Buddhist Psychology Training Application (BP3T23) - 2023

Extended – Application Deadline: end of the day on Monday, December 12, 2022 (US Pacific Time). Applications will be reviewed by the teachers on a semi-rolling basis throughout the fall until December 1, or until the program is full. Final notifications will be sent out early December. Scholarship Update as of December 9, 2022: All scholarship funds have been awarded for this program.

Buddhist Psychology Training: Scientific Intersections and Clinical Applications of Dharma

Prerequisites:

General Prerequisite: Completion of at least one silent multi-day residential or multi-day online Insight Meditation retreat recommended by the start of the program (e.g. a retreat with Spirit Rock, IMS, IRC, etc.)

Professional Prerequisite: This course is designed for those working in caregiving and mental health professions. This includes psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, and mindfulness teachers.

Description:

Deepen your understanding of meditation and nourish your work with clients in this five-month training designed for clinicians, counselors, mindfulness teachers, and others providing mental health support. In this training, you’ll join a community of peers for an in-depth exploration of mindfulness, Dharma, and science that will support both your personal practice and your work with others.

Through periods of meditation, Dharma talks, discussion, small group explorations and clinical case studies, you will develop greater confidence in applying mindfulness-based interventions with clients, deepen your understanding of the intersections of Buddhism and psychology, and further cultivate your own meditation practice and tools for self-care.

This training includes an experiential investigation of our own life and practice as well as our roles as clinicians. It is ideal for people who want to explore their own minds and hearts as a springboard into best serving their clients, rather than those who are primarily seeking coaching on the implementation of mindfulness-based treatment manuals.

As counselors we know that only when one has truly made oneself a patient can one become a healer. Through our practice, we become the patient and come to understand, affirm, and ultimately, transform ourselves. It is this transformation that ripples outwards to our clients and community. This training brings both sides of ourselves—the patient and the healer—together as we practice and learn together.

The training will provide an immersion in Buddhist psychology and the meditation practices that illuminate our minds, foster goodness, and transform habits that compound suffering. We’ll dive into the scientific research on mindfulness and its increasing prominence in psychotherapeutic interventions, and explore data regarding the efficacy of mindfulness and the mechanisms through which mindfulness confers its benefits. The training will examine the convergences and tensions between clinical research and Buddhist psychology and describe ways to integrate mindfulness into treatment. We’ll consider possible contraindications of mindfulness and how to tailor the intervention to individuals. Please join us.

Course Outline & Themes:

Each day will consist of lectures, guided meditation practice, and exploration of the themes in small groups.

The themes addressed with include:

• Exploration of construct of mindfulness as a state, trait and practice
• The ways Buddhist practice can function as a psychotherapy and the ways it has aims outside the therapeutic realm
• The hypothesized mechanisms of action of Buddhist practice – how the practice ‘gets under the skin’
• The role of equanimity in developing emotional balance and growing freedom
• Understanding the categories of meditation practice
• How Buddhist practice supports emotion regulation
• Buddhist wisdom in meeting shame
• Approaches to anxiety and worry
• How practice supports us to manage countertransference
• Wise use of clinical and spiritual power
• How Buddhist practice develops general clinical skills – listening, empathy, intuition – and supports the well-being of the people we serve
• Teaching heart practices, including loving-kindness and compassion practices
• The safety of mindfulness practices and efforts to avoid harm or adverse effects of practice
• The fragility of identity and the teachings on anatta, or not-self
• The relationship between self-love and anatta

Program Includes:

• Format: Online via Zoom
• Commitment: two 2-day retreats, three 1-day retreats & self-study

Program Dates:

Program training period is January – May 2023. Specific training dates below. All meeting times are: 9:00am – 3:00pm US Pacific Time.

• Sat-Sun, Jan 7 – 8
• Sat, Feb 11
• Sat, March 11
• Sat, April 15
• Sat-Sun, May 20 – 21

Participation and Attendance Guidelines:

Your participation in this training is important. The cohesion of the group is an important aspect of this training, so participation serves both your own development as well as the group. We ask that you commit to the dates and to participate wholeheartedly.

In addition to course meetings, participants will have opportunities to participate in smaller consult groups with the teacher throughout the program term.

For participants NOT wishing to receive CE credits: Attendance at both two-day retreats (January and May) is mandatory. We expect that all participants will also attend each monthly daylong, however, we understand that sometimes there are unexpected emergencies. If a participant must miss one of the daylongs, they will need to watch the Zoom recording prior to the next retreat.

For participants wishing to receive CE credits: In order to receive Continuing Education Credits, participants must attend all sessions live, on time, and in full. Your attendance is tracked carefully to grant your CE credits. Board regulations prohibit partial credit for partial attendance, therefore, incomplete attendance nullifies CE credit eligibility. No exceptions. More information on Continuing Education (CE) credits below.

Continuing Education (CE) credit available:
This program offers 18 CE credits for $180 applicable for psychologists and California licensed MFTs, LCSWs, LEPs, LPCCs, nurses, and chiropractors. Please review our Continuing Education Credit information page. to determine if your association or board will accept credits offered by Spirit Rock.*

Teachings are appropriate for health care professionals as well as the general public.

CEC Schedule: (All times in US Pacific Time)
Full attendance is required daily 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

January 7:
9:00am – 9:30am | Guided meditation
2:00pm – 3:00pm | Discourse & Consultation

January 8, February 11, March 11, April 15, & May 20:
9:00am – 9:30am | Guided meditation
10:00am – 12:00pm | Discourse
2:00pm – 3:00pm | Discourse & Consultation

May 21:
9:00am – 9:30am | Guided meditation
2:00pm – 3:00pm | Discourse & Consultation

Learning Objectives for participating health care professionals-
At the end of the program you will be better able to:

• Describe at least two of the overlaps and differences between mindfulness-based treatment and Buddhist psychology;
• Describe the three clusters of meditative practice: attentional, constructive, deconstructive;
• List five types of emotion regulation;
• Describe the relevance of equanimity for emotional regulation;
• Describe how evolutionary biology informs contemporary understandings of emotion;
• Describe the parallels between Buddhist practice and exposure therapy;
• Explain the role of inflexible self-definition in the generation of difficult emotion;
• Explain the role of the brain’s default mode network and self-referential thought in emotional regulation;
• Describe Buddhist approaches to shame;
• Explain the differences between self-esteem and self-compassion;
• Describe how Buddhist practice is relevant for enhancing the therapeutic alliance;
• Describe three ways in which clinician mindfulness helps manage countertransference;
• Describe Buddhist approaches to anxiety.

*Please note:

• For those with a different license or with a license from a different licensing board, please contact your licensing board directly to ask if CE credit from the above-approved sponsors is accepted. Spirit Rock does not confirm applicability of credit for those with licenses different than those listed above. Spirit Rock is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16905 for 18 contact hours.
• Credit is awarded for instructional time only and does not include extended silent meditation, if offered.
• For full Provider information, and additional CEC information, including attendance requirements, cancellation, and grievance policies, please visit our Continuing Education Credit information page.