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Packages for staff - Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is an eight week foundational mindfulness training course which is evidence-based, practical and empowering.
As seen on Catalyst TV.

8 weeks
Register Now

Australia-wide | online and in-person courses | learn outside the organisational setting

Openground now offers packages for organisations to provide timely, cost-effective and evidence-based response to staff who are experiencing chronic and acute stress and burnout. 

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an evidence-based, user-friendly program that brings the principles of mindfulness meditation into everyday life by teaching specific skills and practices to help break cycles of anxiety, stress, unhappiness and exhaustion. It helps develop more mental, emotional, physical and psychological resilience and well-being.

MBSR is the gold standard for mindfulness training and Openground is proud to be endorsed by Emeritus Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn – who developed MBSR at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979.  

How does it work?

  • The organisation buys a package of MBSR course places - to be used when and where your staff need them.
  • Discounts are available on bulk orders
  • Staff then access the course when they are in need of some specific training to deal with stress, burnout and other workplace issues.
  • Staff are able to choose a program from the in-person courses available Australia-wide or a live-online program if this is more convenient.

What does the course involve for the staff member?

  • 
an individual phone interview, and ongoing support from your teacher
  • a 2.5 hour class, over eight weeks, plus one full retreat day 

  • mindfulness meditation and body awareness training 

  • an exploration of your own patterns and how to transform them 

  • scientific rationale for the practice 

  • time to reflect and integrate the techniques
  • access to Openground audio app for practice and a 100 page course book

Be in touch to order packages for your staff.

Focus and presence

Cultivate more concentration and capacity to be in the moment with what matters to you most, here and now.

Increase emotional intelligence

Reduce reactivity, learn to befriend your emotions and to express them in ways that set clear and caring boundaries.

Clarity and wisdom

See your patterns and values with more clarity so that your actions can be more beneficial to yourself and others.

Register Now

FINDING YOUR COURSE

Openground's MBSR program on ABC TV

In late 2018, ABC's Catalyst team invited a group of 15 ordinary Australians to take part in a mindfulness experiment to see if undertaking the MBSR course could help treat conditions like chronic pain, stress, anxiety and depression that effect millions of us.  This course was  taught by Timothea Goddard - the Director of Openground.  Watch their journey here to see how the eight week MBSR course changes people's lives and brains. Or check out these shorts giving an overview of MBSR and an excerpt following Erin's journey with MS and chronic pain.

ABC SCIENCE: What is MBSR?

ABC Science - Erin's story with MS and chronic pain

Hear more about MSBR packages for staff

Make a time to hear more about the MSBR packages, and how they can benefit your staff and organisation.

Timothea Goddard is available to speak with you today.

Book your time with Timothea now

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How does MBSR work?

Through the cultivation of skills, attitudes and knowledge MBSR offers a tested approach to develop and quicken our innate human capacities for attention, awareness and wise action. You will learn a range of mindfulness practices to cultivate an observant, accepting and compassionate stance towards your own internal experiences including thoughts, emotions, body sensations and impulses, and how to apply this in a practical way to immediate life challenges. 

MBSR is different from many other mindfulness offerings in terms of dedicated attention with a teacher, time spent in actual practice and the transformative power of the experience with other people in the group.

In MSBR change happens through ~

  • Physiological regulation ~ learning how to calm down and balance your nervous system
  • Emotional awareness ~ getting to know your own emotions and how to accept, explore and transform them
  • Cognitive flexibility ~ developing more concentration and clarity, and less rigidity in your beliefs and attitudes 
  • Engagement with values ~ bringing what you care about into how you live
  • Behavioural change ~ experimenting with small changes leading to bigger shifts in life

Topics by week ~

Week 1     Recognising the present moment
Week 2     Perception and how we make sense of the world
Week 3     Keeping the body in mind
Week 4     Investigating stressful experience and approaching the difficult
Week 5     Finding perspective
Week 6     Relationships and kindness
Week 7     Values and action
Week 8     Making mindfulness a part of your life

 

Why learn with Openground?

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Personal attention and skilled teaching

Practicing mindfulness with an experienced teacher simply can’t be compared with using a meditation app. We take a genuine, personal approach, and our highly trained, experienced, and dedicated teachers go the extra mile to help you engage with your practice in ways that can bring real transformation.

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Evidence-based transformation

MBSR is an authentic, evidence-based program of mindfulness training, grounded in 39 years of research and drawing on the wisdom of Buddhist psychology. Unlike many shorter mindfulness courses, which have no evidence of benefit, MBSR is globally recognised as the gold standard for mental and physical health in the field.  

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Real value

Our immersive, eight-week courses include 28 hours of personal mindfulness training. Many short courses only give you a taste of mindfulness, and are actually more expensive than MBSR on an hourly rate basis. Our courses offer significant value, and we can also arrange serious discounts if you need a helping hand.

MBSR Australia wide

NSW - Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong
VIC - Melbourne, Albury-Wodonga
QLD - Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast
WA - Perth
SA - Adelaide
TAS - Hobart
Distance

Openground for all

We know how beneficial mindfulness is, and so we do our best to help people  access our courses. Openground offers course discounts wherever possible to people experiencing hardship or special circumstances – ranging from financial constraints to chronic pain or other complex needs. Talk to us if you are a current Health Care Card holder, or are experiencing genuine financial difficulty.

Significant early bird rates are also offered for our courses in some locations.

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The mindfulness course slowly allowed me to change my thought patterns from self-criticism to self-compassion. This is allowing me to let go of the past and of things that are outside of my control and get on with life. I seem now to see things more clearly, and it has made dealing with the reality of the life I have a lot easier.

Your questions, answered