MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION

Reduce the Stress in your Everyday Living

 Summit Psychological Services is offering a new program to help reduce stress and move toward greater balance in your life. As part of our commitment to improving the quality of life for individuals and families, SPS is offering the opportunity to learn MBSR, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. MBSR is an approach that teaches clients to pay attention, in a non-judgmental way, to what is happening in the present moment. By quieting down, and paying a particular kind of attention to the here and now, one can gradually  discover an increased calmness that can help you deal more effectively with life’s problems.  Through mindfulness, you can become more aware of all aspects of your mind, body, and surroundings and through this, gain better control of your life.

Learning MBSR can improve your ability to relax, focus, and concentrate on the present, thereby improving your performance skills for sports, presentations, and other anxiety provoking situations.  Practicing MBSR can help to reduce stress, anxiety and distress from physical pain.  Its use can often be helpful as an adjunctive treatment for depression, chronic fatigue, gastro-intestinal problems, high blood pressure, heart disease, backache, headache, and/or other stress-related conditions.  While not a substitute for  traditional healthcare, MBSR can add value to and complement the ongoing work being done with your psychotherapist and/or medical doctor.

 The six session introduction to MBSR is led by Kerry Alan Rasp, BA, MBSR, CU, who was trained and certified at Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  More than 15,000 people have completed this program in its 25-year history and the therapeutic use of these empirically supported techniques is spreading rapidly.  The program was featured on Bill Moyer’s landmark broadcast, “Healing and the Mind” and MBSR was included in a recent Newsweek article about the benefits of  “The New Science of Mind and Body.”  

Sessions will begin on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 and will be held at our main Summit office (51 Summit Avenue) from 10:30 AM -1:00 PM.   The Program will run for six Saturday mornings with the exception  of Saturday, May 19^th, concluding on Saturday, June 9^th.  The $290 fee includes a copy of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book, Wherever You Go There You Are, a meditation tape and other materials.  For further information about this program and how MBSR can be of use to you, please contact:   Kerry Alan Rasp, BA, MBSR, CU on extension 136.  

 For Program Registration call  Paul Kesselman, PsyD, (908) 273-5558  (ext. 115)