ALTM300-1012: Brilliant Sanity - How Mindfulness Meditation Can Help Make You More Effective and Happier

Enrollment is closed!

SPEAKER: Michelle Gaspar, DVM, DABVP (Feline)
COURSE OPEN: October 8, 2012
INTERACTIVE SESSIONS: October 15-December 14
MEDITATION SESSIONS: Tuesdays 7:00-8:00 AM ET; Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 PM ET, Thursdays 10:00-11:00 PM ET and Sundays 7:00-8:00 PM and 10:00-11:00 PM ET (USA)
Session Times in Your Area: World Clock Converter

We recommended that participants attend at least one session each week, although it is possible to attend several. Participants are encouraged to continue meeting online for the meditation sessions after completion of the interactive sessions, although this is not a requirement for participation.

Description:
This is not being offered as a true CE course. This is essentially a reoccurring rounds in an expanded form. It will have a dedicated library and message boards, but HAS NOT been submitted for RACE approval and participants WILL NOT receive CE credit.

For additional information on the origin of this series, please visit Dr. Gaspar's rounds: https://www.vin.com/Members/CMS/Rounds/Default.aspx?id=1391

Mindfulness meditation is a secular contemplative practice that has been shown to decrease stress, increase empathy, reduce burnout among health care professionals and contribute to a greater sense of well-being. While mindfulness is not a substitute for therapy, it has been used as adjunctive treatment for both depression and anxiety.

These sessions are designed to introduce mindfulness meditation to the participants and support the individual's personal practice through on-line meetings with like-minded professionals.

There will be eight (8) interactive one-hour sessions that will include didactic information about mindfulness, a 20-30 minute practice time and a question/answer session afterwards. Participants will also need to view the pre-recorded lecture in the library prior to attending a meditation session that week.

Ideally, participants should anticipate developing a personal meditation practice of 20-30 minutes most days. This personal practice is critical.

*The speaker for this course will be using audio which will require you to have a headset or speakers to listen.

Upon completion of the interactive sessions, the participant should be able to

• Understand the technique of mindfulness meditation and be able to practice at home.
• Know the neurobiology that supports the use of this technique and be familiar with some of the research on the benefits of mindfulness to health care professionals.
• Provide a less reactive and more focused, empathic way of interacting with self, clients, staff and family/friends.
• Utilize mindfulness on a daily basis to counteract burnout, negative events and prevent negative ruminations (reviewing negative events throughout the day).
• Discover their own ability to live fully in each moment with greater peace and personal satisfaction.

Materials: These will be available in the course library prior to each Meditation Session. Headphones will be helpful to time meditation sessions, although audio will be limited. Questions from participants and answers to such questions will be typed (as is done in VIN Rounds).

About the Speaker:
Dr. Michele Gaspar is a consultant in VIN's Feline Internal Medicine Folder. She is currently completing a master's degree in counseling at Loyola University/Chicago, with a particular interest in the use of mindfulness and objects relations theory as applied to issues regarding burnout, decreased empathy, and client/staff communications issues in veterinary medicine. She has had a personal mindfulness practice for the past 12 years, is a graduate of the certificate program in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy from the Institute of Meditation and Psychotherapy in Newton, MA and is a member of Ancient Dragon Gate Zen Center in Chicago. She is currently completing an internship at a large, non-profit community mental health center near Chicago where she frequently utilizes mindfulness with clients across the spectrum of mental health issues.

Interactive Session Outline:
Week 1 (Any Real Time Session During October 15-21)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 1 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Body scan and mindfulness meditation session/questions and comments regarding technique.

Week 2 (Any Real Time Session During October 22-28)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 2 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Review of the neurobiological research on mindfulness.
• Review of several of the large-scale studies on the technique among health care providers and students.
• Meditation session/questions and comments regarding technique.

Week 3 (Any Real Time Session During October 29-November 4)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 3 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Empathy, Compassion, Sympathy: What do they really mean?
• Meditation session/question and comments regarding technique.

Week 4 (Any Real Time Session During November 5-11)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 4 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Dealing with difficult people. How does mindfulness help?
• Meditation session/questions and comments regarding technique.

Week 5 (Any Real Time Session During November 12-18)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 5 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Using mindfulness to deal with staff issues.
• Meditation session/questions and comments regarding technique.

Break for Thanksgiving

Week 6 (Any Real Time Session During November 26-December 2)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 6 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Guest speaker.
• Meditation session/questions and comments regarding technique.

Week 7 (Any Real Time Session During December 3-9)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 7 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• Dealing with roadblocks to practice. How does one sustain mindfulness practice?
• Meditation session/question and comments regarding technique.

Week 8 (Any Real Time Session During December 10-16)
Before the Interactive Session: Watch the "Week 8 Video" in the course library.
Content:

• A summary of where we have been.
• Planning the sustainability of this practice for ourselves.

CE CREDITS: 0

Tuition: Free to VIN and VSPN members.

*For information on how online CE works, see the Participant Resource Center.

TO ENROLL:

1. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
2. Each person is individually responsible for his/her own registration. To ensure that all information received is secure and correct, please do not enroll for a course on behalf of another individual.
3. For further assistance call 1-800-700-INFO (4636) or email (VIN CE) CEonVIN@vin.com or (VSPN CE) VSPNCE@vspn.org. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.

*For more information on VIN's upcoming CE courses, check the VIN Course Catalog.

Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
VIN Education Coordinator

VIN CE Services: CEonVIN@vin.com
1-800-846-0028 or 1-530-756-4881 or direct line to VIN/VSPN from the United Kingdom: 01452226154
Andrea Pomposo (Andrea@vin.com); ext 126
Debbie Friedler (Debbie@vin.com); ext 756
Heather Schoffstall (Heather@vin.com); ext 116
Jennifer Boyle (JenniferB@vin.com); ext 169
Peggy Hall (Peggy@vin.com); ext. 195

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