Schedule and Registration

Note: CFM requires a minimum of 10 registrants per program. Classes with fewer than 10 registrants will be cancelled and provided a refund. Please be aware of this when making arrangements to attend this program.

The 12-Week Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention Facilitator Training (MBRP FT) is a training course integrating empirically supported interventions from Dr. Alan Marlatt’s Relapse Prevention Therapy (RPT), Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Zindel Segal and colleagues’ Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). This program was specifically created for clients in recovery from substance use disorders, and is designed to prevent relapse for those who have undergone inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment.

The curriculum integrates mindfulness meditation practices with cognitive-behavioral strategies to support clients’ recovery. The MBRP skills help participants learn to recognize and stay with discomfort (physical, cognitive and emotional) as opposed to reactively reaching for a “fix.” Combining mindfulness and relapse prevention cultivates heightened awareness of both internal and external triggers, while promoting vital lifestyle modifications for a healthy life of recovery. This program and its principles of treatment require an experiential understanding of mindfulness meditation practices. Therefore, it is essential for clinicians who facilitate MBRP groups to have their own daily mindfulness meditation practice, and endeavor to embody the principles they teach.

Training

The goal of the training is to provide a dynamic, experiential and didactic learning environment to equip participants with the necessary skills for successful delivery of the MBRP program. Using demonstration, simulated exercises, inquiry and discussion, we will cover the themes, material, and practices included in each of the eight MBRP sessions. Throughout the training, attention will be brought to deepening the clinician’s own mindfulness practice. It is widely acknowledged within the field that the teaching of mindfulness arises out of the facilitator’s own practice. Thus, training courses include substantial periods of personal practice of practice to help develop ourselves as a personal and professional resource.

Objectives

At the completion of this activity, the participants should be able to:

• Demonstrate an intellectual and experiential understanding of the MBRP principles and the role of mindfulness in relapse prevention
• Define and describe the integration of RPT and mindfulness techniques
• Demonstrate, lead and inquire the core MBRP exercises
• Effectively lead the MBRP mindfulness meditation and mindful movement practices
• Identify and describe clinical and logistical issues that arise in leading MBRP courses
• Utilize their own mindfulness meditation practice through formal periods of practice and mindfulness as a mode of being in daily life and appreciate the necessity of personal practice for successful delivery of this treatment modality

Target Audience

The training is intended for mental health professionals wishing to expand their practice to include MBRP and mindfulness-related practices. Those in attendance should be either licensed clinicians in a mental health field, clinicians-in-training, or interested professionals who do not intend to deliver the intervention directly but have other professional interests in the topic (i.e. researchers, administrators, etc.). All participants should have at least a modest regular meditation practice and an established practice is preferred.

Participant Guidelines

It is our experience that successful delivery of MBRP requires facilitators to have a commitment to an ongoing, daily mindfulness meditation practice. To this end we have created recommendations for acceptance to this MBRP training.

• Advanced degree in mental health-related field (e.g., psychology, social work or counseling)
• Prior training in Vipassana or Insight Meditation and a personal commitment to and well-established daily meditation practice
• Familiarity with cognitive behavioral therapy techniques
• Experience with and an understanding of models of addictive behavior
• Experience facilitating group process
• Prior or future attendance at a minimum of one silent, teacher-led 5-10 day residential mindfulness meditation retreat

Application Form

During the registration process, you will be required to fill out an online application form. Should your qualifications not be accepted for admittance, a full refund will be granted. If the program is in-person, please do not make any travel plans until you receive an email that your application was approved.

Needs Assessment

The utilization of mindfulness in a clinical context is a burgeoning area of study and practice in the mental health field in the past few years. The number of research articles, books and popular press articles on the topic is growing exponentially each year and the demand for quality professional training in these practices and techniques is growing each year. This training has been offered in the past three years through the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness, with increasing enrollments each year, as well as at other sites across the country and around the world.

Continuing Education Credit (Additional $75 Fee)

Psychologists: This program is sponsored by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course offers 26.0 CE credit.

Nurses: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16351, for 31.0 contact hours.

Cultural and Linguistic Competency Statement

This activity is in compliance with California Assembly Bill 1195 which requires continuing medical education activities with patient care components to include curriculum in the subjects of cultural and linguistic competency. Cultural competency is defined as a set of integrated attitudes, knowledge, and skills that enables health care professionals or organizations to care effectively for patients from diverse cultures, groups, and communities. Linguistic competency is defined as the ability of a physician or surgeon to provide patients who do not speak English or who have limited ability to speak English, direct communication in the patient’s primary language. Cultural and linguistic competency was incorporated into the planning of this activity. Additional resources can be found on the UC San Diego CME website.

Faculty Disclosure

It is the policy of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to ensure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor. All persons involved in the selection, development and presentation of content are required to disclose any real or apparent conflicts of interest. All conflicts of interest will be resolved prior to an educational activity being delivered to learners through one of the following mechanisms: 1) altering the financial relationship with the commercial interest, 2) altering the individual’s control over CME content about the products or services of the commercial interest, and/or 3) validating the activity content through independent peer review. All persons are also required to disclose any discussions of off label/unapproved uses of drugs or devices. Persons who refuse or fail to disclose will be disqualified from participating in the CME activity.

Example of the Online Training Schedule

Phase 1: (8-Weeks -Thursdays) 9-10:30am

Phase 2: (2 Weekends - Friday and Saturday) 7am-2pm

Phase 3: (Thursday) 9-10:30am

Required Reading

• Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive Behaviors: A Clinician’s Guide Bowen, Chawla, Grow & Marlatt
• Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders by Katie Witkiewitz, PhD, G. Alan Marlatt, PhD, Denise Walker, PhD
• Suggested Reading
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, Second Edition by Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale
• Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. Germer C, Siegel RD, Fulton P (eds.)
• Mindful Recovery. Bein & Bein
• One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps. Kevin Griffin
• The Mindful Brain. Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.
• Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness. Jon Kabat-Zinn
• The Wise Heart. Jack Kornfield, Ph.D.
• Radical Acceptance. Tara Brach

Payment Information

General Registration: $1425 (Early Bird Rate: up to 30 days before the start date $1325)

UCSD Staff: $1325 (Early Bird Rate: up to 30 days before the start date $1225)

Cancellation Policy

A refund (minus your $300 non-refundable/non-transferable deposit) will be made for cancellations submitted in writing up to 14 days prior to the event start date by emailing mindfulness@health.ucsd.edu. No refunds will be allowed within 13 days of the event start date. 

Please be aware that the registration fee, deposits, and funds are non-transferable to other programs.  

In the unlikely event that the course is cancelled, UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is responsible only for a full refund of the registration fee. In regards to the In-Person Programs, the center is not responsible for any refunds to transportation, hotel accommodations, or any miscellaneous expenses.  

The refunds are processed in the same method as the payments were submitted (unless past 180 days).