Courses

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Presented by

Rebecca Crane

On

Saturday 12 November 2011

10.00am - 16.30pm

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was developed as a targeted approach for people who have a history of depression and are therefore vulnerable to future episodes. Taught while participants are in remission, it aims to enable them to learn how to bring awareness to body sensations, thoughts and emotions and to respond adaptively to the early warning signs of relapse. The programme has the practice of mindfulness meditation at its core, it uses the structure and process of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme and integrates within these some aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. MBCT is now recommended by the UK’s best practice advisory board for the NHS - NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) - as a treatment of choice for preventing future depression in those individuals who have experienced three or more episodes.

This day long workshop will offer an orientation to the theoretical and scientific background to MBCT and to the evidence base and ongoing research on the approach. The session will then turn to the particular teaching themes and methodologies employed within MBCT which support participants in working in new ways with their vulnerability to depression. During the session there will be an experiential introduction to mindfulness practice and to the ways in which this is used within MBCT. 

Participants will develop understanding of:

• The role of MBCT within an integrated care pathway for people who experience recurrent depression.
• The structure, process and methodologies employed within an 8-week MBCT course.
• The rationale for the characteristic experiential teaching style used while teaching mindfulness-based courses.

The session will involve a mixture of presentation, experiential/participatory exercises, a DVD presenting the origins of mindfulness-based clinical practice and opportunities to ask general questions.

Rebecca Crane led the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University through its first six years establishing its professional training programme and is now head of its research team. She is currently a therapist on a randomised controlled trial of MBCT for depression and sucidality led by Professor Mark Williams. Prior to this she worked in the mental health field as an Occupational Therapist and an integrative counsellor. She has written ‘Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: The CBT Distinctive Features Series’ (2009).