8-Week Online Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Course for Stress, Anxiety, Low Mood, and Depression
Registration for the Spring 2026 course is now open!
Spring 2026 | March 5 – April 23, 2026
Orientation Session: February 26, 2026
Online | Live via Zoom
A New Way of Relating to the Difficulties of Life
Do you find yourself ruminating on the same thoughts over and over again?
Do you feel disconnected from your body, or uncomfortable being in it?
Do you tend to act impulsively, or move through life on autopilot?
Do you try to numb, resist, or avoid difficult thoughts, emotions, or situations?
Do you experience anxiety, depression, high stress, or persistent low mood?
Would you like to explore a different way of relating to your inner and outer experience—one that offers more choice in how you respond?
If so, I invite you to join me for the next Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course.
About the Course
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based, structured group program designed to support people who experience recurring patterns of stress, anxiety, depression, and low mood.
The course combines:
mindfulness meditation practices
cognitive understanding of habitual thought patterns
inquiry and group discussion
embodied awareness
Together, these elements help you develop a new relationship to thoughts, emotions, and body sensations, cultivating greater awareness, self-regulation, and choice in how you respond to life’s challenges.
Rather than trying to eliminate difficult thoughts or feelings, MBCT supports learning how to meet experience as it is, with greater steadiness and care.
This course is designed to help you reconnect with your heart, body, and mind through mindfulness practices that support listening to—and honoring—your inner experience. MBCT offers a new place to stand, where you have more choice in how you meet life’s challenges. In doing so, many people find that they relate to anxiety, depression, stress, and low mood with greater steadiness and compassion.
Course Dates & Format
Orientation Session: Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 7:00–8:30 pm EST
A 1.5-hour introductory session to help you decide whether the course and timing are right for you.
8 Weekly Classes: Thursdays, March 5 – April 23, 2026 | 7:00–9:00 pm EST
Half-Day Online Retreat: Sunday, April 12 | 11:30 am–5:00 pm EST
All sessions are held live online via Zoom.
A Little More About MBCT
MBCT was developed by clinical psychologists Zindel Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale, building on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program and adapting it specifically for working with mood and thought patterns. Originally developed for recurrent depression, MBCT is now widely used to support people living with anxiety, stress, and low mood as well.
Unlike approaches that focus primarily on problem-solving, MBCT recognizes that there is no endpoint to the difficulties that arise in life. Instead, it offers a way to change how we relate to thoughts, emotions, impulses, and situations—creating more space, flexibility, and choice.
Over time, and through consistent practice, this way of relating supports both emotional resilience and meaningful changes in the brain’s neural pathways.
In This 8-Week Course, You’ll Learn How To:
Become more aware of thoughts, emotions, and body sensations moment by moment
Develop a different way of relating to difficult inner experiences
Gently acknowledge and accept unwanted thoughts and feelings, rather than reacting automatically
Recognize thoughts and sensations as passing events, rather than facts or identities
Choose more skillful responses to stress, anxiety, and low mood
Experience the body as a supportive ally in mindfulness practice
Live with greater ease, freedom, and choice
Themes We’ll Explore Together
Awareness & Automatic Pilot
Kindness & Self-Compassion
Living in Our Heads & Gathering the Scattered Mind
Recognizing Aversion
Allowing & Letting Be
Thoughts Are Not Facts
Taking the Best Care of Ourselves
Maintaining & Extending New Learning
Over the course of the program, we’ll gently turn toward what we tend to resist, numb, or avoid. With time, many participants find they become friendlier with their thoughts and feelings and more trusting of their own inner wisdom.
MBCT is an active, participatory program. Each person’s presence, insight, and care are an important part of the group experience.
Commitment & Home Practice
This course involves a meaningful commitment to yourself.
Participants are asked to:
attend all weekly classes and the half-day retreat
engage in daily home practice (approximately 40–60 minutes per day)
Practice materials and the Zoom link will be provided prior to the first class.
Registration & Fees
My intention is for this course to be accessible to all who feel called to participate and are able to commit to the full program.
Pay-What-You-Can Fee Options:
$300
$550
$725
This includes: the orientation session, eight 2-hour weekly classes, one half-day retreat.
Please pay more if you are able to help support those with fewer financial resources. If cost is a barrier, you please contact me to discuss options.
Discounts Available:
10% discount if you register with a friend or spouse/partner
10% discount for returning MBCT participants
How to Register
To register, please contact me directly at karen@drkarenwalant.com.
We’ll arrange a brief Zoom meeting to answer your questions, discuss your goals or concerns, and ensure the course is a good fit.
After registration, I’ll meet with you individually so we can get to know each other a bit, supporting a smooth and grounded start.
Additional Information
This course is approved by Brown University’s Center for Mindfulness as a prerequisite for their MBCT Teacher Certification.
Cancellation Policy:
Full refund if cancelled before the orientation session
Refund minus $100 administrative fee if cancelled after orientation but before the course begins
Some shared experiences from others who have taken this course…
“MBCT allowed me to better understand my state of mind while strengthening my state of being. Through awareness and practice, I am better able to accept my thoughts instead of trying to change them. This was an amazing class and I liked that it was 8 weeks long. There would have been too much information to absorb if it had been any shorter. A week in between each session gave me time to practice and gather a better understanding of my body sensations as opposed to just thoughts.”
-Bethany Z.
“The structure of this course, the required consistent and constant practice, is the key to successful completion of this course. I could not learn this material on my own even though it was available to me. The group setting and weekly homework kept me focused but I never felt pressure - only kindness and support - and this made all the difference in helping me stick with the practice. The result is a greater awareness of your triggers and an overflowing toolbox of methods to ease stressful moments , big and small.”
-Sue J.
I” can't recommend this course highly enough. Karen led our group through the material with such warmth and insight, and I learned so much from her and from those in the class with me. I made so much progress in my journey to "feel my way through" stress and anxiety.”
-Josh W.
“This class helped me recognize that there is a way to move beyond the automatic routines of our lives that we create, and into a place where we can be more present and available to experience things in a different way.”
-D.M.
“Through the consistent practice of MBCT, both during the class, and on my own, I’ve discovered an inner reserve of ability to respond rather than react.”
-Joanne L.
“With excellent lectures and various forms of meditations MBCT has modeled for me foundational resources to address behaviors that might otherwise spiral.”
-Thelma BW.
“An invaluable experience during a time of high stress in my life.”
-Anonymous
About Dr. Karen Walant
Dr. Karen Walant has been a practicing psychotherapist for over three decades. She holds an MSW and PhD in Clinical Social Work from New York University and has long served as a supervisor for clinicians in private practice. Karen has presented at Harvard University’s Cambridge Health Alliance and lectured nationally on attachment, mindfulness, meditation, addiction and recovery, parenting with kindness, and cultivating compassionate relationships. She is the author of Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self.
Rooted in mindfulness and Buddhist psychology, Karen integrates contemporary clinical insight with contemplative practice. A long-time meditator and teacher, she is a graduate of the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield and is also a certified Mindfulness Meditation Mentor. She completed the Certificate in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy through the Institute for Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.
Karen is trained in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and is a qualified MBCT Level 4 Teacher through Brown University. Her 8-week MBCT course is recognized by Brown as eligible for entry into their Foundations training for those pursuing MBCT teacher certification.
