The fee for all our courses is £950. Your payment of this course fee secures your booking.

How you can pay – click on a course date

• Pay in full (today)
• Pay in 2: 50% today + receive invoice for balance before the course starts
• Pay in 3 (PayPal): select PayPal → Pay Later → Pay in 3
• Monthly plan (see details below): contact us to arrange; last payment before the course starts

If you are booking 4 + months ahead of your course start date, you can arrange a monthly payment plan; the last payment would be required 2 weeks before the first day of your course. Please contact the UK College admin team on 0121 444 1110 or email us at info@mindfulnessnow.org.uk to arrange this.

The UK College of Mindfulness Meditation, is very proud to be in its 12th year of providing one of the UK’s most successful, externally accredited vocational training courses – The Mindfulness Now programme, for those who wish to become teachers of mindfulness. This programme integrates key elements of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

Nick Cooke developed the Mindfulness Now Programme after his own experience of using mindfulness to help him with his recovery and rehabilitation, including coping with pain following two serious and life-threatening illnesses. He already had considerable experience of learning, practising and teaching mindfulness and, as a talk therapist, it’s something, which for many years, he has taught his clients to practice, often with highly positive results.

The fee is £950 which includes the 5 days intensive training online or in person, assessment and free ongoing help and support. A comprehensive training manual is included as well as additonal online resources video/audio, PowerPoint slides for mindfulness teaching, working with children and for corporate presentations. All resources are also supplied electronically in order that they can be adapted for individual use.

Please see the syllabus and teaching programme below.

It is vital when undertaking training of this nature to ensure that the approval meets your needs. Our training has been rigorously assessed and is approved through both BAMBA – the British Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches the BPS CPD Quality Mark Scheme for the purposes of continuing professional development. However, you don’t need to be a psychologist to undertake this training. With the BPS seal of approval many of our former students teach mindfulness within the NHS, mental health services, all levels of the educational system, within the charity sector, complementary therapies, as well as many other environments.

It is vital when undertaking training of this nature to ensure that the accreditation meets your needs. Our training has been rigorously assessed and the training is fully accredited by The National Register of Psychotherapists and Counsellors (NRPC) and is approved by BAMBA. 

To qualify and obtain the certification as an accredited mindfulness teacher, students are required to attend the 5 days intensive course and complete two assignments – one a case study report and the other a brief written question and answer paper. These have to be submitted together, within 6 months of attending the training and, following successful assessment, certification will be provided. Help and support with this is provided upon request.

In order to provide open access to our training we make no assumption of any prior learning. We simply ask that trainees already practice mindfulness meditation personally and are committed to ongoing practice. This inevitably means that some students on our teacher training will have more experience than others. They may, for example, have already attended an eight-week programme but this is not necessary since we cover this in the course.

All our courses are non-residential. The course fee covers the training course and does not include accommodation or food. Refreshments will be provided at the morning and afternoon break.

All our ‘in person’ courses take place at the Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, Monday to Friday, 10am till 5pm. Onsite parking is available onsite via a pay and display car park. There is an onsite restaurant/ cafe which provides a varied menu of meals and snacks and there are also supermarkets and other amenities close to the venue.

If you wold like recommendations for places to stay please see our birmingham locations page or contact the college the UK College on 0121 444 1110 or email us.

The hours are 10.00 AM to 5.00 PM apart from on the 5th (final day) when we try and finish at 4.30 PM.

