MBCT in the workplace

As well as the training and delivery of MBCT within clinical services, The Nottingham Centre for Mindfulness (NCM) offers mindfulness for stress and wellbeing to external organisations as part of workplace wellbeing strategies.

NCM has run mindfulness sessions and courses for staff working at Nottingham Trent University and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The aim of these projects has been to introduce and evaluate the impact of MBCT on staff wellbeing and stress.

Introductory sessions and MBCT courses have been run at a variety of times and venues across the University and the Trust to make this accessible to as many staff as possible. Approximately 800 staff have consequently attended mindfulness training provided my NCM over the past two years. Results for staff include:

• Reduced stress – 95% of staff stated that they believed it had helped them learn to manage stress more effectively
• Improved wellbeing and mood – 100% of staff completing this would recommend it to colleagues as a helpful way of managing stress, coping with negative thoughts and improving overall self-care

Participants comments about the course are included below:

“I am calmer both in my personal and professional life as a direct result of attending”

“Before the course I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks. I didn’t feel ‘alive’, rather I was surviving and worrying all the time about the future. Mindfulness has taught me to be aware, present, accepting of myself and of situations out of my control. I feel like mindfulness is magic and I feel truly alive”

“It has helped me alter the way I approach stress in my personal and professional life………. I feel that I am more productive with my time and ultimately that I have more energy”

“I was aware that my mental health and emotional wellbeing was starting to feel desperate, I was worried about me. Now I’m not”