Description
CBT has a long history of helping clients break free from negative thoughts. But have you ever found that the more you challenge your client’s thoughts, the worse they get?
Richard Sears – 2-Day Experiential Course: MBCT From Start to Finish
The evidence for using mindfulness is also exploding in the clinical research literature. Unfortunately, if used to help clients temporarily feel better, you might be reinforcing avoidance of their thoughts and feelings, making them worse in the long run!
I am often asked how CBT and mindfulness can work together. After all, CBT is all about change, and mindfulness emphasizes acceptance of reality in this moment. The answer is simple: we must accept reality as it is in order to effectively build a life worth living.
With Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), you get the best of both CBT and mindfulness. MBCT is an empirically-validated intervention with decades of research support. The 8 sessions of the formal MBCT protocol is a “boot camp†for clients and clinicians to systematically learn and experience the subtle and sophisticated principles of mindfulness and CBT. The principles can also be easily incorporated into other therapy modalities to synergize the effectiveness of what you are already doing.
However, you cannot leverage the power of these techniques just by reading about them. To provide these interventions effectively for clients, it is imperative to experience it for yourself. Learn from psychologist and expert mindfulness trainer Dr. Richard Sears for a two-day experiential MBCT recorded workshop. You will experience every mindfulness exercise, CBT principle, and didactic component of the entire program, along with tips for adapting the material into a variety of individual therapy settings.
As an added bonus, programs like MBCT have also been shown to reduce stress and burnout for clinicians! And, when clinicians practice mindfulness for themselves, their clients have better outcomes!
Handouts
Manual – 2-Day Experiential Course (5.9 MB) 79 Pages Available after Purchase
Outline
Foundations & Principles of MBCT
Why combine Mindfulness and CBT?
The evidence for MBCT
The neurological evidence
Adaptation and Expansion of CBT Principles
Limitations of the research and potential risks
Core Techniques of MBCT
Mindfulness Techniques in MBCT
The Body Scan
Three-Minute Breathing Space
Mindful Stretching techniques
Daily Mindfulness techniques
Sitting with Difficult feelings
Mindful Inquiry – The Crucial Step of Processing Post-Exercise
CBT Practices Applied in MBCT
Behavioral experiments, Exposure therapy, The ABC model and thought and feeing records
Identifying relapse signatures
Relapse prevention plans
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDED EXERCISES FOLLOWED BY MINDFUL INQUIRY
The 8 Session MBCT Curriculum
How to Develop Awareness
Session 1 – Stepping out of Auto Pilot Mode
The difference between thinking and experiencing
Techniques for everyday activities
Session 2 – Realizing the Impact of our “Judging Mindâ€
Incorporating the ABC model for how thoughts and feelings interact
Noticing pleasant events and how they affect us
Session 3 – Bringing us to the Present Moment
Mindful breathing and body techniques
Notice unpleasant events and how we react
Exploring and relating differently to uncomfortable experiences
How to Be Present with Our Experiences
Session 4 – Staying present rather than chasing or ignoring experiences
Techniques to recognize aversions and work through them
Conscious choice versus automatic reactions
Session 5 – Accept and Let Things Be
How to recognize and let go of the wasted energy of struggling with reality
Exposure practice for moving through difficult experiences
Session 6 – Realizing Thoughts are Not Facts
The science of how the human brain gives distressing thoughts about their power
How fighting thoughts can make them worse
Tools for taking the power away from negative thoughts
How to Make Skillful Choices
Session 7 – Self-Care Plans and Avoiding Relapse
How daily activities affect mood
Catch the early warning signs
Activities and exercises to incorporate into daily life
Session 8 – Maintain and Personalize MBCT Practices
How to maintain client engagement
Adapting techniques to the client for long term success
MBCT-Based Interventions for:
Trauma
Relating differently to intrusive thoughts and feelings
Memory reconsolidation to reprogram old reactions
Anxiety
How ruminations and worries are negatively reinforced
Exposure to body sensations to break through the extinction burst
How to utilize mindfulness even during a panic attack
Chronic Pain
Tease apart thoughts and reactions from physical pain
Create a life worth living and bringing the pain along for the ride
Stress
How long-term stress affects short-term crises
Harness the energy of the stress response
Depression
Urge surfing – “riding the waves†versus struggling
Chain analysis – find and change the causes of relapse
Children & Adolescents
Recognize choice points
The snow globe analogy for working with swirling thoughts
