This workshop offers an intensive professional training in Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), an evidence-based aftercare program designed for clients who have undergone initial treatment for substance use or other addictive disorders. MBRP integrates skills from relapse prevention therapy with mindfulness practices to help clients maintain treatment gains and decrease the probability and severity of relapse. Similar to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, the program integrates mindfulness meditation with cognitive-behavioral strategies. At the heart of MBRP is compassionate awareness of all experience, with a focus on personal triggers and habitual reactions that often follow.
Through mindfulness practice, clients learn to relate kindly and skillfully to all physical, cognitive, and emotional experiences, especially those that bring discomfort. They practice formal meditation and learn to integrate mindfulness into their daily lives to build and maintain a vital, healthy, and conscious life.
This workshop offers an introduction to the underlying concepts, exercises, and meditations of MBRP, and opportunities to lead elements of the program and practice core competency skills. Participants’ own mindfulness practice and use of MBRP skills are emphasized through periods of formal meditation and integration of informal mindfulness practices.
Upon completion, participants will be better able to:
- Define Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) and list three practices used in the program
- Discuss the theoretical foundations underlying MBRP
- Summarize the core intentions of the MBRP program
- Describe at least two specific ways in which cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness practices are integrated for prevention of relapse
- Contrast acceptance-based approaches with “will power” or control-based strategies
- Practice at least three basic MBRP techniques and describe how they can be useful for their patients and themselves
- Describe the implications and importance of the provider’s personal meditation practice in delivering mindfulness-based treatments
This program is for mental health professionals wishing to expand their practice to include MBRP and mindfulness-related treatment. Participants should be either licensed mental health clinicians, clinicians-in-training, or interested professionals who do not intend to deliver the intervention directly. All attendees should have a modest meditation practice. An established mindfulness practice is preferred.
