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Full / Waitlist
About the Pre-Course Orientation
Once your deposit has been received, and prior to attending an 8-week course, the teacher will contact you to arrange an orientation phone call. The reason for this is to ensure you are informed about what to expect from participating in this course and to make sure this is a suitable time for you to attend this 8-week course. By the end of the conversation you can decide whether or not to proceed, together with the teacher. It is an intensive course and at times can be challenging, so it’s our ethical responsibility to set this time aside to link up and discuss this with you.
If you decide not to go ahead during this call, your deposit will be refunded in full.
Full / Waitlist
Click “Book Now” below to pay your €100 Deposit.
When it has been received the teacher will contact you to arrange an orientation phone call.
This 8 week programme will be delivered online with a retreat day on Saturday 18th May. The programme will explore what we mean by the term ‘stress’ and how it manifests in our personal lives and at work. Can mindfulness support us in responding to the events in our lives in an authentic way? The programme promotes self-awareness, personal development and general wellbeing. We know we cannot avoid stressful experiences, as long as we are alive this is part of life. However, how we respond, how we view, how we interact with stressful events can make things potentially worse or can help us, to not only tolerate discomfort but to embrace a full life and even flourish.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre in 1979. The course is suitable for those with prior meditation experience as well as those who have none. It introduces participants to different forms of mindfulness practice including sitting meditation, body awareness and gentle mindful movement. As the emphasis is on bringing mindful awareness into everyday life a commitment to daily home practice of about 45 minutes is required. At the end of the course participants should have acquired a set of practical tools that allow them to cope better with stress in the workplace and in their personal lives, through increased self-awareness, emotional and attention regulation.
The programme is suitable for anyone who encounters stress and wishes to respond to stress in life with more understanding and ease. It is not suitable if you are in the middle of an acute crisis.
There will be an individual orientation call with each participant before the start, to enable each person to ask questions and to make sure it’s the right time to partake in this highly experiential programme.
Programme Aims
The practices in the programme aim to help the participant to:
Programme Content
Participants will receive a programme handbook. The main intention of this programme is to offer experiential learning. There will be the opportunity during the training for participants to practice and experience mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques. As mindfulness training is primarily experiential in nature, the main ‘work’ of the course is done at home between classes. Participants will receive a weekly email summarising the content and practice instructions for that week plus meditation recordings. Participants are required to practice at home during the week for about 45 minutes per day.
Following the course there are ongoing weekly guided practice sessions open to everyone to join on a drop-in basis. We have found that this support can make a big difference in keeping up the practice. As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “we weave the parachute a little bit every day so that when we need it, it will actually hold us!”
Programme Certification
All participants who attend the programme fully will receive a Certificate of Completion in the “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme” from The Mindfulness Centre.
Recent feedback from MBSR/MBCT participants with Rachel
"Such an excellent course! Led by Rachel with openness, humility and strength. She is a true guide; there was a felt sense that she was on the journey with us and available for support should we need her. Thank you"
"Rachel is great, very welcoming, warm and understanding and I like the way Rachel was so open to us making contact outside of the course hours and that helped me no end..even just knowing I can reach out if needed."
"A thoughtful, kind and powerful teacher. A truly inspirational person with an empathetic, inclusive, flexible and very knowledgable approach to teaching mindfulness."
"I learnt what mindfulness really is, learning how to lean in to negative emotions, equipping myself with lots of resources to continue my mindfulness practice, finding opportunities in daily life to incorporate mindfulness."
MSc Mindfulness Based Intervention, BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy, CORU Registered Occupational Therapist
Mindfulness Teacher with The Mindfulness and Compassion Centre:
Rachel began her training in teaching mindfulness in 2017 in Bangor University through their teacher training pathway. In 2020 she completed a Masters in Mindfulness Based Interventions in UCD, and was awarded with the Mindfulness Award for best performance in the Masters from the UCD School of Psychology. She has completed further training in other mindfulness based interventions including Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, and Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness. Rachel is a part of the Tutor Team for Trainee Mindfulness Teacher's in The Mindfulness and Compassion Centre. She is a registered member of the The Mindfulness Teacher's Association of Ireland.
In 2020 Rachel set up Insight Out Mindfulness and Therapy, a platform where she provides evidence-based mindfulness courses, retreats and one to one sessions for members of the public, hospitals, members of the LGBTQI+ Community and Direct Provision Centres. She has a special interest in the role of mindfulness and compassion in supporting adults with ADHD, and women experiencing infertility and pregnancy loss.
Lead Mental Health Occupational Therapist with The Mindfulness and Compassion Therapy Centre:
Rachel is a Senior Mental Health Occupational Therapist who graduated from Trinity College in 2007. She now specialises in Occupational Therapy Mental health and neurodiversity. She has worked in various sectors for the past 16 years, including disability, paediatrics, equine assisted therapy, and has specialised in the area of mental health for the past 9 years. Rachel spent 7 years working as a Senior Clinician in the National Centre for Youth Mental Health before moving into OT private practice.
Rachel’s approach to OT is firmly grounded in cultivating more self-compassion and awareness in order to support people to engage meaningfully in what’s important to them in their lives. Rachel has training in various therapeutic approaches which are also woven into her practice, including ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy), CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy) Solution Focused Therapy, and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy.
She specialises in providing occupational therapy for adults and young people who are neurodivergent, or who are experiencing mental health difficulties. She also has a special interest in supporting people with ADHD. Rachel is CORU Registered and a Member of AOTI
