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Professional Development and Teacher Training Program in Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting


Trusting the Possible reminds teachers that we are keepers of the possible – mirrors revealing to our students potential they don’t yet see within themselves…" -Saki Santorelli, EdD

Program Description

For Prospective Applicants

Introduction

In response to the growing number of health professionals interested in learning more about the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting Program, two levels of the Professional Development and Teacher Training (PDTT) in Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting are now available.

Level 1 PDTT Program

The nine-week Level 1 PDTT Program will provide an opportunity for health professionals to train intensively in mindfulness meditation for their own health and well-being by attending as a participant-observer MBCP course with expectant parents. In addition, there will be 3 two-hour group seminars and an individual review session with the course instructor and MBCP's founder, Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MA.

Level 2 PDTT Program

The eleven-week Level 2 PDTT Program is designed for those professionals who are ready to make the substantial commitment to the intensive training needed to become an MBCP instructor.

Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting: Program Description

The major life passages of pregnancy and childbirth offer a window of opportunity for transformational learning. In MBCP, parents-to-be learn the practice of mindfulness to work with the stress, pain and fear that are a normal part of this profound journey into the unknown. MBCP provides systematic, intensive training in mindfulness practice fully integrated into the current knowledge of the psychobiological processes of stress, pregnancy, labor, birth, the postpartum period and the physiological, emotional and relational needs of infants. As they practice mindful awareness, parents-to-be are able to live this ordinary--and extraordinary--life transition with greater confidence, wisdom and joy.

The impact of MBCP reaches well beyond the birth experience itself. Tapping inner resources cultivated in the course, new parents find that they have in fact learned inner emotional tools to attune to their infants’ needs. In this way, healthy parent-child relationship patterns, the basis of life-long emotional intelligence and optimal neurological development of the baby, are established from the beginning. Generational family patterns of reactive, insensitive care are interrupted and replaced with affectionate attention and healthy responses.  Parenting and family life become a mindfulness practice as parents learn to be present for themselves, their children and their partner.

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Core Elements of the PDTT Programs

There are three essential and interdependent elements of the PDTT program:

  1. Attendance as a participant/observer in a MBCP course with expectant parents, including one daylong session on a weekend between Week 6 and Week 7 and attendance at the Reunion class after all the babies have been born. Attending the MBCP course allows for a direct experience of this way of learning and teaching mindfulness and the effects a regular, sustained, daily meditation practice can have on one’s professional and personal life. In addition, participants witness the impact mindfulness practice on expectant parents' experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period.

  2. A dialogue and exploration of the MBCP teaching and learning process in a seminar format with the course instructor and other healthcare professionals.

    The seminars include explorations of:

    1. one’s personal experience with meditation practice
    2. the MBCP curriculum
    3. the range of participant responses to mindfulness practice
    4. instruction in the skill of guiding others in formal mindfulness meditation practice (Level 2 only)
    5. the historical, social and cultural contexts from which this work has emerged
    6. reading and resource material
    7. the work of embodying mindfulness practice in one’s own life before attempting to teach it to others

  3. The opportunity to witness MBCP classroom teaching in order to observe how the teacher is both "a student" and "a teacher", one who endeavors to embody the practice of mindfulness as the course unfolds moment by moment.

The key elements of the PDTT Program are combined as follows:

Level 1 PDTT Program

The Level 1 PDTT Program is designed for medical and mental health professionals, including students training in these fields, who are seeking an introduction to mindfulness meditation and this way of teaching in a healthcare setting. Participants can begin to understand the complementary relationship of mindfulness to the domains of obstetrics, midwifery, nursing, pediatrics, family medicine and clinical psychology. Labor, delivery and postpartum nurses, childbirth educators, lactation consultants, perinatal and infant massage instructors, prenatal and postnatal yoga instructors, early childhood educators, infant mental health professionals, family therapists, social workers, integrative medicine practitioners or anyone interested in maternal-child health and the health and well-being of families and children will also find the program valuable for their work—and their lives. Beginning meditation practitioners may apply.

In the Level 1 PDTT Program attendees will:

  1. train intensively in mindfulness meditation
  2. attend the MBCP course as a participant/observer including one daylong session on a weekend between Week 6 and Week 7 and attendance at the Reunion class after all the babies have been born.
  3. directly experience the MBCP program as taught to expectant couples and observe its impact
  4. obtain a beginning level understanding of the theory and practice used in this approach to teaching mindfulness during the major life transition of pregnancy, childbirth and becoming a parent
  5. receive a reading and resource list that includes references to current research and other mindfulness-based programs
  6. dialogue with other professionals about the challenges and possibilities for bringing this work into their professional lives
  7. begin the foundational work required to become a teacher of MBCP, if desired.

Level 1 PDTT Program Structure:

2 hour Orientation Seminar with MBCP instructor and other health professionals in the afternoon prior to the first MBCP class meeting. The history of MBCP, its relationship to Integrative Medicine and the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center from which this work has emerged, and current developments in the field of Mindfulness-Based Interventions will be included.

Participants will be asked to keep a journal of

  1. in-class observations and questions
  2. their personal meditation practice
  3. reflections for integrating mindfulness into their work

A Reading and Resource List will be distributed.

2 hour mid-course (Week 5) Review Seminar for sharing in-class observations and questions from weekly journaling, including observations and questions about the MBCP curriculum, the observed impact of the program on class participants and experiences regarding one’s own personal mindfulness practice.

