A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness: The Comprehensive Session-by-Session Program for Mental Health Professionals and He

Description

Mindfulness-once an ancient practice honed in Buddhist monasteries-is now a mainstream, evidence based, secular intervention employed by trained health and mental health professionals worldwide. The rapid spread of mindfulness increasingly involves psychologists, physicians, social workers, therapists, counselors, spiritual advisers, life coaches, and education professionals trained in their respective disciplines. Additionally, research continues to show that mindfulness is an effective treatment for anxiety, depression, stress, pain relief, and many other illnesses. If you are a professional interested in teaching mindfulness, this book will provide you with everything you need to get started right away. The introductory, six-week protocol outlined in this book is easy-to-use, and can be implemented in a variety of settings, ranging from an outpatient mental health clinic to an inpatient oncology clinic, from a substance abuse recovery program to educational settings. In addition, this book will tell you what to bring to each class; provides outlines for each session; offers scripts to help you differentiate the weekly meditative practices; and provides invaluable resources for further study and professional development. If you're looking to integrate mindfulness into your professional work, this is your go-to guide.

Christiane Wolf, MD, PhD, is a mindfulness teacher and teacher's trainer. Her mindfulness practice started in the late 1980s. Before becoming a full-time mindfulness teacher, she was a board certified OB/GYN at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. She also holds a PhD in psychosomatic medicine from Humboldt University, and is a certified senior mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) teacher and supervisor for the Center for Mindfulness at UMASS Medical School. She is also the director of MBSR programs at InsightLA, a Los Angeles-based non-profit, and the director of the VA CALM program at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, training staff and clinicians in mindfulness and how to teach it. Wolf received Dharma transmission from Trudy Goodman in 2011, and is part of the current master Insight meditation teacher training under Jack Kornfield (Spirit Rock Meditation Center, CA) and Joseph Goldstein (Insight Mediation Society, MA). She is also on the advisory board of the Center of Mindfulness, Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute at the University of California, San Diego. J. Greg Serpa, PhD, is a clinical psychologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He is honored to teach mindfulness to America's veterans and is the first full-time mindfulness teacher and trainer in the federal system. Serpa is an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles psychology department. He teaches the intensive mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), as well as introductory level mindfulness classes at four area hospitals, and serves as a trainer, supervisor, and consultant to clinicians at the VA and UCLA. He is currently the director of inter-professional mental health education at the West Los Angeles VA, where he trains psychology postdoctoral fellows, psychiatry residents, social work interns, and nurses in mindfulness and integrative modalities of health and well-being. Serpa is a national mindfulness content expert for the VA's Office of Patient Centered Care and Healthcare Transformation where he and Wolf are preparing mindfulness toolkits for national use. He is also an active researcher with a number of projects expanding on the evidence basis of mindfulness interventions. This includes a National Institutes of Health-funded biomarker study examining the impact of meditation on brain structure in combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who have traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic headache.

"What a beautiful, wise, and user-friendly handbook on how to teach mindfulness. I also appreciate how the authors provide clear directions on how to support the clinician's ability to sit in the mindfulness teacher's seat with greater wisdom and humility." --Bob Stahl, PhD, coauthor of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, Living with Your Heart Wide Open, Calming the Rush of Panic, A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety, and MBSR Every Day "A 'must-read' for anyone who wants to teach mindfulness in groups. The authors' experience and talent shine through every page. They spell out for readers what is often implied in hands-on teacher trainings. A special bonus is how mindfulness and compassion are seamlessly woven together. Highly recommended!" --Christopher Germer, PhD, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School "A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness offers a wise and practical immersion into the nuts and bolts of guiding others, and oneself, into the daily practice of mindfulness meditation. Christiane Wolf and J. Greg Serpa build on their years of experience to create this useful, scientifically grounded, step-by-step manual for understanding, planning, and implementing a didactic program to create more well-being in our lives. Take in their sage guidance and the world will be a better place for us all!" --Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, The Developing Mind, Brainstorm, and Mindsight; executive director of the Mindsight Institute; founding codirector of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center; and clinical professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA "A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness is a wonderful guide for far more than only clinicians! There is no one on this life's journey who cannot deepen their experience and their joy through understanding and practicing mindfulness. When we as clinicians, in the broadest sense of the word, advance our capacity to understand and teach these fundamental concepts, this way of being in the world and in our lives will take root more organically. It will become a fundamental way of being. I would highly recommend this book as a guide to all of us who would like to better help ourselves and others discover, understand, and integrate this way of being." --Tracy W. Gaudet, MD, executive director of the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, US Department of Veterans Affairs "Broad in scope, yet practical, A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness can serve as a resource for secular mindfulness teacher training programs. Clearly the result of years of experience, this book provides especially good support for new instructors, while those with experience will appreciate its clarity and fresh perspectives." --Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness "I can't imagine a more ideal how-to-teach-mindfulness manual! This book offers clear and comprehensive support in learning to lead meditations, offer beginners classes, and respond to the natural challenges and questions that arise in introducing mindfulness to clients. Keep this guide close at hand--it will enable you to bring your full intelligence, heart, and confidence to sharing these life-transforming practices." --Tara Brach, PhD, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge "Teaching and guiding mindfulness requires a mindful practice. As with any skill, the more experience one has the more effective they will be. I have found that there is tremendous variance in teachers of mindfulness and some are much more effective than others. This book is the guide I would recommend for anyone who wants to be an effective teacher. It provides strategic tips and supports how your own practice can be authentically shared with others so we can all walk together on a more mindful path. I highly recommend it!" --David Rakel, MD, founder and director of Integrative Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health "Thorough, practical, and full of heart and integrity. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking to get started or enhance their ability to teach mindfulness individually or in groups." --Elisha Goldstein, PhD, author of Uncovering Happiness "What a practical, thorough, extraordinary book. Wolf and Serpa give a crystal clear road map for any professional wanting to teach mindfulness in clinical settings. Their detailed lesson plans and voice-of-experience guidance are infused with their own deep practice of mindfulness, encouraging support, and clinical acumen. Highly recommended." --Rick Hanson, PhD, author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom "Wolf and Serpa have given us a wonderful gift--a clear, complete, and inspiring guide for teaching the basics of mindfulness. The authors' deep understanding of this topic from both Buddhist and psychotherapist perspectives is evident throughout, and helps to make this book not only a very practical manual, but also a succinct and direct guide for how to become a more effective and comfortable teacher or facilitator of mindfulness. This book will be highly valuable for anyone interested in this area, regardless of prior experience. Absolutely the best book on this topic I have encountered." --Bruce D. Naliboff, PhD, research professor of medicine and psychiatry, and biobehavioral sciences director in the pain research program at the Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA