8-Week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an 8-week, evidence-based, experiential program that combines cognitive therapy approaches with mindfulness meditation to cultivate present-moment, non-judgmental awareness. MBCT is designed to build resilience and support relapse prevention for recurring patterns of low mood, stress, anxiety, and depression.
Through weekly experiential sessions, participants learn to recognize unhelpful patterns of thinking, relate differently to difficult emotions, and respond to life’s challenges with greater clarity and choice.
Participants are required to meet with the instructor before the program begins. More information will be provided closer to the start date.
What You’ll Learn
- Attend to patterns of thought, emotions, and behavior.
- Increase awareness of negative states and reduce identification with them.
- Build skills to support relapse prevention using mindfulness meditation techniques.
- Respond rather than react by strengthening the ability to choose how to meet difficult experiences.
Who Should Participate
This course is designed for individuals who often worry about the future or dwell on the past, experience low mood, or have a history of anxiety and/or depression and want practical tools to support well-being.
- Attendance of at least 80% of sessions is required.
- Home practice activities are required.
- Participants are strongly encouraged to attend the daylong silent retreat.
Note: This course is for personal learning and practice and does not provide facilitator training.
Schedule and Registration
Note: CFM requires a minimum of 10 registrants per program. Classes with fewer than 10 registrants will be cancelled and provided a refund. Please be aware of this when making arrangements to attend this program.
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).
Cassandra Vieten
Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Mindfulness at the Centers for Integrative Health in the Department of Family Medicine at UC San Diego. Her research focuses on mindfulness-based interventions, spirituality and health, and transformative experiences that support emotional well-being.
Helen Davis
Helen E. Davis, PhD, LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist in group practice who has taught and integrated Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction into her clinical work since 2013. With over two decades of therapeutic experience, she specializes in applying mindfulness to anxiety, depression, trauma, and emotion regulation to support greater well-being.
Additional $50 fee for CE credits. This must be paid before the program starts and you must attend all sessions to receive the CE certificate.
Continuing education credits are awarded in the following categories: American Psychological Association and Board of Registered Nursing.
Psychologists
UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 22.0 CE credit.
California Licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, LCSWs
This activity is an approved continuing education program by the American Psychological Association. Credit hours may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. 22.0 CE credit.
Nurses
UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing to sponsor continuing education. Provider Number CEP16351. 26.0 contact hours.
A refund (minus your $50 non-refundable/non-transferable deposit) will be made for cancellations submitted in writing up to 7 days prior to the event start date by emailing mindfulness@.ucsd.edu. No refunds will be allowed within 6 days of the event start date.
Please be aware that the registration fee, deposits, and funds are non-transferable to other programs.
In the unlikely event that the course is cancelled, UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is responsible only for a full refund of the registration fee. In regards to in-person programs, the center is not responsible for any refunds to transportation, hotel accommodations, or any miscellaneous expenses.
Refunds are processed using the same method as the original payment (unless past 180 days).
UC San Diego employees may take the course for $545 ($495 if paid in full 30 days in advance).
At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Articulate key aspects of mindfulness as it relates to coping with negative moods and preventing relapse of depression and anxiety.
- Differentiate MBCT from other CBT techniques that may seem similar but function differently in working with negative mood states.
- Practice core mindfulness skills to manage symptoms and support relapse prevention of depression and anxiety.
- Apply mindfulness and cognitive therapy techniques when managing difficult situations and emotions in personal and professional settings.
- Explain potential benefits of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (and mindfulness) to family and friends.
- Create a plan to continue and deepen personal mindfulness practice.
Note: This course does not train facilitators; it is for participants wishing to learn MBCT tools for themselves.
