Note: CFM requires a minimum of 20 registrants for this program. If fewer than 20 registrants, the program will be moved or cancelled and refunds will be provided. Please be aware of this when making arrangements to attend this program.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an empirically validated program designed to prevent depressive relapse and reduce the impact of mood disorders more broadly. Developed by Drs. Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale, MBCT integrates the clinical application of mindfulness meditation with the tools of cognitive therapy. Self-knowledge grounded in sustained meditative awareness is its central tenet.

The heart of MBCT lies in acquainting participants with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously inviting them to develop a new relationship to these modes. Participants learn to view thoughts as events in the mind, independent of their content and emotional charge — not to be disputed, but held in a more spacious awareness.

The MBCT TTI Training 

The MBCT TTI is an intensive professional training that provides clinicians with the knowledge, skills, and experiential foundation needed to deliver MBCT. Registration is limited in order to cultivate an intimate, personal, and highly interactive training environment.
This training emphasizes the importance of the clinician's own meditation practice and self-inquiry. Through role-play, simulated classroom and patient-practitioner encounters, the MBCT TTI 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 capacity to clearly experience, in the midst of our everyday lives, the interplay of thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations, the experiential phenomena known to contribute to depressive relapse. Participants examine how awareness of these domains can accurately inform or distort our capacity to understand ourselves and work with others. The content and curriculum of each MBCT session is explored in detail, and descriptions of session themes, curricula, and samples of client handouts are provided.

Objectives 

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

• Demonstrate and lead curriculum and core therapeutic tasks for each of the eight group sessions of MBCT 

• Describe the central role of mindfulness meditation practice in facilitating self-regulation of emotions and mood 

• Articulate the vital importance of the therapist’s ongoing mindfulness meditation practice and sustained mindful awareness within a psychotherapy framework 

• Utilize their own mindfulness meditation practice, emphasizing both formal meditative practices and mindfulness as a mode of being in daily life 

• Demonstrate the clinical skills and perspectives necessary to facilitate MBCT groups 

Target Audience 

This training is intended for mental health professionals wishing to expand their practice to include MBCT 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 MBCT requires facilitators to have a commitment to an ongoing, daily mindfulness meditation practice. To this end we have created recommendations for acceptance to this MBCT 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 established daily meditation practice 

• Familiarity with cognitive behavioral therapy techniques 

• Experience with and an understanding of models of depression 

• Experience facilitating group process 

Where This Training Fits

The MBCT TTI is the foundational professional training in the UC San Diego Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute (MBPTI) certification pathway for teachers of MBCT. Completing the MBCT TTI satisfies the professional training requirement for Phase 1: Teacher Qualification, which establishes a basic level of training and proficiency sufficient to offer MBCT to the general public.

The UCSD MBPTI certification pathway proceeds as follows:

Phase 1 — Teacher Qualification

• Completion of the MBCT TTI (this training)
• Enrollment in the MBPTI as a Teacher in Training
• Completion of an 8-week MBCT program (as participant/observer)
• Teaching at least two 8-week MBCT groups under mentorship (minimum 20 hours)
• Application to the Teacher Qualification and Certification Committee

Phase 2 — Teacher Certification

• Completion of the MBCT ATTI (Advanced Teacher Training Intensive)
• Additional mentorship (minimum 10 hours beyond Qualification)
• Established personal mindfulness and mindful movement practices
• Attendance at annual silent teacher-led meditation retreats
• Application to the Teacher Qualification and Certification Committee

For full details on the certification pathway, requirements, mentorship, and fees, see MBCT Teacher Qualification and Certification.

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. MBCT training has been offered for the past fourteen 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 Credits (Additional Fee of $75)

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 30.0 CE credit. 

California licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, LCSWs: This activity is an approved continuing education program by the American Psychological Association. 30.0 CE credit may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. For those licensed outside California, please check with your local licensing board to determine if CE credit is accepted. 

Nurses: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16351, for 36.0 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. 

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. 

Suggested Reading 

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, Second Edition by Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams, John D. Teasdale 

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

• Cognitive Therapy of Depression by Beck, Rush, Shaw and Emery

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Embodied Presence and Inquiry in Practice (2019) by Woods, Rockman & Collins

While all four of these are highly recommended, the book on MBCT specifically is the most crucial. We highly recommend that you bring your copy with you to the retreat, as you may find it useful to refer to it at certain points.

In addition to this material, you may want to save the link to this page, as there are several relevant journal articles posted at the bottom that may be of interest to you. 

• A Contemplative Dialogue: The Inquiry Process in Mindfulness-Based Interventions (2016); By Susan Woods MSW LICSW, Patricia Rockman MD CCFP FCFP, and Evan Collins MD FRCPC 

Following are links to several recent and relevant articles regarding Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, intended for the use of participants in the MBCT Professional Training presented by the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. Feel free to download and read the PDF files. They are intended for your personal and professional use. 

• Selected Readings in Mindfulness-Based Clinical Care and Mental Health (pdf) 

• Coffman SJ, Dimidjian S, Baer RA (2005): Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Prevention of Depressive Relapse. In: Baer RA editor. Mindfulness-Based Treatment Approaches: Clinician’s Guide to Evidence Base and Applications Burlington, MA: Academic Press. (pdf) 

• Kenny MA, Williams JM (2007): Treatment-resistant depressed patients show a good response to Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. Behav Res Ther 45:617-625. 

• Kingston T, Dooley B, Bates A, Lawlor E, Malone K (2007): Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for residual depressive symptoms. Psychol Psychother 80:193-203. (pdf) 

• Lau MA, Bishop SR, Segal ZV, Buis T, Anderson ND, Carlson L, et al (2006): The Toronto Mindfulness Scale: development and validation. J Clin Psychol 62:1445-1467. (pdf) 

• Segal ZV, Kennedy S, Gemar M, Hood K, Pedersen R, Buis T (2006): Cognitive reactivity to sad mood provocation and the prediction of depressive relapse. Arch Gen Psychiatry 63:749-755. (pdf) 

• Teasdale JD, Segal ZV, Williams JM, Ridgeway VA, Soulsby JM, Lau MA (2000): Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. J Consult Clin Psychol 68:615-623. (pdf) 

• Segal, Bieling, Young, MacQueen, Cooke, Martin, Bloch and Levitan  Antidepressant Monotherapy vs Sequential Pharmacotherapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, or Placebo, for Relapse Prophylaxis in Recurrent Depression Arch Gen Psychiatry/Vol 67 (No. 12), Dec 2010. (pdf) 

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: Protocol, Practice, and Teaching Skills (2019) by Woods & Rockman 

Program Pricing

General Registration: $2,350

Online Application Form 

During the registration process, you will be required to fill out an online application form.

Your application for this training will not be taken under consideration until the application form has been submitted. Should your qualifications not be accepted for admittance, a full refund will be granted.

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/lodging fee that you paid. In regards to the In-Person Programs/Retreats, 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).