Event

AACBT National Tour – Perth: Bogels – Mindful parenting for professionals

This event has passed.
18 Oct 2019
09:00 am
- 05:00 pm
The Niche at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, 11 Aberdare Road, Nedlands, WA
The Niche, Aberdare Road, Nedlands WA, Australia
  • Susan Bogels
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Mindfulness and parenting

Presenter: Professor Susan Bogels

Mindfulness when parenting can be used while guiding parents of children with mental disorders, or guiding parents who suffer from mental disorders that affect their parenting.  Mindfulness is also relevant as a general attitude (e.g. of non-reactivity) for professionals when working with clients.


Despite its inherent joys, the challenges of parenting can produce considerable stress. These challenges multiply- and the quality of parenting may suffer- when a parent or child has mental health issues, or when parents are in conflict. Even under optimal circumstances, the constant changes as children develop can tax parents’ inner resources, often undoing the best intentions and parenting courses.

Mindful Parenting (Bögels & Restifo, 2014) is an eight-week structured mindfulness training program, based on MBSR, MBCT and MSC. It is designed for use in mental health care contexts, for parents who have mental health problems that interfere with parenting, or whose children have mental health problems. The program’s eight sessions focus on mindfulness-oriented skills for parents, such as parenting with beginner’s mind, awareness and acceptance of strong emotions in parent and child, mindfully responding to (as opposed to reacting to) parenting stress, fostering compassion, and taking care of ones inner child The program is now also adapted for other settings such as prevention and chronic somatic health care.

In this workshop the theoretic underpinnings of Mindful Parenting (Bögels et al., 2010), the rationale, and the build-up of the program, are outlined, and demonstrated with several imaginary and meditation practices that participants can experience. Video-examples are also shown. Results of Mindful Parenting in a mental health care context on outcomes such as parental and child psychopathology, parenting stress, and parenting, are presented, and mediating mechanisms, such as general mindfulness, mindful parenting, and parental experiential avoidance, are discussed. Furthermore, results of Mindful Parenting in a preventive context are reviewed.


Key Learning Objectives

  1. Insight in theories, working mechanisms and effects of mindful parenting
  2. Overview of the 8-week mindful parenting program
  3. Experiencing the key practices of mindful parenting

Assumed Background Knowledge and Experience of Attendees

Basic: Casual familiarity with topic area; e.g., treated one case


Implications / Applications of Learning for Clinical Practice

With the acquired knowledge and skills in mindful parenting, participants will be able to approach parenting stress, parental experiential avoidance, and parental reactivity differently in their clinical practice. They will also be more aware of their own stress and reactivity towards the clients they work with and in their own family and work lives.


Duration & Format / Training Modalities

This workshop has 7 hours CPD, and includes morning & afternoon teas plus lunch.

The day will include lecture format, experiential practices, and video examples.


References – readings

Bögels, S., & Restifo, K. (2013). Mindful parenting: A guide for mental health practitioners. Springer or Norton.

Bögels, S. M., Hellemans, J., van Deursen, S., Römer, M., & van der Meulen, R. (2014). Mindful parenting in mental health care: effects on parental and child psychopathology, parental stress, parenting, coparenting, and marital functioning. Mindfulness5(5), 536-551.

Potharst, E. S., Baartmans, J. M., & Bögels, S. M. (2018). Mindful Parenting Training in a Clinical Versus Non-Clinical Setting: An Explorative Study. Mindfulness, 1-15.


Registration at 8:30am for a 9:00am start.


Non-members can join now and gain all of the other advantages of AACBT Membership!

Early bird rates for FULL MEMBERS expires on 19 August 2019.

There are no early bird rates for student members or non-members, but there are group discounts are available.  Please contact info@aacbt.org.au for more information.