9-Week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Continuing Education Credits
for Healthcare Professionals

Community Mental Health of Ottawa County

Wednesdays, September 25 - November 20, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
All-Day Retreat, Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 9:30 am - 4:00 pm

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a program based on the practice of mindfulness. The key to mindfulness is a non-judgmental awareness that enables you to respond with greater clarity, stability, and understanding of life’s stressors, rather than reacting in unhealthy ways.

Pioneered in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979, MBSR is highly respected in the medical community, with classes in over 200 hospitals nationwide. Research has proven MBSR to be an evidence-based treatment modality for a number of different maladies, including chronic pain, hypertension, Cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune disorders.

Over the past 15 years, medical training centers (for physicians, occupational therapists, nurses) have begun to incorporate MBSR in their training curricula.  However, many hospital staff members have not received MBSR training in their graduate programs. Participation in this program may not only assist hospital staff members in becoming more aware of the specifics of mindfulness practices, thereby facilitating their ability to make appropriate client referrals, but also enhance their own innate ability to cope with stress in general (e.g. stressful client load, challenging clients, personal stressors).

The program consists of eight weekly two and 1/2 hour classes and a one-day silent retreat (on a weekend) between sessions six and seven. Participants who complete the course can enhance their ability to relax, focus, improve performance, reduce anger, cope with chronic pain, live in the moment, find balance, clarity, and stability, and access inner resources of strength and wisdom.

MBSR Continuing Education

Healthcare professionals can earn 27.0 Continuing Education Credits (32.0 for nurses)* for participation in the MBSR course! Attendance of all classes, including the All-Day Retreat, is required, as credit hours cannot be prorated. Course registration and CE credit are separate purchases. 

  • Target Audience*:

  • Psychologists

  • Counselors

  • Social Workers

  • Marriage & Family Therapists

  • Nurses

MBSR Learning Objectives

  • Articulate the key aspects of mindfulness as it relates to stress reduction, coping with pain and illness and enhancing well-being

  • Differentiate MBSR from relaxation and other distraction techniques that may seem similar but are fundamentally and theoretically quite different in contending with difficulty and enhancing the quality of life

  • Apply mindfulness techniques in both personal and professional settings as a means of contending more effectively with the demands of both settings

  • Apply mindfulness to social interaction with patients, colleagues, supervisors, family, and friends to facilitate more effective and mindful communication

  • Articulate the potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction (and mindfulness in general) to educate patients and their families about the benefits of such programs in their own lives

  • Utilize brief mindfulness practices with patients and family members as a means of contending with acute pain, anxiety, and distress.

Continuing Education Details

*Psychologists: Continuing Education Credit for this program is provided by the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. The American Psychological Association approves the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course offers 27.0 hours of credit.

*California-licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, and LCSWs: The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness provides continuing education credit for this program. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. 27.0 contact hours may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. For those licensed outside California, please check with your local licensing board to determine if APA accreditation meets their requirements.

*Nurses: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16351, for 32.0 contact hours.

Learning Level: Introductory

Course Type: Live Program, to be purchased from Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness

Carol is the co-founder and owner of the Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness and has been teaching the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Course in the Greater Grand Rapids Area since 2008. She brings a wealth of experience and training to her work with individuals and corporations.

Carol earned her certification from the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has completed extensive training in mindfulness, self-compassion, and mindful leadership with some of the most well-respected teachers in these fields.

A certified yoga teacher for more than 19 years, Carol founded Expressions of Grace yoga studio and served as its director from 2003 to 2012. Before her current career as an instructor and executive director for Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness, Carol spent 20 years in business management.

Carol began her journey into mindfulness more than 35 years ago to help with her stress and anxiety. She has since become a passionate advocate for mindfulness as an effective means of improving health and well-being. Carol’s classes emphasize safety and self-honoring as she guides students to build resilience and strengthen their mindfulness skills.

Carol Hendershot, Certified MBSR Instructor
Co-Founder GR Center for Mindfulness