Certification Paper Submission

Three papers

The purpose of these papers is to:

• Deepen your own self-awareness of your journey as a facilitator
• Expand your understanding of the CMBM model
• Broaden your knowledge of the science of mind-body medicine.

A detailed description of each paper is below:

Personal Process

This paper is a 2-3 page analysis of your growth as a facilitator (i.e., your issues, specific concerns and growing edges that have arisen and how you addressed them). This is a personal process paper about your journey and development as a facilitator, reflecting what came up within your groups, while writing your process notes and during supervision sessions. This paper is about your whole journey, where you started from (i.e., your experience in your initial Mind-Body Medicine Professional Training Program group—where you were in relation to that experience in PTP), what you learned and how you grew during Advanced Training and your growth during Certification. In this paper, please focus on your internal process and how that impact your facilitation and group process, as well as changes you have experienced in yourself (i.e., self-awareness, new skills) and areas that you plan to continue to develop and improve in the future.  This paper can be done when you have completed your 16 sessions of mind-body skills groups.

Application of Mind-Body Science Paper

There are two options available for this paper to fit your needs and interests:

1. The first option is to develop a 3-4 page paper that presents your own unique didactic presentation of one of the topics from the CMBM group model (e.g. Meditation, Imagery, Autogenics, Biofeedback, Genograms, Movement, Mindful Eating, etc.). For this approach, you are asked to aim for a clear and relatable presentation of the science that underpins the topic (just as we encourage when creating your mini-talks for the small group sessions). Please include at least two scientific/academic references such as from a journal/research paper and not just from a lay book on the topic. Reviewing the science and then presenting the relevance to others in simple and accessible forms is a valued skill to develop when educating others of the relevance of mind-body medicine to their individual lives. Presenting the material as if you are presenting a slightly longer talk on the topic, to group members or workshop attendees, is recommended.
2. The second option may appeal to some with a stronger interest in the scientific underpinnings of mind-body medicine: This option is a 4-6 page Literature Review on one aspect of mind-body medicine (e.g. Meditation, Imagery, Autogenics, Biofeedback, Movement or Mindful Eating) and how it relates to the CMBM group model. Please plan to discuss your topic with your supervisor before you start writing the paper. This paper can be done even before you start your MBS group. Writing the Literature Review paper early on will help you develop additional clarity on one aspect of mind-body medicine and this information can then be applied to your MBS group work. In your literature review, please describe, summarize, evaluate and synthesize at least 4-6 scholarly articles. You can also include books, but do not make these your primary or only sources of information. In this paper, plan to discuss your topic and identify the current themes in the literature. This includes where you see gaps in the literature, how this information is relevant to MBS groups, and what you recommend for future investigation. It is helpful to organize your literature review with 1) an introduction section, 2) the body of the review and 3) a conclusion section, which summarizes and provides recommendations. In the conclusion section, please relate this information back to our work in MBS group (i.e., what is the impact of this information for MBS group and how will you utilize this information). To prepare for your literature review, it is helpful to read a number of articles on your topic. We also suggest you write a clear and focused thesis statement and outline to review with your supervisor. When writing your literature review, please use primary sources and choose the most relevant sources on the topic. We ask that you use quotes sparingly, revise your paper carefully, and provide a bibliography at the end of the paper.

Here are some tips for obtaining research studies for review:

• We recommend first doing a search in PubMed on your topic. If the article is free, it will show it as being free.
• If the article is not free, try searching the article title in Google Scholar to see if you can find the article posted somewhere as a PDF.
• You can also use Google Scholar to search for articles on your topic.
• If you find a good article, try looking up some of the relevant references listed in that article.
• If a researcher is on ResearchGate, you can request an article directly from them if you can’t find it for free on PubMed or Google Scholar.

Suggested Time Frame for the Three Papers

We suggest that you make a plan for your papers with your supervisor at the beginning of your supervision journey. Here is our suggested timeline for the papers:

1. Write the Case Study Paper after your first Mind-Body Skills Group series
2. Write the Personal Process Paper after your second Mind-Body Skills Group series. You can use your process notes to help write this.
3. Select the topic for your Application of Mind-Body Science Paper early on – this will help you develop additional clarity on one aspect of mind-body medicine and this information can then be applied to your groups. Do research for this and write throughout if possible since it is the longest of the papers and will likely be the last one to submit.

Please remember to keep small group members anonymous in both the process notes and in your papers and choose an alias (e.g. their first initial) for each member to keep their names confidential.

All papers should be submitted to your supervisor for review. After any edits are made and your supervisor approves then you can submit the final papers.

Questions? Please contact certification@cmbm.org.