What is the IMTA’s mission?
The IMTA’s mission is to provide guidelines and to oversee national and international mindfulness teacher education and training standards to ensure teaching and education programs continue to meet a level of depth and rigor needed to serve students and clients at the highest level and standardize the mindfulness teaching profession.
What is the IMTA’s vision?
The IMTA’s vision is to be the lead guiding professional association for the mindfulness field. The IMTA strives to become a central place where the general public can come to identify high-quality, accredited training programs and institutions, as well as nationally and internationally credentialed and certified mindfulness teachers.
The IMTA is being implemented in a staged manner to ensure the professionalization and standardization of the mindfulness field.
Stage 1a – Current: IMTA Membership
The IMTA offers two levels of membership – Individual and Organizational. IMTA membership is open to teachers and organizations that are actively working to shape the future of the mindfulness teaching field.
Within Individual membership, Associate membership is for candidates aspiring to be credentialed and Full membership includes those that have officially achieved their IMTA credentials.
Benefits of IMTA Membership include:
- Access to the IMTA community of mindfulness teachers, allowing you to network with leaders in the mindfulness teaching community.
- The opportunity to pursue an internationally-recognized accreditation or certification credential that shows you have met our rigorous standards of mindfulness teacher training.
- Full members benefit from inclusion in our online, geographically searchable directory, where you can tell the world who you are as a mindfulness teacher.
And much more! Find out all you need to know about IMTA membership here.
Stage 1b – Current: Accreditation of Mindfulness Teacher Training Programs
The IMTA currently accredits Mindfulness Teacher Training Programs in order to help standardize and oversee the growth of mindfulness worldwide. Students looking for rigorous, well-designed and impactful programs can find a listing of the leading programs in the US through this website. Students will see the competencies they will be required to learn in such programs. Furthermore, as the field of mindfulness teacher training develops, the IMTA standards can guide the development of new teacher programs. For more information about program accreditation, please click here.
For educational, institutional and organizational teacher training programs, the IMTA offers a 200-hour IMTA Accredited Mindfulness Teacher Training Program, Professional Level. The IMTA also plans to offer a 500-hour IMTA Accredited Mindfulness Teacher Training Program, Advanced Level.
For eligibility and competency requirements for IMTA Accredited Mindfulness Teacher Training Programs, visit our Accreditation page.
Stage 1c – Current: Certification of Mindfulness Teachers
Students who have successfully completed an IMTA-Accredited Mindfulness Teacher Training Program are eligible to apply for a three year certification. There are two certification levels mindfulness teachers can achieve:
- After completing a 200-hour program, qualified teachers will earn the title: “CMT-P,” or “IMTA Certified Mindfulness Teacher, Professional Level.” Initially, this certification will launch with a “Provisional” certification designation until the Credentialing Committee launches the assessment exam. Candidates will have one year to take the exam. Upon passing, the “Provisional” designation will drop.
- After completing a 500-hour program, advanced professionals will earn the title: “CMT-A,” or “IMTA Certified Mindfulness Teacher, Advanced Level” certification.
The IMTA will offer association benefits to credentialed individuals including but not limited to the following:
- A geographically searchable listing of IMTA certified individual mindfulness teachers. This geographically searchable list will be for the general public seeking high-quality certified teachers in their area of need.
- Access to continuing education. IMTA-certified individuals must complete continuing education units every three years to maintain credential currency.
- Access to peer support through network of local chapters
(IMTA will be developing the following programs described below as Stages 2 – 4 and intend to incorporate these elements into our membership offering in the near future.)
Stage 2: Ethics Board
The IMTA will develop professional ethical standards for mindfulness teachers. The Ethics Board will address grievances and promote the highest ethical standards in the field.
Stage 3: Accreditation of Specialized Programs
The IMTA will develop accreditation for programs with a specialized focus. This will include Mindfulness Teacher Training Programs in the areas of psychotherapy, children, education-specific, and adolescents, among others. In the future this may include clinical programs such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) and related programs such as Mindful Self Compassion (MSC).
Stage 4: Continuing Education
The IMTA will serve as a clearinghouse for continuing education for mindfulness teachers and facilitators. The IMTA will develop continuing education guidelines and recommendations for ongoing teacher training.