workplace mindfulness
Mindfulness is increasingly being adopted at the workplace in Western countries, for many reasons including improving performance, enhancing creativity, reducing absenteeism, promoting emotional intelligence, etc.
Setting up a successful program is not straightforward. The successful ones tend to be those where mindfulness adoption permeates across the leadership team, values and processes within the company.
Cultivation of mindfulness and compassion takes time, as research has shown. Although we offer talks and workshops, it is the longer multi-week programs that are much more likely to provide the benefits for employees and the organization.
Classic MBSR, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), or the MSC, programs were originally designed for the healthcare setting. Although they are now practiced by healthy populations, the intensive format and longer time commitment may be less suitable for the workplace setting.
Our workplace programs are suitable for the workplace populations as they are conducted in the office premises or online (virtual sessions), typically over 6-weekly sessions of 60 to 90 minutes per session. The shorter duration also makes it feasible and cost effective to be implemented during regular office hours.
COURSE FORMAT
The Workplace Mindfulness Training (WorkplaceMT) - 6 weekly sessions x 60-90 minutes
WorkplaceMT is an evidence-informed approach to teaching mindfulness specially developed for the workplace. It is designed specifically for the needs of leaders, managers and employees. The program is adapted from the best-selling self-help book: Mindfulness – a guide to finding peace in a frantic world, authored by Professor Mark Williams (founding director of Oxford Mindfulness Center and co-developer of the MBCT program) and Dr. Danny Penman.
The course runs over 6 weekly sessions. Each week, participants learn new techniques to improve mindfulness, self-management, leadership, well-being and resilience, which they then practice each day and apply to their work.
Building Resilience with Mindful Self-Compassion – 6 weekly sessions x 60-90 minutes
This Short Course in Mindful Self-Compassion (SC-MSC) is a 6-week adaptation of the empirically-supported 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program designed to begin the cultivation of the skills of self-compassion. SC-MSC was developed by Kristin Neff, PhD, the pioneering researcher in the field of self-compassion and Christopher Germer, PhD, a leader in the integration of mindfulness, compassion and psychotherapy.
Each week, participants learn new techniques that enable them to build skills to adapt positively and constructively when faced with difficult situations and overwhelming emotions in their personal or work lives. Self-compassion also helps them reconnect with the values that help in finding purpose in work and in life, relate wholeheartedly to others, and be more authentically ourselves.
workplace facilitators program - consulting & customized programs
Although many people who successfully completed the workplace program carry on with their regular practice to sustain their practice, many find it beneficial to have an environment where they can continue to practice in group settings. As a pioneering trainer in workplace mindfulness, we also offer workplace facilitators programs, which aim to train selected and motivated mindfulness practitioners to build a culture of mindfulness in their organizations. We provide them with the knowledge of articulating mindfulness at work, the skills of facilitating short practice sessions for other employees, and the opportunity to deepen their mindfulness practice by taking an active role in building such a culture.
Contact us to learn more about bringing mindfulness into your workplace.
What Clients are saying
“Over the past few years, for our Regional Office, we developed a Health & Well-Being offering. We felt that an effective approach to well-being would support happy, healthy and engaged employees, and the attraction and retention of talent; both of which would underpin sustainable high business performance. Included in the offering was a program on personal effectiveness through mindfulness. Having completed the integration of a global merger of equals, we had identified that paying attention to effectiveness during times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity would aid retention, facilitate higher productivity and greater innovation. It made good business sense.
We partnered with Carmen Teo to guide and facilitate our mindfulness program. Approximately one-quarter of all employees voluntarily participated in a 12-week, 6-module program which consisted of guided exercises and developmental readings. Developing a practice of mindfulness is a deeply personal process. As one of the participants, I very much appreciated the way Carmen delivered the program, engaged with me and the others who participated, shared her passion and deep insights in a humble and motivating manner. I believe the program had a positive impact for those who participated more fully, as well as being a useful introduction for those who only ‘dipped their toes in the water’. I have taken many things from my experience. I practice, to some degree, each day and know that without this intervention, the past few months would have felt more challenging.”