7 Wednesday evenings: 13, 20, 27 Jan and 3, 10, 17, Feb at 19.00 - 21.00 then final session on 24 Feb at 19:00 - 22:00
plus follow-up practice afternoon on Sat 29 May 2021, 14.00 - 17.30
Leader: Pippa O'Connor
Costs: £280 [£225 if on low income; £155 if living off benefits]
Prices include materials and practice afternoon.
Due to Covid-19 this course will be ONLINE on Zoom. All spaces are limited so do book ASAP.
If you are eligible for a concession, click the correct booking button and then “Concession code”. Use code “concession-225” (low income) or “concession-155” (if living off benefits). For our concessions policy please click here.
Compassionate Mind Behaviour Training (CMBT) includes the MBCT Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Training for depression, anxiety and worry. However, the CMBT training also includes an added component of compassion training to integrate change, wisdom, joy, equanimity and compassion for transformation in our life. Suitable for newcomers and for anyone who wishes to enhance their skills.
Pippa says “Without compassion we cannot be aware, nor can we transform our intimate, personal and impersonal relationships. The need is greater than ever before to be able to be present with our compassionate self by stabilising, so that we can manage these challenging, frantic and difficult times. is for anyone wanting to let go of difficult emotions. The course uses evidenced-based techniques to train and transform negative thoughts and feelings, e.g. depression, stress, anxiety, sadness, anger, loneliness. Instead of fighting difficult emotions and thinking critically of self and other, CMBT helps us learn to accept and reduce reactivity and find new helpful and skilful ways to be with ourselves and others by cultivating kindly awareness.
As well as mindfulness training, this course is informed by the compassion work of Paul Gilbert and Chris Germer. I include mindful compassion skills training for self-soothing and emotional tolerance, and to mitigate self-criticism, unrelenting standards, grief, anxiety, angst. To make the transformation and change with compassion training, one must work on building a resource for self-awareness, self-empathy and mindful self-care to build resilience.
Neuroscience tells us, it is not helpful to try, to push, nor to 'allow' strong emotions to arise, without some sort of foundation practice and training, which is what we do on this course. To resource ourselves with warmth imbued with kindness, tenderness, insight, support to navigate through what is often a tyrannical mindset. This journey takes courage, kindness, stability, patience training and ability to recognise what is happening while it is happening.
The first step is to 'wake up' to how we are with our self, then to observe and tolerate the difficulties which will pass in time. However, while we are experiencing critical mind and strong emotions, we can feel they will never change in the moment. This is why we train in self-soothing and kindness, not to get rid of the difficulties but to be with them, side by side, and in time it will lessen in effect and we will have a much kinder and transformative relationship with self and other.”
We ask you please to read the general information section under Mindfulness Courses to check whether this course is likely to be right for you. You can access this by clicking on Mindfulness Courses in the Courses dropdown menu at the very top of this page.
Pippa O'Connor is a psychotherapist (BSc; MSc; PGCE & Dip) and senior lecturer in Mindfulness Based Clinical Applications at the North London Hospital, Southgate. She is a Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Consultant at Tavistock Hospital and has a BSC in Cognitive Behaviour, Addiction and Trauma/ DIP Trauma/ EMDR.