Mindfulness-based Strategies for Managing Social Anxiety, Health Outcomes, and Success

Megan Lipsett, MA

Training Description

Mindfulness, a process of openly attending, with awareness, to one's present moment experiences, can improve mental and physical health outcomes. Mindfulness based interventions, including Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy are increasingly being applied to support health, well-being, and success. An overview of mindfulness based practices, including definition, key mechanisms, and known impacts on psychophysiological, social, and achievement outcomes will be provided. We will discuss a variety of mindfulness-based approaches, as well as targeted mindset interventions. The potential for mindfulness-based practices to effect health risk behaviors, overall health, well-being, and social function will be discussed. Culturally-adapted and individualized mindfulness practices will be considered. We will consider the biopsychosocial mechanisms (e.g. neurobiological, immune, and self-regulatory processes) by which mindfulness practices impact development and health-relevant behaviors. The trainer will summarize and translate empirical literature, including the trainer’s research findings regarding mindfulness practices that are resilience-building and supportive of goal-attainment. We will explore the role of mindfulness in stress-reduction, with a special focus on managing social anxiety. We will learn about psychophysiological responses to stress, as well as the role of mindfulness in supporting cognitive appraisal and coping mechanisms. Through engaging in discussion, reflection, and embodied practices, we will explore findings from social science research to consider how effective social work practice can incorporate mindfulness practices to manage social anxiety, support health, and improve success.

Learning Objectives

• Identify risk factors and challenges related to social anxiety.  
• Explore the key factors that link mindfulness-based practices to health and success outcomes. 
• Illustrate how to use mindfulness skills for managing socially-relevant anxiety.  
• Describe the mechanisms driving mindfulness outcomes.  
• Review theories of stress and resilience.  
• Identify 3 strategies to enact culturally-appropriate mindfulness techniques in your community. 
• Identify 5 stress-reduction techniques and practice them.  
• Understand how mindset impacts health behaviors and outcomes and identify three practices to change maladaptive mindsets. 

Agenda

1:00-2:00 am Overview of Mindfulness-Based Practices - key “ingredients”, approaches,

activities, and frameworks .

2:00-2:30 am Lecture and Discussion: How Social Anxiety impacts health and success. The

role of mindfulness practices in managing socially-related anxiety and coping

behaviors.

2:30-3:15 pm Experiential activity: mindfulness-based practices, cognitive reappraisal and

meaning-making, and creating social capital.

3:15-3:45 pm BREAK (CEUs will not be issued for this time)

3:45-4:45 pm Overview of the role of mindfulness in supporting cognitive appraisal and

coping mechanisms

4:45-5:30 pm Project / Experiential activity: creating social capital and building

goal-relevant motivation. 

Meet Our Trainer  

Megan Lipsett is a doctoral candidate in Social Health Psychology, conducting research in the ​Social Affective Neuroscience Lab​. Megan also holds an MA in Integrative Health Studies from CIIS and is an assistant Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) and the founder of ​COPIA Health​. As a practitioner, Megan has worked with clients who have experienced complex trauma and uses a mindfulness-based approach to supporting resilience. As a research psychologist, she examines how our perceptions impact physiology (such as inflammatory biomarkers and cortisol), social connection, and long-term health behaviors underlying noncommunicable diseases. With an interest in factors that promote resilience to adversity, she focuses on translational work that informs how research on health mindsets can inform behavioral interventions and public policy. She has done program development and facilitation for diverse organizations, including integrative medicine centers, transitional women's homes, social worker training centers, environmental awareness groups, benefit corporations, and health and wellness centers.

This course meets the qualifications for (4) BBS CEUs for LCSWs and MFTs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.