Mindfulness Based Programs (MBPs)

There are many opportunities for training these days in all sorts of different mindfulness approaches – from a weekend training to become a “mindfulness teacher” to full-time Masters programs.

What MTI offers is a flexible, part-time professional training program to support competencies for teaching Mindfulness Based Programs (MBSR and MBCT) and evidence-based adaptations of these original programs.    The underpinnings of the MBPs are different from mindfulness-informed programs (like DBT, ACT and others) and therefore have different training requirements.   For an excellent article clarifying these issues by Rebecca Crane, Judson Brewer, Christina Feldman, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Saki Santorelli, Mark Williams, and Willem Kuyken, please see: “What defines mindfulness-based programs: the warp and the weft” 

The consensus from these senior founders is that MBPs  require certain processes of training to develop competencies that are different from the training processes for those required to teach mindfulness-informed approaches.   It is training in these competencies that MTI offers our students, and why we require immersion in retreats, intensive face-to-face training, supervision and certification. 

As well preparing people to teach MBSR/CT, Level I also provides a basic training for those who wish to offer adapted programs with specific populations such as children, adolescents, parents, teachers, workers, leaders, substance dependence and eating disorders. Level I of the program will also be relevant to those who want an education and experience of mindfulness to inform their one-on-one clinical or coaching work.