Want to Become a SMART Trainer? 

The Three Steps

 Most SMART trainers who are now teaching the program have one or more of the following backgrounds – physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, wellness coaches, counselors, and HR professionals. However, we welcome professionals with other types of backgrounds as well.

You can become a SMART Trainer in three simple steps: 

In general, most trainers start teaching the program after six to nine months of starting the Transform course. However, highly experienced instructors often start teaching sooner, depending on their demonstrated expertise and comfort. The accelerated path is pursued in consultation with Dr. Sood.

Please note that the Transform course presently isn’t a degree program. We expect trainers to have independent credentials to teach resilience and wellbeing to their clients.

Trainers start with teaching the two-hour four-module SMART (Stress Management and Resiliency Training) program, with the possibility of additional follow up programs that keep the participants engaged in the practices. These follow up programs are customized to the needs, culture, and resources of the organization.

As the trainers advance in their skills and experience, they may progress to teaching the half-day and full-day SMART programs.

We typically do not charge any licensing fee to the individual users. We do have a licensing fee for larger organizations that is tailored to the scope of usage. 

Training future trainers is one of our highest priorities. Please reach out to us if you wish to receive more information.

Transform Course

 Transform offers you a new way to live your life based on timeless principles and cutting-edge advances in neurosciences. Completion of the Transform course is a prerequisite to becoming a trainer in the SMART Program. 

Background

The Transform course is an immersion in understanding the neurosciences, philosophy, and psychology of stress and wellbeing, and from that understanding developing a scientific and structured approach toward peace, happiness, resilience, and thriving.

The program focuses on how we pay attention and how we interpret information. Research shows human attention instinctively focuses on threats and imperfections, especially in the past and the future. So, attention wanders; it ruminates. The human brain’s default mode (dominated by default network) hosts mind wandering. Scientists have shockingly discovered we spend half our day or more with a ruminative mind. 

This excessive ‘dwell time’ in the default mode correlates with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and attention deficit. It also fatigues our brain, one reason you might feel completely wiped out by 6 o’clock in the evening.

The Transform Course offers a way out of this human dilemma by engaging the brain’s focused mode – not only to experience more uplifting emotions, but also develop better focus, enhanced creativity and productivity, better engagement at work, deeper relationships, and to find greater purpose in life. 

Structure

Total contact in the full course is six (6) months, designed in three phases:
Phase I: Two (2) days intensive classroom training in Rochester, MN (or another site)
Phase II: Six (6) months facilitated distance-learning with Dr. Amit Sood
Phase III: One (1) day end-of-course classroom sharing in Rochester, MN (or another site)

Description

 Phase I – is a two (2) day workshop wherein 20 to 30 participants learn insights collected from neurosciences, philosophy, behavioral economics, psychology, decision-making, spirituality, mindfulness traditions, medicine, and other disciplines. The focus: to understand the human brain-body connections and how we can live our lives to thrive versus merely dragging. The Transform course explores resilience from the cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual perspectives to uncover a deeper meaning.

Pragmatic daily practices are suggested which lead to more joy, less suffering, better relationships, and personal fulfillment. Participants cultivate a sense of humility, self-compassion, self-acceptance, and self-forgiveness fostering a greater openness to learn and grow, to experience the entire day as ‘flow.’

Phase II – is six (6) months of guided distance-learning wherein the Transform program is unpacked in the context of daily living. The participants stay together via emails shared by the instructor a few times a week and structured teleconferences every month to reinforce what was learned in the classroom experience, and to process what is happening in daily life in that context. The emails are written to provoke deeper thinking by using experiences in daily life as metaphors to share timeless principles. Group sharing by teleconference tends to be as inspiring as it is educational. In essence, the group develops deeper gratitude, compassion, and acceptance for one another.

Phase III – is one (1) day classroom end-of-course sharing about the progress over the past six (6) months. Often, participants share from their deepest place, feel validated by what they and others have learned and incorporated in their daily lives, and feel passionate and empowered to take these transformative learnings and skills to their personal world.

Participants with an existing platform who are interested in teaching stress management and resilience workshops in the future have the option to work one-on-one with Dr. Sood to develop their skills and remain engaged with the program.

Instructor

The program is taught by Dr. Amit Sood, M.D., M.Sc., F.A.C.P., creator of Mayo Clinic Resilient Mind Program, and former Professor of Medicine, enterprise director of student life and wellness and chair of Mind Body Initiative, all at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Sood is internationally recognized for his work on resilience, wellbeing, burnout, happiness, and mindfulness.

Dr. Sood teaches this program to patients, health care professionals, corporate executives, students, members of the community, and others. He has held thousands of workshops to teach this program and has participated in over twenty clinical trials at Mayo Clinic and elsewhere incorporating the principles covered in the Transform course. Dr. Sood is the author of the books, The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living, The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness, Immerse: A 52-week Course in Resilient Living, and Mindfulness Redesigned for the Twenty-First Century.

Dr. Sood received the 2010 Distinguished Service Award, the 2010 Innovator of the Year Award, the 2013 Outstanding Physician Scientist Award, and the 2016 Faculty of the Year Award from Mayo Clinic. He was honored as the Robert Wood Johnson Health Care Pioneer in 2015. The Intelligent Optimist (formerly Ode Magazine) selected Dr. Sood as one among top 20 intelligent optimists helping the world to be a better place. In 2016, Dr. Sood was selected as the top impact maker in healthcare in Rochester, MN.

Course Options

The Transform course has two options.

Option I: Two-day workshop (Phase I) – This option is ideal for participants who wish a deeper immersion in Dr. Sood’s programs but do not foresee teaching any of the resilience programs (a minority of participants).
Option II: Full course that includes the two-day workshop, six-months guided learning, and end-of-course follow up. This option is ideal for participants who intend to teach the resilience programs.

Tuition

The payment schedule depends on which of the two options is chosen.

Option I: $1500 (payable at enrollment)
Option II: $2750 (payable at enrollment)

Participants initially choosing Option I will have the choice to convert to the full course for an additional payment. We do offer partial scholarships to participants requesting and needing the same. 

Location/Timings

The next Transform course will be March 15-16, 2018. The course will be held at Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Reference Books

Sood, A. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living. December 2013
Sood, A. Mindfulness Redesigned for the Twenty-first Century. January 2018

Contact

If you are ready to enroll in the Transform course, please send an email to Debbie Fuehrer at fuehrer.debbie@gmail.com or leave a message at 507-282-9000.

Please contact us if you have additional questions regarding the Transform course.