Breathing Space London

mindfulness for health

Apply for free places on MBCT courses

Breathing Space is funded by Tower Hamlets Social Services to provide some free places on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depression courses for people living on a low income in Tower Hamlets.

To be eligible for a free place you need to be:

  • Resident in Tower Hamlets
  • Unemployed, on benefits or low income
  • Between 16 and 65 years old
  • Have had 3 or more episodes of depression
  • Willing to commit yourself to attending all 8 sessions
  • Able to take part in monitoring and evaluation

Please note that this course is not appropriate if you are currently feeling significantly depressed.

How to apply

You can fill in an online application form here - scroll down this page. The information which you provide on this form will be seen by the teachers on your course, the Breathing Space Director and Manager in order to help us maintain and improve the quality of the courses and to help us secure funding for assisted places. It will also be seen by the monitoring officer who will record some of your answers for statistical purposes for our funders. It will not be possible to identify you by name in those statistics.

If you need help completing the form or if you have any questions, call us on 0845 4584716 and ask for a member of the Breathing Space team, or email info@breathingspacelondon.org.uk

What happens next?

We will let you know if you are eligible for a free place within two weeks of receiving your application. If requests are very high we may need to ask you to go on a waiting list. If you are not eligible, you are still very welcome to attend as a paying participant; we try to keep course fees to the minimum (£155 full wage, £115 low wage).

Free places on Breathing Space retreats

Breathing Space is also funded by Tower Hamlets Social Services to provide up to 15 free places per year on two-day retreats for newcomers to Mindfulness Based Approaches or for people who have completed Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for depression courses. More info here.

Your Contact Details 
 
Address
Postcode
Phone
Mobile
Email
Date of birth (dd-mm-yyyy)
Income and benefits
Jobseekers allowance yes  no
Disability allowance yes  no
Incapacity benefit yes  no
Living on an income below £15,000 yes  no
Other income - please tell us
 
We would like to know something of your history and experience of depression
How many episodes of depression, in your opinion, would you say you have had?
What kind of things have you tried to help with your depression in the past?
Antidepressant medication yes  no
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy yes  no
Counselling yes  no
Psychotherapy yes  no
Other - please give details
Are you on any antidepressant medication now? yes  no
Have you ever consulted your GP about depression? yes  no
What will we be expecting from you?
MBCT involves commitment to coming to all 8 classes as well as home-practice in between times. For the course to help you stay well, you will need to feel able to interact and engage with the material. MBCT is not suitable if you are currently feeling significantly depressed — if you don't feel up to attending just now, you might want to go on our waiting list or let us know when you feel well enough to attend.
How would you say you are feeling now? Do you feel up to taking part in the course?
What are your personal aims for the course? Try to think of 3 things you would like to get out of attending
Second aim
Third aim
How did you find out about free places on this course?
If other please give details 
Why have you chosen to come on this course?
Monitoring and evaluation
As we want to make sure the course is of lasting value to you, we would like to monitor your progress. If you are awarded a free place we will ask that you take part in this — it will help you to know if your personal aims have been met, and it helps us see where MBCT is working and where we could improve.
  • End of course evaluation The leader of your course will give you an evaluation to fill in on the last evening of the course. All our courses are evaluated so everyone will be doing this — the only difference, as far as you will be concerned, is that we will need to know your name, and a few other details.
  • Follow-up evaluation We will contact you around 6 months after the end of the course to find out how you are and if you are still able to make use of what you learnt on the course.
What happens now?
We will let you know if you are eligible for a free place within the next two weeks. If requests are very high we may need to ask you to go on a waiting list. If you are not eligible, you are still very welcome to attend as a paying participant — we try to keep course fees to the minimum (£125 full wage, £95 low wage).

Thank you for making this application.

Do contact the Breathing Space team (numbers above) if you need to know more — you can also watch our short 3-minute film, made with BBC London, about relapse prevention here


Yours truly,

Maitreyabandhu
Breathing Space Director (Charity No:255420)
 
The following information is required for statistical purposes and does not form part of the assessment — all the below will be treated anonymously.
Gender
Sexual orientation
Do you consider yourself to have a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act?
("a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day to day activities")
  Yes – I am a registered disabled person
Yes – I am a non-registered disabled person
No – I have no disability 
Please tick any of the following that apply to you – you can tick more than one:
Hearing impairment
Speech impairment
Visual impairment
Learning difficulties
Dyslexia

Do not wish to disclose
 Reduced physical capacity including difficulty with physical co-ordination
Severe disfigurement
Mental illness
Reduced mobility
Progressive condition (e.g. cancer, muscular sclerosis etc)

Other (please specify)
If there are practical ways in which we can assist you (e.g. written materials in large print format, induction loop, assistance during tea breaks, etc) please speak to the course/retreat leader or a member of the team.
Ethnic background
if other or dual please specify  
Religion
if other please specify