Teaching Mindfulness-Based Groups

Trish Bartley is a core mindfulness trainer at Bangor University and work as part of the Bangor University/Mindfulness Network collaboration.

The volume of the group is being turned up in mindfulness teaching – thanks to the MBI:TAC, which includes ‘holding the group learning environment’ as a key dimension, and the Inside Out Group model (Griffith et al, 2019), which first introduced a dedicated framework for teaching mindfulness-based groups. In addition to this, a major new book on Teaching Mindfulness-Based Groups is available from June 2022, see below.

Trish Bartley regularly offers the two-day Groupwork workshop for mindfulness-based teachers who wish to learn more about groups and how to support the rich potential of the group process in a mindfulness context. The workshop can be booked via the Mindfulness Network CALENDAR. It will be of special interest to:

• Beginning mindfulness-based teachers
• More experienced teachers who want to see what groups offer mindfulness learning
• Those skilled in groupwork from other contexts who want to learn what mindfulness offers group process
• Those on the Teacher Training Pathway (TTP)

There is encouraging interest in the mindfulness world in finding ways to widen the scope of mindfulness-based programmes to include collective and pro-social benefit, as well as support for the well-being of the individual participant. The group is known to add value to learning mindfulness – for what we learn from and alongside our peers lands more powerfully than what we are taught by those who are more expert. This highlights the value of cultivating groupwork skills by mindfulness-based teachers.

Over the two days, we will:

• Explore the foundational role of the teacher’s mindful embodying that includes the use of very brief practices for teachers and for the group
• Deepen skills in vertical and horizontal inquiry process by staying in touch with and learning how to include the group, in ways that emphasise inclusion and a sense of shared common humanity
• Learn how to employ the Inside Out Group model in our teaching and explore the three capacities of:
  • Reading – through group development theories, body language, and a better understanding of what participants bring with them into the group.
  • Holding – through experiential practice and discussion,
  • Befriending – threaded throughout the workshop

The workshop is led in a rich experiential style which includes plenty of opportunities to engage with your peers and exploring your learning in discussions in the large group and in smaller break out rooms.

Do consider joining us online to explore this further!

Visit our calendar to find the next available course…

Griffith, G. M., Bartley, T., & Crane, R. S. (2019). The Inside Out Group Model: Teaching Groups in Mindfulness-Based Programs. Mindfulness, 10, 1315-1327. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-019-1093-6

Bartley, T. & Griffith, G.M. (2022). Teaching Mindfulness-Based Groups: The Inside Out Group Model. Pavilion Books. (in print): https://www.pavpub.com/mental-health/teaching-mindfulness-based-groups

NB: this blog post was edited in April 2022 to include a link to the Teaching Mindfulness-Based Groups book and updated details of the Groupwork Workshop taking place in December 2022.