Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an innovative, empirically validated treatment program designed to prevent relapse in people who have recovered from unipolar depression. Self-knowledge grounded in sustained meditative awareness is its central tenet. Based on the research of Drs. Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale and documented in their book Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, the program integrates tools of cognitive therapy with the practice and clinical application of mindfulness meditation.

The heart of MBCT lies in acquainting patients with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously inviting them to develop a new relationship to these modes. Patients learn to view thoughts as events in the mind, independent of their content and emotional charge. They need not be disputed, fixed or changed but are held in a more spacious awareness, large enough to contain aspects of the self deemed both broken and whole.

Training This intensive workshop/retreat will be limited to only 35 participants in order to cultivate an intimate, personal and highly interactive training environment. Led by senior therapists, mindfulness teachers and retreat leaders Zindel Segal, PhD., Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D. and Steven Hickman, Psy.D., this training emphasizes the importance of the clinician’s own meditation practice and self-inquiry. Through role-play, simulated classroom and patient-practitioner encounters, it explores the actual application of mindfulness practices in working with clients. The curriculum integrates didactic, experiential and small group learning and includes daily meditations, yoga/mindful movement, and periods of silence.

The curriculum explores our ability to clearly experience, in the midst of our everyday lives, the interplay of thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations - the experiential phenomena known to cause relapse - and how awareness of these domains accurately informs or distorts our capacity to understand ourselves and work with others. The content and curriculum of each MBCT class session is explored in detail, and descriptions of session themes, curricula, and samples of client handouts are provided. (The workshop format requires that participants be housed and fed on-site.)

The training will be conducted at the spectacular Joshua Tree Retreat Center in the high desert area of Southern California. Self-contained in a newly remodeled and refurbished building designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the training will provide a unique opportunity to feel connected to the striking landscape and desert views all around, while staying firmly rooted in the practice and learning taking place. All meals will be prepared and served by a world-class chef hired expressly for our group, and menus promise to be gourmet-quality, healthful and in accordance with any specific dietary requirements you may have.

Workshop Objectives

• Teach the curriculum and core therapeutic tasks for each of the eight group sessions of MBCT.
• Illuminate the central role of mindfulness meditation practice in facilitating self-regulation of emotions and mood.
• Demonstrate and teach experientially the vital importance of the therapist’s ongoing mindfulness meditation practice and sustained mindful awareness within a psychotherapy framework.
• Help therapists/participants to develop and/or deepen their own mindfulness meditation practice, emphasizing both formal meditative practices and mindfulness as a mode of being in daily life.
• Introduce and practice the clinical skills and perspectives necessary to facilitate MBCT groups.

Presenters

Zindel Segal, Ph.D. , is the Morgan Firestone Chair in Psychotherapy in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Toronto and is Director of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Unit at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. He is the co-author of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse published by The Guilford Press. Dr. Segal has studied and published widely on psychological treatments for depression for more than 20 years. He is a widely respected teacher and workshop leader whose use of insights from both the academic literature and his personal mindfulness practice is much lauded by participants.

Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D., Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her research focuses on the treatment and prevention of depression, and she has a strong interest in the clinical application of mindfulness. She was trained in MBCT by Zindel Segal, has conducted MBCT groups in community settings, and is currently doing research on the use of MBCT with women during pregnancy. She has conducted numerous workshops for clinicians, has a warm and engaging teaching style, and a longstanding mindfulness and yoga practice.

Steven Hickman, Psy.D. , established the UCSD Center for Mindfulness in 2002 and has taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for five years, "graduating" over 25 classes since that time. He is a clinical psychologist specializing in health psychology and works within the UCSD Medical Center providing treatment to patients with chronic pain, cancer and a variety of other primary medical problems. He teaches a graduate course in Mindfulness in Psychotherapy and has spoken at national conferences on the application of mindfulness in a variety of contexts and situations. He is also engaged in research on the application of MBCT to chronic pain and in the role of mindfulness and acceptance in behavior change in pulmonary rehabilitation.

Required Reading

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression : A New Approach to Preventing Relapse , Segal, Williams, and Teasdale

Full Catastrophe Living : Using the Wisdom of your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness , Kabat-Zinn, Delta

Cognitive Therapy of Depression , Beck, Rush, Shaw and Emery, The Guilford Press

Registration Information:

Course Registration: $1075

Room & Board: $650 (All double occupancy)

Tentative Schedule:

Sunday, February 17
Registration: 1-5 pm
Dinner: 5:30-6:30 pm
First Session: 6:45-8:45 pm

Friday, February 22
Session Ends: 1 pm

Continuing Education Credits

25 continuing education credits will be offered for psychologists, licensed clinical social workers and marriage & family therapists.

Registration and More Information

Registration will begin on September 15, 2007. You can return to our registration page at that time, or you can contact us directly via email, for more information and to reserve your spot in this unique training.