Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for depression (MBCT) is an eight-week group programme recommended in national health guidelines for people who suffer from depression, either currently, or in the past. Weekly sessions last two hours and combine mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy exercises enabling us to become more aware of our mind and body and begin to dissolve some of our unhelpful habits of thinking such as rumination, worry and self-criticism.

Over the past 15 years MBCT has become increasingly available within health services as the advantages of using this approach have become more established. Its popularity has increased as people are drawn to the central message of MBCT; that our lives are immeasurably impoverished by our habitual tendency to be on ‘automatic pilot’, during which the richness of momentary experience passes unnoticed. MBCT helps us develop an alternative way of being with experience as we learn skills to more fully engage with our present experience, to be ‘in the moment’.

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Our 8-week MBCT courses are offered in collaboration with the Nottingham Centre for Mindfulness (located within the NHS), who have been providing MBCT to people accessing their clinical services since 2007. Their mindfulness teachers offer this intervention in a wide range of clinical settings.
The courses are suitable for those with a history of depression, or who are currently experiencing an episode of mild-moderate low mood and are only open to residents living in the UK who are registered with a GP. These courses are not suitable for participants who:

Currently have severe depression: high levels of depression can make engaging in mindfulness and CBT exercises difficult
Are having suicidal thoughts or urges: mindfulness meditation can be difficult in these circumstances
Are experiencing a recent significant life event or stress that is causing considerable distress
If any of the above apply, please contact your GP or mental health support team.

By joining this course you understand that:

Your application (and any other relevant information obtained during your course) will be shared between the OMF & Nottingham Centre for Mindfulness
Your application information will be shared with your GP which will include:
Sharing of Treatment Plan (course attendance info)
Further liaison with your GP if concerns arise during the course
Prior to participation completion of health measures (PHQ9 & GAD7) is required
We will ask if you are under the care of secondary care mental health services
Questionnaires will include confidential mental health declarations (including suicidality) which are handled by the Nottingham Mindfulness Team who are clinicians located within the NHS
Full Dates: Wednesdays: 10/04, 17/04, 24/04, 1/05, 8/05,15/05, 22/05, 29/05

12:00-14:00 UK Time.