VERSION FRANCAISE

Residential workshop for MBI-teachers
with Willoughby Britton, Ph.D. and Jared Lindahl, Ph.D.
from July 14th to 16th, 2018

Biographies

Jared Lindahl PhD is Visiting Assistant Professor in Brown University’s Department of Religious Studies and director of the humanities research track in the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab. Since 2014, Dr. Lindahl has been directing the data collection, qualitative analysis, and writing of papers for the Varieties of Contemplative Experience research project.  Jared holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His ongoing research examines contemplative practices in a range of contexts—from classical Greece, India, and Tibet to Buddhist modernism and the mindfulness movement in the United States—and attempts to integrate historical and textual studies of contemplative traditions with phenomenological and neurobiological approaches in order to investigate the relationship between contemplative practices, resultant experiences, and culturally situated appraisals of meaning and value.

Description

This 3 day training will address the question of safety in teaching meditation, with a research overview on this issue, followed by the question of foundational knowledge and skills and how to manage difficulties when they arise.

Day 1: Meditation-Related Difficulties: Research Overview

Day 1 reviews the findings from the Varieties of Contemplative Experience project, as well as related adverse effects data from mindfulness-based interventions. The training includes detailed descriptions of meditation-related challenges, including subject quotes, how often they occur, how long they last, potential risk factors, and the many ways they can be interpreted or appraised.

Day 2: Foundational Knowledge and Skills

Day 2 focuses more on concrete steps to ensure safety for your program, and includes four modules: informed consent, screening, monitoring, and management, which are described below.  This module is accompanied by access to the Meditation Safety Toolbox, which includes official curricula and implementation guidelines, informed consent, screening instruments from the UMASS, Oxford and Bangor mindfulness centers, as well as a folder of research and other resources. The Toolbox is updated monthly to stay current on new developments.

• Informed Consent: This module review s the informed consent process, and is legal implications. Here we review advertising brochures, and other statement of benefits vs limitations and risks. Examples of informed consent documents, and advertisements from mindfulness programs are provided.
• Screening: The screening module provides training in how to screen participants who are interested in taking an MBI program, and includes review of inclusion/exclusion criteria and decision trees for participation, and screening instruments.
• Monitoring:  The monitoring module teaches facilitators how to adequately monitor or track potential adverse reactions in their mindfulness clients. Expecting the students to spontaneously report difficulties to the facilitator, a process known as “passive monitoring” is not adequate. Proper monitoring, must be active, ask specific questions, and be anonymous and non-penalizing. This module focuses on the meditation-related difficulties that are most likely to occur with MBI interventions, such as anxiety/panic, traumatic re-experiencing and dissociation.
• Mechanism: The mechanism module explores the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of how meditation practices cause different types of experiences in different people. Examples of mechanisms include hyperarousal/sensitization and hypoarousal/dissocation.

Day 3: Management

The management module teaches facilitators how to manage difficulties once they arise, as well as modify their instructions to minimize the likelihood of adverse reactions. This module draws heavily from trauma-informed therapies, especially the 2018 book Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. Specific exercises and practices are provided, as well as other resources for further training.

Registration

This training is intended in priority for MBSR and MBCT teachers.

• to fill in the registration form here (form in French).
• to make the bank wire following the guidelines that you will find at the end of the registration form:
  • Training fee: 495,00 € TTC (409,09€ HTVA + TVA 21%)
  • Full board (seminar only available in full board): 155,00 € TTC +20€ if you have not subscribed yet to the Fondation by July 14th, 2018 – everyone staying at the venue that hosts us needs to be a member and thus, take a one-year membership)

Once your form and paiement received, you will receive an email confirming your registration. Be aware that places are limited and registrations are considered in order of reception of form and paiement. If the training is full, you will be placed on a waiting list.

Practical information

• Dates : Saturday, July 14th 2:30 pm (reception starting at 1:00 pm) to Monday, July 16th 2018 5:00 pm.
• Setting :  residential, shared rooms (there are a few individual rooms that will be assigned upon justified request)
• Venue : Maison du Chemin des Roches – 9, chemin des Roches – 1370 Dongelberg – Belgium
• Language : the workshop will be taught in English and will be translated in French consecutively.
• Fee :
  • Training fee: 495,00 € TTC (409,09€ HTVA + TVA 21%)
  • Full board (seminar only available in full board): 155,00 € TTC +20€ if you have not subscribed yet to the Fondation by July 14th, 2018 – everyone staying at the venue that hosts us needs to be a member and thus, take a one-year membership)
• Cancelation terms:
  • Until June 14th, 2018: 50% refund of training fee.
  • From June 15th to June 30th, 2018: 25% refund of training fee.
  • From July 1rst, 2018: no refund.
    Please note that in case your’d cancel, training fees may not be transferred to another program.