• Participant assessment protocols
• Cautions, safeguards and contra-indications
• Session recording and evaluation
• History / background of mindfulness and mindfulness meditation
• How to conduct mindfulness meditation sessions – seated, lying and movement based
• Attitudinal Basis (Attitudes of mindfulness– Kabat-Zinn)
• Trauma informed Mindfulness
• 3 stage breathing space
• A wide range of appropriate breath / body / movement and guided imagery meditations
• Breath and body awareness
• Mindfulness in wellbeing
• Mindfulness teaching techniques and methodologies
• Therapeutic interventions with mindfulness
• Developing the teacher’s own mindfulness practice
• Conducting individual / group sessions
• The Mindfulness Now 8 weeks wellbeing programme
• Stress Reduction – the MBSR approaches
• Cognitive behavioural approaches – the MBCT approaches
• Integration of mindfulness with other therapeutic modalities
• Corporate applications of mindfulness
• Teaching mindfulness to children and young people
• Building a mindfulness teaching practice (marketing for teachers)

Due to our policy of continuous improvement, our syllabus, training curriculum and daily structure is constantly evolving and developing.

Day 1 (The basics)

• Introductions, objectives, guidance on attendees safety, wellbeing and responsibility
• Training objectives and summary of training methods
• Exploration of the history, development and practice of mindfulness
• Breaking out of ‘automatic pilot’ presentation, discussion
• Raisin meditation
• Introduction to mindfulness of breath, body and movement (practical movement session)
• ‘Attitudes of mindfulness’ introduction, presentation, discussion and exercise
• Unhelpful automatic routines – discussion
• Helping our participants to bring mindfulness into their lives
• Assignment and qualification requirements
• Sitting meditation sequence, awareness of breath
• Thoughts, feelings / responses exercises
• Discussing the training manual contents and other resources
• Introduction to mindfulness teaching programmes, including MBSR, and
MBCT

Day 2 (therapeutic applications)

• Introduction to poems and stories in mindfulness
• The farmer and the horse – metaphor
• Review of mindfulness attitudes – our personal perspectives
• Introduction to participant selection, safety and wellbeing
• Participant interviewing protocol including limits to confidentiality
• Safeguarding, boundaries and scope of practice
• Presentation of a breathing space meditation followed by teaching practice sessions
• Therapeutic use of ‘Body Scan’
• Moments that nourish  Diary
• Introduction to Mindfulness Now teaching programmes – including the 8 weeks formal programme
• Old lady and the fish basket metaphor
• Teaching practice sessions – Mindfulness Now programme
• Thoughts and feelings / responses exercises
• Sitting meditation sequence – awareness of breath and body

Day 3 (Therapeutic applications, continued and ‘being a mindfulness teacher’)

• Ethical foundations of mindfulness
• Learning that change takes time

Trauma informed mindfulness

• Skills and perspectives of mindfulness teaching
• The role of ‘enquiry’ in mindfulness teaching
• The natural embodiment of our teaching
• Flexibility within the Mindfulness Now programmes
• One-to-one teaching of mindfulness
• Continuing the Mindfulness Now 8 weeks programme
• Sitting meditation sequence – awareness of breath, body and sounds
•Moments that test diary
• Mindfulness of breath, body and movement – second practical movement session
• Automatic thoughts
• STOP Practice
• Letting in the difficult – practice
• Understanding negative automatic thoughts
• Teaching evaluation method

Day 4 (Working with children – The Gift, contemplative practice)

First half

• The art of teaching mindfulness to children
• Practical resources and how to develop your own
• Safeguards and cautions
• Considering our own suitability
• Adapting our case study process to working with a child / children
• Q & A session on teaching mindfulness – group practice
• Discovering the teachers within us – meditation
• Participant journaling discussion
• The experience of quiet / silent contemplation
• Facilitating enquiry – further exploration
• Teaching practice – sitting meditation sequence

Second half

• ‘The Gift’ – Extended practical experience of quietness, guided meditations, eating and resting, various movement practices including walking and stretching. Formal mindful listening exercise followed by group discussion

Day 5 (Integration, opportunities and professional practice)

• Completing the Mindfulness Now 8 weeks programme
• Teaching practice exercises
• Mindfulness at work – relevance, opportunities and structures
• Practice building 
• Exploring niche opportunities
• Professional standards and ethics
• Setting up supervision and CPD
• Review of ongoing qualification process
• Mindfulness teaching practice sessions

Loving kindness practice
• Review of learning

Important – please note that the daily structure above is subject to change due to group needs and time schedules.

