Mindfulness Teacher training: Teaching Skills Weekends
Do you wish to train to teach mindfulness?
If you have experienced the positive benefits of practicing mindfulness, you may wish to train and become a qualified teacher of mindfulness.
Mindfulness Hrvatska in partnership with the UK Mindfulness Association, hosts a mindfulness teacher training pathway. This is a professional, high quality training which includes the assessment of your teaching of mindfulness against published teaching criteria. After successful completion of the training pathway, you are eligible to teach the 8-week Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) using the curriculum created by the UK Mindfulness Association, and to gain ‘MBLC Approved Teacher’ status.
The MBLC is listed as an approved eight-week course in the UK Good Practice Guidelines (Bamba.org). The MBLC is comparable to other 8-week courses such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or ‘BreathWorks’.
Qualified teachers can teach the MBLC as an independent trainer or a representative of an organisation, and charge a fee. You can then train to teach a Level 2, 8-week mindfulness course, Compassion Based Living Course (CBLC) (details on request).
STEP 1 is completion of Level 1 Being Present mindfulness course, then you are ready to begin step 2.
STEP 2: TEACHING SKILLS WEEKENDS
Step 2 involves participating in two online teaching skills training weekends. At each weekend, mindfulness practices and teaching skills are modelled, explained and discussed. Participants are given opportunities to develop their teaching skills through leading practices and receiving and giving peer feedback. Participants are required to also submit a short, written essay on teaching mindfulness. The dates for the weekends in 2023 are:
WEEKEND 1:
SATURDAY 04 MARCH – SUNDAY 05 MARCH 2023 (online)
WEEKEND 2:
SATURDAY 20 MAY – SUNDAY 21 MAY 2023 (online)
Each day (Saturday and Sunday) is from 10:00-17:00. To complete the course, participants must attend both weekends.
The fee in 2023 for step 2 is €290 (2.185,00 kn) for each of the two weekends.
(1€ = 7,53450 kn)
STEP 3: INQUIRY SKILLS TRAINING DAY (online)
Reflecting upon and sharing experiences, is an important part of mindfulness training. We call this reflection and discussion ‘inquiry’. Step 3 in our training pathway, is an online day dedicated to developing our skills in leading inquiry in our mindfulness teaching. The Inquiry Skills Training Day (online) is on SATURDAY 01 JULY 2023, 10:00-17:00. The fee for the Inquiry Skills Training is €100 (753,45 kn).
(1€ = 7,53450 kn)
After successful completion of steps 2-3, you will be awarded a ‘MBLC Teaching Skills Level 1’ completion certificate.
STEP 4: PEER GROUP ONLINE TEACHING
Leading the mindfulness practices from the Mindfulness-Based Living Course (MBLC) in a safe and supportive environment, and receiving feedback from peers, is a very helpful part of our teaching skills development. In step 4, you will join online peer teaching groups for a total of 12 hours. In this step you will also subscribe as teacher training member of the UK Mindfulness Association (there is a small fee) and access 10 hours of continuous professional development videos (live online sessions or recorded). You will also keep a reflective journal.
STEP 5: LEVEL 2 MBLC TEACHING SKILLS RESIDENTIAL RETREAT
Step 5 is to successfully participant in a 6-day residential mindfulness teaching skills retreat. During the retreat all the mindfulness practices from the MBLC are modelled by the retreat tutors and then taught by the participants to their peers. Participant teaching is assessed by tutors against published and internationally agreed mindfulness teacher competence criteria. Tutor support and peer feedback is also part of the teaching skills development process during the retreat. Teaching and feedback, by the tutors and participants, is in English.
The 6-day residential teaching skills retreat is at Snježna Kralica, Sljeme, Zagreb, 21-26 August 2023 (location to be confirmed).
The course fee for the retreat, including all tuition, assessment and materials is €680 / 5.123,46 kn (1€ = 7,53450 kn)
In addition, the cost of food and accommodation varies according to the accommodation chosen, (eg single person apartment, double or triple) and travel costs. The cost of food and accommodation is approximately €274 / 2.064,45 kuna. The price varies according to the type of accommodation selected.
‘READINESS TO TEACH THE MBLC’
Successful participants in the teaching skills retreat are awarded a ‘certificate of readiness to teach the MBLC’ at the end of the retreat. They can now begin teaching the MBLC. They can teach in English or Croatian. Mindfulness Hrvatska will provide the MBLC materials in Croatian (written and audio recordings of all course mindfulness practices).
STEP 6:
6a: TEACH TWO MBLC 8-WEEK COURSES with the supervision of a qualified mindfulness supervisor, with at least three hours of supervision (group or individual) for each course and keeping a teaching journal.
6b: COMPLETION OF A TUTOR-LED, MINDFULNESS RETREAT to deepen practice, sometime during the following year.
6c: READ THE FOLLOWING BOOKS AND WRITE A 300-WORD REFLECTION:
The Mindfulness Teaching Guide by Rob Brandsma
Insight Dialogue by Gregory Kramer
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven.
COMPLETION OF THE MBLC TEACHER TRAINING PATHWAY
After successful completion of steps 1-7 and an online tutor meeting, you are awarded the ‘Certificate of Completion of the MBLC Teacher Training Pathway’ by the Mindfulness Association and Mindfulness Hrvatska. You are now eligible to have your name added Mindfulness Hrvatska’s listing of approved and accredited teachers of mindfulness and use their logo.