personal experience of these in small groups.
• You will be taught core teaching skills and strategies to manage group processes e.g. recognizing group dynamics, holding the group learning environment & managing timings.
• You will reflect upon the embodiment of mindfulness and how to explore this with skill.
• You will have the opportunity to discuss, examine and develop inquiry and dialogue skills
• We will examine the latest evidence from neuroscience and empirical research behind mindfulness
• You will be taught coverage, pacing & organisation of session curriculum.
• We will use the MBI – TAC instrument to provide feedback on your teaching
• You will receive one to one feedback and supervision with the course leaders
• We only ever have a maximum of 12 participants (ensuring a student-to-teacher ratio of 6:1)
  Criteria

Before attending the programme you will be asked to undertake a one to one telephone conversation with one of the lead trainers. This call will be a discussion to assess your suitability for the programme.

You will also be asked to provide evidence (in the form of a written submission) of the following;

• Attendance on an 8 week MBCT or MBSR programme (including the name of the provider and dates of attendance)
• Attendance on at least one silent retreat
• To have read ‘Full Catastrophe Living’ by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• If the 8-week course is your first experience of meditation you should allow at least 6 months between the end of your 8-week course and this training in order that you can integrate your understanding and establish a personal mindfulness practice
• A relevant qualification for the field in which you intend to teach mindfulness
• Positive Change Guru strives to offer high standard, rigorous courses that provide you with the optimum environment for the learning and development of your teaching skills. We believe that this is the way to provide qualified, effective and committed mindfulness teachers for the future.

Learning Outcomes

Our teaching assessment criteria uses the Mindfulness Based Interventions Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC). We aim to teach you to the highest standard and equip you to practice with competence and integrity. We will covering and assessing the key features of the 6 domains of competence within the MBI:TAC

By the end of the training participants will have:

Developed an understanding of mindfulness as an approach cultivated through ongoing personal awareness, in both formal and informal practices, in silence and in dialogue.
Explored mindful approaches to pain, difficulty, depression and anxiety within ourselves and in others.
Examined potential that mindfulness practice offers us all.
Explored the origins and context of mindfulness – and the importance of:
Delivering mindfulness in a way that is secular and is not connected to any specific tradition.
One’s own practice. Our own individual practice is key to our role as a teacher. By also walking the path, we are able to guide others.
Developed a direct understanding of learning and teaching within mindfulness, including:
Learning arising out direct & personal experience.
Investigation / exploration / inquiry / curiosity.
Trusting the unfolding of the process – avoiding the urge to fix, or retreat into an over reliance on didactic methods of teaching.
How the teacher’s embodiment of mindfulness impacts upon the process.
Developed knowledge and understanding of the practicalities of delivering mindfulness as an intervention, including:
Knowledge and experience of the curriculum and themes of MBCT and MBSR and the difference between them.
The practical issues to consider (workbooks, sessions etc)
Areas to be aware of in encouraging the development of awareness and openness in others.
Aspects to consider when assessing / orientating clients to the approach.
The importance of integrity and ethical considerations for mindfulness teachers.
Strategies for supporting your work as a mindfulness teacher, and the place of supervision.
You will have experienced the teaching process through:
Engagement as a participant and witnessing the process
Participants will have the opportunity in a safe & supportive environment to lead practices and investigate co-participant’s experiences of these. Detailed instructor and peer feedback will be offered to support this learning.
Developed an understanding of group process and dynamics within
the context of mindfulness teaching, drawn from the direct and personal experience of being part of the training group.

Experienced being part of a community of professionals with a sense of common purpose and journey.
Participants will be presented with a certificate upon completing the course.

The Team

All of our trainers are leaders in their field with a breadth of experience. Together they bring ethusiasm, commitment and integrity to each programme.

Meera Bahu

Meera is a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist and hugely experienced mindfulness teacher, Working for St Georges Mental Health NHS Trust. She has been involved in setting up clinical mindfulness projects in the trust and also runs MBCTand MBSR groups. She has a particular interest in trauma and traumatic stress, having developed an international award winning specialized programme for victims of torture.

With decades of experience, Meera has an impressive background having studied with Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness and Research Practice. She brings expertise, warmth and insight to her sessions.

Viv Thackray-Dutton

Viv is a positive psychologist working extensively in the private sector in the UK & internationally and also works with public and third sector organisations. She has practiced Mindfulness for over ten years having studied in The UK, India and China. She has also trained with Google’s Search Inside Yourself Leadership Programme.

Specialising in workplace mindfulness programmes she is passionate about organizational change, working with individuals and companies to facilitate positive change by implementing the practical applications of psychology. Viv specializes in leadership, organizational change, emotional intelligence at work, resilience and personal impact.

Viv has over ten years experience working as a consultant, trainer, lecturer, keynote speaker and coach, holding an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology.

Her clients include The Financial Times, British School of Osteopathy, YPP, ICAEW Cyprus and Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association. Viv passionately believes that we are all able to make a difference professionally or personally by choosing to implement positive change.

Gill Thackray

Gill is a practicing Business Psychologist and consultant she has been practising braintraining and mindfulness for over 20 years having studied and worked in Thailand, Tibet, China and India. She has trained with Google’s SIYLI Programme, Aberdeen University (Certificate in Mindfulness Studies, Postgraduate Diploma in Mindfulness Studies and Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice. She is also a final year MSc student in Mindfulness Studies specialising in Mindfulness, leadership and resilience.

She has presented her research into Mindfulness and leadership at several conferences and written articles on Mindfulness for the national press. Her clients include the BBC, KPMG, Deloitte, PWC, Cancer Research, UK Sport, The Football Association, United Nations Iraq and teenage cancer Trust.

Gill is a Psychology Lecturer, member of the Association of Business Psychologists, British Psychological Society Psychometric Assessor,

MBTI Practitioner, Guardian contributor and author of several articles on the practical applications of psychology in everyday life.

She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Institute of Leadership & Management and Institute of Learning. She is Visiting Professor of Psychology at CHE University in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Additional information

We ask that participants commit to the entire training.

Please note that we give a certificate of attendance which details the nature of the course and the hours involved.

At present there is no formal system in the UK to authorise or accredit teachers. Positive Change Guru works to the UK Good Practice Guidelines using a structured approach which follows the guidelines as well as emerging standardisation processes (such as the MBI-TAC Domains and Assessment Criteria) to ensure that our programmes meet the needs of the mindfulness community internationally.

Download the course brochure

No Categories