Our 12-Month Teacher Training Programme offers you the opportunity to develop your skills, competencies and confidence to teach mindfulness in a variety of different settings.
The training is suitable for you if you’re a professional working in a clinical setting with patients or if you’d like to teach adults in other settings; for example, in education, the workplace or in your community.
By the end of the programme, you’ll have trained in at least 3 different mindfulness courses, each with their foundations in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).
If you’re a professional working in a clinical setting, you’ll be trained to teach Mindfulness for Life (MBCT-L), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (MBCT) or Finding Peace in a Frantic World, and the Introducing Mindfulness (IM) 3-session course.
If you plan to offer mindfulness in other settings, you’ll train to teach Mindfulness for Life (MBCT-L), Finding Peace in a Frantic World and the Introducing Mindfulness (IM) 3-session course.
On this training you’ll learn:
- The MBCT-L curriculum, including its intentions and the rationales for its elements.
- To lead all elements of the curriculum in an embodied way
- How to conduct inquiry and manage group processes
- The theoretical, empirical, and ethical foundations of MBCT
- The intentions, structure, and practices in each curriculum
At the end of the training, and if you’ve participated fully and been assessed as having reached the ‘advanced beginner’ level of teaching, you’ll receive a letter from Oxford Mindfulness confirming your readiness to teach under supervision.
After successfully teaching 2 courses under supervision, you can then apply for your Trained Teacher Certificate.
There are 28 training days over the course of the 12-month programme.
“It’s intellectually rigorous and with the amount of practical training and self-reflection that’s required… my growth has been exponential.“
Trained Teacher
12-Month Teacher Training Programme
What to expect on this course
On this 12-month programme you’ll:
- Experience, and then practise teaching key elements of the Mindfulness for Life (MBCT-L) course in small and larger groups with feedback to and from each other, and the trainers.
- Learn and practise the skills needed to work with groups in mindfulness courses, and to guide inquiry sessions.
- Understand the history and origins of mindfulness and deepen your own personal practice through a 5-day silent retreat experience; and explore how this supports your teaching.
- Help develop your own and other participants’ development by giving and receiving feedback in a structured and helpful way.
- Reflect on your own teaching strengths and learning needs, using the Mindfulness Based Interventions – Teaching Assessment Framework (MBI:TAC)
To get the most out of this course, please allow 1 hour for daily home practice for the duration of the training, plus 2-3 hours of reading and preparation in between each training day.
Please note that our teacher training programmes are intended to train you to deliver courses to adults over 18 years of age and aren’t suitable to be delivered to younger populations.
Full training dates
Please check that you can attend all of the scheduled dates. If you know that you can’t attend any of the dates, please consider an alternative course as unfortunately we can’t accept applications from those who are unable to participate fully. You’ll be asked to confirm this on your application form.
The timings of this training are typically 09:00-17:00 UK time.
Training dates:
- 11 January 2025
- 18 January 2025
- 25 January 2025
- 01 February 2025
- 08 February 2025
- 15 February 2025
- 22 February 2025
- 01 March 2025
- 15 March 2025
- 29 March 2025
- 05 April 2025
- 12 April 2025
- 07 June 2025
- 13 June 2025
- 23 June 2025
- 24 June 2025
- 25 June 2025
- 26 June 2025
- 27 June 2025
- 06 September 2025
- 13 September 2025
- 20 September 2025
- 27 September 2025
- 04 October 2025
- 18 October 2025
- 01 November 2025
- 08 November 2025
- 15 November 2025
- 22 November 2025
- 29 November 2025
- 06 December 2025
What others have said about this course
The 12-Month Teacher Training course has, without doubt, been the best researched, planned and delivered course I have been on (and I’ve been on a few!). It has been well-resourced and our learning has been supported throughout with clear guidance and opportunities for feedback. The course tutors are experienced, sensitive and have modelled the qualities and skills expected of us as trainee teachers. Please pass on my thanks to all who have developed and delivered this programme, I’ll be recommending it to others.
What you can do after this course
At the end of the 12-month training, you’ll independently seek a supervisor and organise to teach two 8-week courses (of the same type) under supervision to two separate groups of adults over 18 years old.
Once you’ve taught your two courses, you can then apply for a ‘Trained Teacher Certificate’. Your supervisor will be asked to confirm that you’re ready to teach your chosen course. Applying for this certificate is included in the course fee.
All course materials and handouts are available to you, so you can teach all of the courses you learned during the training (not just the course you were supervised on).
Once you have your Trained Teacher Certificate, you can then apply to be listed on:
- The Oxford Mindfulness Directory as a trained teacher
- The BAMBA register of trained teachers
- ACCESS MBCT
Entry criteria – who can apply for this course?
This training is for you if you’d like to teach MBCT and you’re willing to commit to continuing professional development and adherence to professional ethical standards after training.
Applications are especially welcome from those who can access a population they’re actively involved with and will be able to introduce MBCT.
We’re also interested in applications showing potential to engage with marginalised or underrepresented communities and where we might be able to support the implementation of MBCT into non-English speaking communities through training bilingual teachers.
Entry criteria – you can apply for this course if you:
- Have completed or started a teacher-led, 8-week Mindfulness for Life (MBCT-L) course as a participant, led by a teacher in-person or live online (please note that other 8-week courses do not qualify).
- Regularly practise mindfulness – ideally daily, for at least a year.
- Have experience of working with the people and in the context where you’d like to teach, for example, in the workplace, within education, criminal justice, physical or mental healthcare, or with a general population.
- Have some knowledge and experience of working with individuals and groups.
- Are able to speak, write, and understand English to a level where you can fully take part in all parts of the training without the need for extra translation support.
- Have strong internet, the right equipment and the technical skills to join an online training programme via Zoom, with the video always on.
- Have a private indoor space where you can take part in the training without being interrupted or overheard by other people.
