Mental Health

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an empirically validated program designed to prevent depressive relapse and reduce the impact of mood disorders. Developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale, MBCT integrates mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy.

The core of MBCT involves helping participants recognize patterns of thinking associated with mood disorders while cultivating a new relationship to thoughts and emotions—viewing them as events in the mind rather than identifying with them.

The MBCT Teacher Training Intensive (TTI) is a highly interactive professional training that emphasizes the clinician’s own meditation practice and self-inquiry. Through role-play, simulated teaching environments, and patient-practitioner scenarios, participants explore how to apply mindfulness practices in clinical settings.

The curriculum integrates didactic, experiential, and small group learning, including daily meditation, mindful movement, and periods of silence. Participants examine the interaction between thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations and how these contribute to depressive relapse, while developing the skills to teach MBCT effectively.

Are you a mental health therapist seeking to take your expertise to another level? A transdiagnostic approach such as Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MiCBT) integrates mindfulness training in the Burmese Vipassana tradition with well-established cognitive and behavioural methods.

MiCBT has been shown through research to reduce symptoms across a wide range of psychological disorders, including complex comorbidities. This integration is considered a second-generation mindfulness-based intervention, incorporating transformational skills from Buddhist psychology.

Through the MiCBT Foundation course, participants deepen understanding of mindfulness insights and behavior reinforcement, explore neuroscience findings related to behavior maintenance and change, and learn to engage clients in treatment.

The course includes didactic, practical, and experiential learning, including daily meditation practice, training in mindfulness techniques, implementation of the four stages of MiCBT, and role-play of core skills in breakout sessions.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an empirically-supported 8-week psycho-educational group intervention that teaches mindfulness meditation as a health intervention. Created by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, MBSR offers participants the possibility to develop a different relationship to stress resulting from chronic physical and psychological illnesses, and the daily indignities experienced as a result of racism and other forms of oppression. Research outcomes have demonstrated positive improvements in physical and psychological symptoms, as well as changes in health attitudes and behaviors.

This teacher training will provide trainees the opportunity to study and experience the foundational underpinnings, mindfulness meditations and specific exercises that are the framework of the MBSR program. The themes, rationales, intention and practice skills of each MBSR class session will be reviewed, discussed and practiced. Participant screening guidelines will be covered, and samples of client handouts will be provided. There will also be home practice for personal mindfulness practice.

This online teacher training is highly interactive. Trainees will move between experiencing MBSR sessions and practicing teaching components of the program in small groups under supervision. The training emphasizes the necessity of a personal mindfulness practice as the foundation for teaching, along with embodiment of non-judgmental present-moment awareness, kindness, compassion, and equanimity.

The training integrates didactic and experiential modules, including large and small group learning, role-play, and simulated patient-practitioner encounters. Ethical considerations in teaching MBSR are also addressed.

Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behavior Therapy (MiCBT) is a sophisticated integration of mindfulness training and cognitive-behavioral science. Grounded in evidence-based principles, MiCBT offers a four-stage, transdiagnostic treatment model that can be applied across a wide range of mental health conditions and client populations. Drawing from the Burmese Vipassana tradition of Ledi Sayadaw and U Ba Khin, MiCBT blends traditional mindfulness practices with the rigor of behavioral and cognitive methods.

This one-day workshop provides an engaging overview of the theoretical framework that underpins MiCBT. Participants will deepen their understanding of operant conditioning and explore the neuro-behavioral mechanisms that explain how mindfulness and CBT complement one another.

Join an international community of clinicians in this learning opportunity to discover how MiCBT can enrich both your clinical work and your personal mindfulness practice—and to consider whether further training in this empirically validated approach may be right for you.

The experiential workshop will involve learning material through various modalities, including guided mindfulness meditation practices as taught in MiCBT, live demonstration of delivery of Diary of Reactive Habits, guided mindfulness interoceptive exposure tasks and experiential ownership, video demonstrations of MiCBT skills with a client during real-life therapy sessions, and live question and answer through chat.

What’s included: access to online pre-workshop content, 14 days access to the recorded workshop, and membership to the North American Chapter of the MiCBT Institute.

For the introductory workshop, no prior knowledge of mindfulness is assumed, but basic skills in cognitive and behavioral techniques are helpful. The workshop is geared toward professionals with a foundational understanding of the concepts, as the workshop is delivered at a higher psychological level.

How do you typically react to difficulties in life—work stress, feeling rejected, physical problems, or financial hardship? Most of us instinctively fight negative experiences and find fault in ourselves when things go wrong. This tendency adds stress and self-criticism that can worsen anxiety, depression, and other challenges.

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) teaches a different approach—learning to calm and support yourself when you’re struggling, much like you would for a close friend. Self-compassion is a skill that can be learned by anyone and is a courageous mental attitude that helps reduce self-judgment and emotional reactivity.

With mindful self-compassion, participants learn to recognize stress, respond with kindness, and build emotional resilience. Research shows that self-compassion can increase happiness, reduce anxiety and depression, and support healthy behavior change.

