Requirements for Successfully Completing the
MBSR and/or MBCT Training Program and
Receiving a Certificate from the IMA

• Participants are required to attend all training days of the program as listed in the program description.  If a student misses more than two days of the training program, the Certificate will not be awarded unless either the participant makes up the missed days by participating in another training program of the IMA, or one that is recommended by it, not necessarily in Norway. To fulfill this requirement, a student  may have to travel to another country on the European continent.
  
  
• If another program is not available within a reasonable time period, the student may make up the missed days by completing extra written or reading assignments, as well as being an observer in the units of an 8-week MBSR or MBCT course that he/she has missed.
  
  
• If a student misses more than four days in all, a certificate cannot be awarded unless the missing training program sessions are made up by participation in a similar unit of an IMA program, not necessarily in Norway Any deviance from this rule is granted solely at the discretion of the IMA

Each participant must teach a full eight-week MBSR course as it is presented in the training program in order to fulfill the terms of the program.

• The course can only be taught after the 5th Meeting of the training program.
  
  
• Students may request to co-teach a course with someone else in the program, however permission to do so is granted at the discretion of the IMA. Students must apply in writing for permission to teach together with someone else.

We strongly recommend that a course is taught either during the training program, or immediately thereafter. In any event, the course must be taught by Dec. 31, 2013. The final thesis must be turned in by April 1, 2014.

• In case of serious illness or other grave reason, the time limit to teach the course can be extended until June 30, 214 and Sept. 30, 2104 for turning in the final thesis. This extension is granted at the discretion of the IMA and is not automatic. It must be applied for in writing.

1. The participant of the training programs agrees to write and speak their own texts in their native language for three Audio CDs: the Body Scan, Sitting Meditation and Mindful Yoga.
   
   
2. The participant handbook for an 8-week course normally will be created by each student individually. The IMA will supply a sample participant handbook in either Norwegian or English that students may modify and adapt. Students teaching in pairs may create and use the same handbook together.

A student must complete a final thesis to receive a certificate. The thesis will be a documentation of the 8-week course that the participant taught. It will include a presentation of what was taught, reflections on teaching situations, and a personal reflection about one’s own development as a teacher. The thesis may be written in either Norwegian or English.

• The thesis will not be graded. However, the participant may be asked to write additional material or answer questions more thoroughly if the IMA feels the thesis is incomplete.
  
  
• If two students opt to co-teach a course, each person must submit a final thesis in her own words. Each co-teacher must speak her own CDs for each of the main exercises.
  
  
• A participant will submit to the IMA as part of her final Thesis :
  
  
  1. A digital copy (per E-Mail Attachment) of the final thesis
  2. Audio versions of the Body Scan, Sitting Meditation and Mindful Bodywork/Yoga given to participants in her own course.
  3. A digital copy of the student handbook given to participants in her own 8-week  MBSR course.

A minimum of four individual telephone sessions with a supervisor approved by the IMA during the teaching of an 8-week course is required. The participant is free to select the supervisor of his/or choice from among the IMA’s recommended supervisors.
The IMA can, however, require that a student receive more supervision both during and after the course is over, when it deems it necessary. The amount of hours necessary will be determined by the IMA in consultation with the supervisor.
Only when the IMA and the supervisor agree that participant is ready to receive a certificate, will it be awarded.
The charges for supervision are not included in the course fees and are to be paid directly to the supervisor. Each supervisor charges their own fee, which is determined by them alone.

ALL persons who successfully complete the training program according to the terms specified will receive a certificate as an MBSR Trainer.

An MBCT Teacher Certificate will also be awarded to those persons who complete the program according to the terms specified and are professionally qualified according to the laws of the country in which they live to work with patients who have been diagnosed as experiencing mental health conditions such as clinical depression, compulsive disorders, eating disorders, severe anxiety or panic syndrome, etc.

If a participant of the IMA training program is working in a clinical setting where he/she is working in a team or with a colleague who is qualified to work with people with mental health conditions such as those listed above, a certificate can be awarded on the understanding that he/she will teach MBCT only in a setting where such supervision is available.  The student will be asked to sign a statement confirming that he/she is aware of this requirement