What You'll Learn
Module 1 | CBT Fundamentals
You'll situate yourself as a mindfulness-centred CBT clinician. Dr. Gillihan will debunk common CBT and mindfulness myths and cover the fundamentals of case conceptualization. You'll learn to set client expectations, develop goals, and confidently guide clients to:
- Engage in gradual exposure with mindful acceptance of discomfort
- Use behavioural activation strategies with mindful awareness
- Apply response prevention with acceptance of anxiety and uncertainty
- See through cognitive distortions and mindfully challenge assumptions
Module 2 | Anxiety Disorders and OCD
You'll learn how to treat anxiety and OCD by helping clients courageously step into fear and uncertainty while balancing the ability to self-regulate. You'll be able to offer clients practical tools to:
- Increase willingness to change in the face of extreme fear
- Become an observer of worries and obsessive urges instead of acting on them
- Utilize behavioural experiments to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty
- Interrupt patterns of avoidance and relax better
Module 3 | Trauma and PTSD
You'll learn how to help clients anchor to the present while visiting the past and feel safe, even when triggers and trauma-related stress emerge. Walk away with effective tools to help clients:
- Foster awareness and acceptance of trauma-related symptoms
- Quiet their overactive sympathetic nervous system
- Observe and address trauma-related thought patterns
- Manage trauma-related stress more effectively
Module 4 | Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder
Automatic thoughts can fuel mood disturbances and leave clients stuck and unmotivated. You'll learn how to unlock clients' motivation and self-compassion so they can make progress in therapy. Help clients:
- Become aware of the role of automatic thoughts in fueling mood disturbance
- Find reward when motivation and energy are low
- Identify key risk factors for mood episodes
- Engage in mindful lifestyle changes to support mood stability
Module 5 | Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders
You'll learn how Mindful CBT can cut through the powerful reward-based systems of substance abuse disorders and rewire the brain for recovery. Feel confident in your ability to teach clients how to:
- Counteract permission-giving thoughts
- Mindfully manage cravings and urges
- Rebuild a highly rewarding life with greater presence and acceptance
- Identify and manage high-risk situations and relapse
Module 6 | Personality Disorders
Help clients with personality disorders develop psychological flexibility and emotional distress tolerance. Manage your own reactions to challenging clients as you employ tools to enable them to:
- Identify the right thought/action patterns for flexibility
- Increase their ability to sit with uncomfortable feelings through mindfulness
- Enhance clients' ability to engage well with novelty and change versus maintaining rigid patterns
- Decrease reactivity in favour of values-based responding
Module 7 | Suicidality, Insomnia, and Special Topics
This module will address working with suicidal clients as well as clients experiencing insomnia. You'll learn how to:
- Strengthen your clients' life-giving relationships and develop an effective safety plan
- Improve sleep behaviours and promote mindfulness awareness of sleep variability
- Implement culturally responsive clinical tools
- Manage your own stress and prevent therapist burnout