2 hour Post-Course Seminar plus half-hour individual review session with course instructor regarding participant’s intentions for bringing this work into their professional and personal life. If further training is desired, individual guidance on the next recommended steps in the unfolding path of becoming an MBCP instructor will be explored. Personal commitment, dedication, patience, individual responsibility and imagination are essential to this path.

Level 2 PDTT Program

For those interested in becoming MBCP teachers, the fundamental principle is that the quality and integrity of one’s teaching can only come from the depth of one’s own personal experiences with meditation. In this regard, a daily meditation practice is essential. Each professional will enter into the Level 2 Program with her or his own unique background, skill set, and vision of how they want to bring MBCP to those they serve. At the end of the 11 week training program participants will receive a Certificate of Completion from the PDTT Program. However for some, the Level 2 PDTT Program may not yet be a complete preparation for teaching MBCP. Depending on the participant’s experiential background and training, additional learning and skills may still be necessary before one is ready to begin teaching this profoundly transformational work.

In the Level 2 PDTT Program participants will:

  1. continue and deepen their daily meditation practice.
  2. attend the MBCP course with the expectant parents as a participant/observer, including one daylong session on a weekend between Week 6 and Week 7 and attendance at the Reunion class after all the babies have been born.
  3. instruction and feedback in the skill of guiding others in formal mindfulness meditation practice.
  4. dialogue about the range of participant responses to mindfulness practice
  5. explore in depth the structure of the MBCP curriculum.
  6. deepen understanding of the pedagogy and practice embedded in this approach to teaching mindfulness during the major life transition of pregnancy, childbirth and becoming a parent.
  7. understand current research and applications of mindfulness in health care and other settings.
  8. engage in dialogue with other professionals about the challenges and creative options for bringing this work into their professional lives.
  9. reflect upon the work of embodying mindfulness practice in one’s own life before attempting to teach it to others.

Level 2 PDTT Program Structure:

An 11-week 3 hour professional seminar with the MBCP instructor and other trainees to:

  1. share experiences of their own meditation practice.
  2. discuss their observations of the MBCP course.
  3. practice MBCP teaching skills and receive feedback. Teaching skills include leading the formal meditation practices taught in the MBCP program.
  4. review the professional, institutional, administrative and research aspects of this work within the larger context of integrative medicine.

Both the seminars and the MBCP course will be taught by MBCP’s founder, Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MA.

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Learning Objectives

  1. Learn mindfulness meditation
  2. Deepen mindfulness in one’s personal and professional life
  3. Understand the application of mindfulness for working with stress, pain and fear during pregnancy and childbirth
  4. Understand the application of mindfulness for working with postpartum adjustment and early parenting stress
  5. Explore in detail the approach to instructing expectant parents-to-be in Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP)
  6. Understand MBCP as it relates to current research regarding stress, pregnancy, childbirth and foundational skills needed for emotionally intelligent parenting and optimal neurological development of infants and babies.
  7. Develop an understanding of the theoretical, philosophical, scientific and pedagogical underpinnings of MBCP

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Upcoming Course Schedule and Fees

Classes are held at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
1545 Divisadero St., 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94115

Level 1 PDTT Trainings:

MBCP course: Wednesdays, May 4 – Jun 29, 6:45 - 9:45pm    All-day session:  Jun 11
Professional Seminars: Wednesdays, May 4, Jun 8, and Thursday Jun 30, 3:00 - 5:00pm

MBCP course: Tuesdays, Sept 13 – Nov 8, 6:45 - 9:45pm    All-day session:  Oct 22
Professional Seminars: Tuesdays, Sept 13, Oct 18 and Wednesday, Nov 9, 3:00 – 5:00 pm

View flyer for more information on Level 1

Level 1 Fees

$700 plus $50 application fee
Students: $560 (application fee waived)
Tuition includes course materials: Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, a class workbook and two CDs for home practice and Reading and Resource List

Level 2 PDTT Trainings:  TBA

Level 2 Fees

$1600 plus $50 application fee
Tuition includes course materials, a Teacher Training Manual with course curriculum, and multiple readings and resources relevant to teaching MBCP.
Participants will receive a total of 64.5 hours of training.
CME credits TBA

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How To Apply: PDTT Levels 1 and 2

Send a resume or CV and a letter of intention (2 pages maximum) describing your:

  • educational and career experiences
  • personal development
  • your interest in pregnancy, childbirth, infants, children and families
  • what draws you to the Professional Development and Teacher Training Program in MBCP
  • your intentions for bringing this work into your professional life
Please include a description of your meditation experience if any, including number of years of practice and dates and tradition(s) of teacher-led silent retreats and the meaning of meditation practice in your life and work.

Please email the application letter and CV or resume to Nancy Bardacke, CNM, MA at bardacken@ocim.ucsf.edu and submit your $50.00 non-refundable application fee online or with this application form to:

Professional Development and Teacher Training Program in MBCP
c/o Group Programs Coordinator
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
1545 Divisadero St., 4th Floor
UCSF Box 1726
San Francisco, CA 94143-1726

Once your application and application fee are received, Nancy will contact you to schedule a phone interview.

You are also welcome to contact Nancy at 510-595-3207 or email bardacken@ocim.ucsf.edu with any questions about the program. Applicants will be notified of admission, waitlist or decline within one to three weeks of receipt of application. Space is limited. Early application is advised.

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Resources

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1545 Divisadero Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94115-3010 | Phone: 415.353.7700 | Email: ocim@ocim.ucsf.edu
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