The 8-week MSC program consists of weekly sessions in a group format, along with guided practices and opportunities to integrate mindfulness and self-compassion into daily life.

Have you ever felt swamped with negative thoughts and emotions? Have you ever found yourself feeling down and blue? You are not alone. Feeling anxious or sad is really common and the World Health Organization (WHO) says that depressive mood and anxiety could be the biggest health problems we face in the world.

Well, you have come to the right place! Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy(MBCT) is an 8-week, evidence-based, experiential program that combines ideas of cognitive therapy and mindfulness meditation practices to cultivate present moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is designed to cultivate resilience and safeguard against recurring bouts of negative thoughts, emotions, and low mood. Research finds MBCT to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and stands as a validated alternative to medication. 

In this course, you will be able to understand the traits of mood disorders and cultivate a new, heartful relationship to them by turning towards habitual patterns of thinking that keep you stuck and spiraling down. With practice, you will be able to build your capacity to respond to life’s challenges in more mindful and attentive ways. 

Participants will be required to meet with the instructor before the program starts. You will receive more information on this closer to the start date.

Join us and unlock your inner resilience and embrace emotional balance by joining this transformative 8-week course!

What You’ll Learn

• Attend to patterns of thought, emotions, behavior
• Raise awareness of and reduce identification with negative states
• Build skills to prevent relapse using mindfulness meditation techniques
• Learn to respond rather than react, using the element of choice

Who Should Participate

If you often worry about the future or dwell on the past, experience low mood, or have a history of anxiety and/or depression, this is the class for you. A commitment to attendance of 80% of the full series and home practice activities is required. Participants are strongly encouraged to attend the daylong silent retreat.

Helpful Resources

• The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress — John Teasdale, Mark Williams, and Zindel Segal (Foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn).
• Video: Zindel Segal speaks about MBCT
• Kuyken (2016): Individual patient data meta-analysis of randomized trials (MBCT and relapse prevention).

Objectives

At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Articulate the key aspects of mindfulness as it relates to coping with negative moods and preventing relapse of depression and anxiety.
• Differentiate MBCT from and other CBT techniques that may seem similar but are quite different in contending with negative mood states.
• Practice the key aspects of mindfulness to manage symptoms and to prevent relapse of depression and anxiety.
• Apply mindfulness and cognitive therapy techniques when managing difficult situations and emotions in both personal and professional settings.
• Explain the potential benefits mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (and mindfulness) to family and friends
• Create plans to continue and deepen personal practice of mindfulness.

Note: This course does not train facilitators; it is for participants wishing to learn MBCT tools for themselves.

What would happen if, in moments of shame, you could care for yourself instead of going small, attacking yourself, or shutting down?

We are excited to invite you to Self-Compassion for Shame: Returning Home to Yourself, a groundbreaking 8-week program developed by Dr. Chris Germer, Natalie Bell, and the SC-Shame development team. In this course, we take a unique, non-pathological look at shame through the lens of mindful self-compassion—and learn why self-compassion is the antidote to shame.

Who Should Participate

Prerequisites: This course is suitable for everyone who has completed either the 8-Week MSC, the 5-Day MSC Intensive, or the Short Course in MSC-along with a personal self-compassion practice of 1 year or more. You should be able to recognize that shame may be limiting your full potential—and want new resources to be able to work with it in a healthy balanced way.

SC-Shame is a resource-building program (like MSC), not psychotherapy. Because we’ll be touching shame with self-compassion, challenging emotions may arise. Our teaching team is committed to co-creating a safe and rewarding learning environment together with participants.

“Self-Compassion allows us to see through shame—to see our inherent worth and value.”

What You’ll Learn

You will build practical resources to meet shame with greater acceptance and authenticity so you can stay connected, think in a balanced way, and make wise, healthy choices. The course weaves together talks, experiential exercises, meditation, and group discussion, alongside theory and research on shame and self-compassion. Special topics include:

• Mindfulness of shame
• Origins of shame
• Self-criticism
• Body shame
• Self-forgiveness
• Hidden parts
• Social justice

“Shame makes us want to go small, go silent, or go away. Self-Compassion shows us how to be strong and have a voice.”

Why This Course

Prior participants of the SC-Shame 8-week course reported:

• 96% would recommend the course
• 96% said their experience of shame changed as a result of the course
• 89% would consider taking the course again
• 85% had better mental and emotional wellbeing after the course

Program Structure

• 8 weeks, 28 hours total (20 hours class time plus 8 hours optional practice group)
• Weekly classes: 2.5 hours each
• Optional practice group: 1 hour weekly, facilitated by SC-Shame teachers
• Class size: maximum 30 participants

Free Orientation Session

Join us for a free orientation session as a preview of the upcoming 8-week course starting in April 2026. Register here.

