Mindfulness Training
We offer a variety of mindfulness training programs and mindfulness-based consulting and coaching services to corrections, criminal justice, and public safety agencies.
TRAINING
Our training programs include basic Mindfulness Training (MT), Mindfulness-Based Emotional Intelligence (MBEI) training, and Mindfulness-Based Wellness & Resilience (MBWR) training for corrections professionals, probation & parole officers, and those working in the fields of criminal justice and public safety. We offer customized integration of mindfulness training with other types of staff development, education, and training programs, including academy training programs.
CONSULTING
Our consulting services include mindfulness-based approaches to leadership development, strategic planning, organizational development, culture building and change management.
COACHING
We also offer mindfulness-based Executive Coaching for executives and managers working in corrections, criminal justice, and public safety.
MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness refers to the capacity for being present and attentive to what occurs within and around us, moment-to-moment. Being mindful increases engagement with the present moment and allows for a clearer understanding of how thoughts and emotions can impact our health and quality of life. Mindfulness Training increases our capacity for attentiveness and presence and generally promotes a more open, relaxed, flexible, and less reactive state of mind. Mindfulness is a skill we can develop, through practice, that promotes overall well being and helps us reduce and more effectively manage the stress of our modern busy lives.
Mindfulness Definitions
Leading researchers have offered a variety of definitions:
Paying attention
Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn, 1994)
The Present Experience
Bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis (Marlatt & Kristeller, 1999)
Psychological Freedom
A state of psychological freedom that occurs when attention remains quiet and limber, without attachment to any particular point of view (Martin, 1997).
Nonjudgmental Acknowledgment
… a kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises in the attentional field is acknowledged and accepted as it is (Kabat-Zinn, 1990, 1998; Shapiro & Schwartz, 1999, 2000; Teasdale, 1999; Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002; as cited in Bishop et al., 2004
Self-regulation
The first component [of mindfulness] involves the self-regulation of attention so that it is maintained on immediate experience, thereby allowing for increased recognition of mental events in the present moment. The second component involves adopting a particular orientation toward one’s experiences in the present moment, an orientation that is characterized by curiosity, openness, and acceptance (Bishop, Lau, and colleagues, 2004).
Research Findings
While the field of mindfulness research is still very much in its developmental phase, the evidence thus far points to many positive outcomes from mindfulness training and practice. The “brief summary” below represent initial findings, which may or may not be conclusive. Current neuroscience research is finding that the state of health and/or functioning of our brain impacts the quality of life in just about every area of our lives, including work performance, relationships, family life, physical and mental well-being, healthy aging, and so forth. The good news is that mindfulness training shows great promise in improving brain health and functionality across most dimensions of brain activity.
Brief Summary of Current Findings:
Brain/Body Benefits
Attention and Sensor
The cortical regions of the brain related to attention and sensory processing are strengthened.
Brain Structure
Our brain responds to mindfulness by making positive changes in its density and structure. Mindfulness is good for brain plasticity, or flexibility.
Immune system
There is evidence that mindfulness meditation strengthens our immune system.
Stress
Awareness allows the body to recover sooner from stressful situations because cortisol (the primary human stress hormone) levels decrease more quickly than in those who do not practice mindfulness.
ADHD
The symptoms of Attention Deficit Hypersensitivity Disorder (ADHD) (i.e., lack of; focus, sustained attention & follow through, and disorganization) are reduced.
Emotion/Mood Benefits
Strengthens Frontal Cortex
The frontal cortex of the brain that picks up on emotional cues is activated and becomes sharper.
Empathic Awareness
Long term mindfulness practitioners show higher levels of empathic awareness. (Empathic awareness is sensing another person’s feelings, emotions, and perceptions.)
Positivity
A person’s affect becomes generally more positive.
Reduced Anxiety and Depression
Symptoms of anxiety and depression are reduced or minimized.
Less Relapse
People prone to depression are less likely to relapse
(Source: The Mindfulness Project, September 2011)
Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety (dba Engaged Mindfulness Institute), #1402, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 7/15/2017 – 7/15/2020. Social workers completing this course receive 30 in-person clinical continuing education credits.