• To make mindfulness professionally available to a very wide audience, to meet ever increasing needs, through our network of qualified teachers, who are all committed to ongoing professional development and supervision

• To offer accessible and affordable, externally accredited, vocational teacher training

• Monitor all student’s evaluation of training content and delivery and apply a policy of continuous improvement, in order to maintain the highest possible standards

• Maintain on-going and indefinite support for students and graduates including an optional ‘Learning Pathway’ for qualified teachers who wish to extend their training to an advanced level including ‘Trainer Training’

• Uphold high ethical standards of its tutors, students and graduates

The Mindfulness Now accredited teaching qualification can lead to a rewarding career teaching mindfulness, one-to one, or in groups following the structured eight weeks programme taught course or the optional non-formal courses. Former Mindfulness Now students work in many diverse environments including the NHS (including mental health), schools and further education, learning disabilities, hospice movement, charities, as well as in complementary health.

Many mindfulness teachers are self-employed. Some are offered employment in schools though our partnership with NeuroHeadway. Many of our teachers also provide mindfulness programmes within organisations. As part of the training all students receive instruction on practice building and developing corporate work opportunities. Graduates are eligible to obtain professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

Qualified teachers through this programme are offered to opportunity to sign up as licensed and accredited teacher with the UK College on an annually renewable basis. There is no charge for this. Licensees will be able to apply to be members of the Mindfulness Teachers Register. Once again, no charge applies to this.

Licensees are required to observe a code of ethics which includes the necessity for professional insurance, continuing professional development (CPD) and supervision.

The UK College provides an ongoing programme of training events. We would normally expect licensees to attend a minimum of 12 hrs (2 days) of CPD and one retreat per annum. 

Group supervision is available to all students via the UK College. Informal help and support is freely available from college tutors and support staff, on an ongoing basis.

The Advanced Learning Pathway

3 Stages – Over 12 to 18 months

This course is the first stage on the the Advanced Learning Pathway is for those who want to develop their mindfulness and compassion teaching to a higher professional standard. Taking a minimum of 12 months to complete, the pathway combines advanced training, personal practice, supervised teaching, retreat experience and ongoing reflection.

It is a BAMBA recognised pathway. Once you have successfully completed all elements of the pathway, you will be eligible to join the BAMBA Teachers Register.

What is involved?
The pathway is completed in three stages.

Stage 1 – Mindfulness Teacher Training
Complete the Mindfulness Now Teacher Training course, our five-day training programme providing the foundations for teaching mindfulness professionally and the completion the relevant assignments.

Stage 2 – Compassion Focused Wellbeing Teacher Training
Complete the five-day Compassion Focused Wellbeing Teacher Training course, developing your understanding and experience of compassion-based approaches and the completion of relevant assignments.

Stage 3 – Supervised Teaching and Professional Development
Put your learning into practice through supported teaching experience and continued professional development.

This stage includes:

Regular supervision with an experienced trainer.
Experience leading teaching programmes under supervision.
An ongoing reflective practice journal to support your development and supervision.
Participation in a teacher-led five-day mindfulness and compassion retreat.
Continued personal mindfulness and compassion practice.

Your ongoing commitment
The pathway is designed to establish the habits and professional practices that support you throughout your teaching career.

As part of this, you will be expected to maintain a regular personal mindfulness and compassion practice and continue to engage with supervision, retreat and professional development.

This helps ensure that your teaching remains grounded in personal experience, reflective practice, current evidence and appropriate professional and ethical standards.

BAMBA Recognised Pathway
The Advanced Learning Pathway is recognised by BAMBA.

Once you have successfully completed all elements of the pathway, you will be eligible to apply to join the BAMBA Teachers Register.

Ready to take the next step?
If you would like to deepen your practice, develop your teaching and work towards recognised professional standards in mindfulness and compassion teaching, the Advanced Learning Pathway provides a clear and supported route forward.

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