In today’s world, teens and pre-teens are under more pressure and experiencing higher levels of stress than ever before. Increasing demand in technology, academic preparation, and life transitions often result in physical and emotional stressors, such as:

• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Depression

These stressors can affect your child’s well-being and happiness. A crucial skill in managing stress effectively is to be able to deal with change whenever it occurs.

In This Course Students Will Learn To:

• Sharpen their ability to focus and pay attention
• Experience life situations with less emotional reactivity
• Learn effective strategies for making better choices
• Increase kindness and compassion for themselves and others

Learn skills for self-care

The Practice

• Gentle stretching and yoga
• Mindful meditation practices to support relaxation and awareness
• Self-reflection through journaling, activities, and group discussion

Reduce overwhelm and restore balance with an evidence-based 8-week MBSR course that helps you reclaim calm, resilience, and a better quality of life.

Before you begin to read the information below about the Mindfulness-Based Courses at UC San Diego, we invite you to take a moment to pause and consider what brought you to this point. What is in your mind and heart and body that caused you to bring this web page on to the screen of this computer? You might pause for 10 or 20 seconds to get a clear sense of what led you here.

More than likely, you quickly identified a “problem” or “challenge” that you face in your life. This is something that causes you to suffer in some way, physically, emotionally or spiritually. Among the difficulties people report when they come to our mindfulness classes are such things as:

• Chronic pain
• Stress
• Anxiety and worry
• Chronic or life-threatening medical illnesses
• Depression
• Relationship difficulties
• Problems with substances
• Sleep disturbance
• Hypertension
• Headaches
• Grief and loss

Now, take a moment to step back from your definition of the problem or problems and notice that there was also an aspect of you that was aware of this difficulty and was open to working with such challenges in a different way. After all, if you were satisfied with how you were dealing with the things you face in your life, would you have sought out a program about stress reduction? Perhaps that “inner voice” was seeking peace, balance, equanimity or a sense of control.

That awareness can be thought of in many ways, but we like to consider it your inner wisdom. You have had that sense of what feels right or wrong for you as long as you can remember, even though there have probably been times when you could not hear it, or you ignored or misunderstood it. That inner wisdom knows the fundamental principle upon which the foundation of mindfulness programs are built, that there is more right with you than wrong with you.

Our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course (and other mindfulness programs) are unlike any sort of program you may have encountered before. They involve cultivating a different relationship between you and the things that challenge you in your life, and relies completely upon the tools you already have. Specifically, mindfulness helps you access the ability to be non-judgmental, compassionate, patient, present and aware. You wouldn’t have come this far if these qualities did not exist in you somewhere.

However, just because you have the inner wisdom and resources to contend differently with your life and all its aspects, does not mean that you routinely use them. Most of us are on “auto-pilot” much of the day and tend to react much more than we respond to the decisions and situations we face. Our courses are intended to develop the innate ability to cultivate mindfulness over “mindlessness”, with which we are all familiar. Those moments when we are unaware of where we are, what we are feeling and why we are doing what we are doing. Quite frequently, those are the moments that contribute most to our suffering. Just a few examples are: eating foods that we know we would be better off not eating; spending time with people that cause us great difficulty or emotional pain; or engaging in activities that are stressful, harmful or unnecessarily distracting.

More information about our “flagship” 8-week MBSR program is detailed elsewhere on our website, but the overriding focus and intention of it is to reconnect you with that inner wisdom and deep knowing that resides within you. Mindfulness-based groups have a huge and growing body of research supporting their usefulness to address the kinds of problems we have described. 

This is an opportunity to rediscover yourself and to access the qualities and strengths you possess deep inside. Sit back, take a moment to become aware of the surroundings you are in, the sensations in your body, the thoughts in your mind and the feelings in your heart:

• Are you feeling curious, excited, skeptical, nervous, hopeful or bored?
• Are you aware of physical sensations of tension, pain, warmth or numbness?
• Can you hold all of the amazing and varied things in your awareness for a moment without having to change them, extinguish them or get lost in them?
• Can you experience this very moment for the precious, fleeting and beautiful thing that it is?

You have just tasted some of your own ability to be mindful, and we invite you to cultivate it further through participation in the UC San Diego Mindfulness-Based programs.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the 'Stress Reduction Clinic' and the 'Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society' at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the author of many books including Full Catastrophe Living.

MBSR All-Day Session (Included in our registration):

As part of the MBSR course, we offer an All-Day Session of Mindfulness, typically held between weeks 6 and 7. This teacher-led silent retreat is a chance to experience mindfulness practices you have already been learning—such as sitting meditation, mindful movement, walking meditation— in a supportive and spacious way. You'll also have the opportunity to reflect and share your experience at the end of the day and during the following class

Free Online Consultation Request

Interested in talking with a member of our teaching staff about MBSR or other programs? We offer free consultations with our staff over email or over the phone in order to provide advice on which of our Mindfulness Programs (such as MBSR and MSC) may be right for you.

If you are interested in acquiring information regarding our professional training programs, please email us at mindfulness@ucsd.edu.