Becoming a Mindful Leader: Practical Techniques for Corporate Resilience
A plane hits turbulence and everybody looks around. Then the captain comes on, says what is happening, says what they are going to do about it, and tells people to stay in their seats. Nothing about the turbulence has changed. What has changed is that someone steady is describing it. Chris Willard opens with that, because it is what people under pressure need from whoever is leading them, and because the captain being frightened is beside the point.
He is a clinical psychologist who lectures on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and consults to organisations including Google and HubSpot. This course came out of watching leaders try to stay clear-headed through a period when nobody knew what was coming next, and it is aimed at anyone in that position: executives, managers, team leaders, and the clinicians who work with them.
Three hours in eleven short sessions, and it is built around practices short enough to survive a working day. Breathing you can do before a presentation, before a difficult conversation, or at a red light, including a ratio you reverse when you need to wake up rather than settle. The STOP practice, four steps long. The physiology of stress and what it does to perception, because stress narrows thinking to black and white at exactly the moment a leader needs to see clearly. The negativity bias and where it came from. Relationships and social connection as the largest factor in how people fare. Digital boundaries and the comparison problem that social media creates. And the point he returns to: a leader’s own state is not private, because the people around them are reading it constantly.
You’ll walk away with
- Why steadiness in a leader matters more than confidence, and how the two differ
- Breathing practices short enough to use before a meeting, a presentation or a difficult conversation
- A breathing ratio you can reverse to raise alertness rather than lower it, for the flat part of the afternoon
- The STOP practice, four steps, usable at a red light or waiting for a lift
- What stress does to perception, and why decisions made under it tend to be worse
- The negativity bias, where it came from and what it costs a team under pressure
- Mindfulness defined properly, and what it is not, which is where most scepticism starts
- A biopsychosocial view of resilience covering sleep, movement, eating and breathing
- Relationships and connection as the strongest factor in how people come through a hard period
- Digital boundaries, and the comparison habit that social media makes worse
- Mindful communication, and being a steadier presence in the conversations you are already having
- Practices you can pass on to colleagues, clients or a team, with no training required to lead them
Watch the course trailer
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. This course is included with your Tatra Training membership, along with every other course in the library.
Please note: this course is about leadership and workplace resilience rather than clinical practice. Check with your professional body before counting it toward CPD.
Where this sits: the workplace application of Chris Willard’s resilience material. Resilience: Strategies for Difficult Times covers the same ground for individuals and clients.
Format: eleven short sessions with practices you take part in.
Course Duration: 3 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records. Your certificates are yours to keep.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Revisit Anytime: Come back to the course as often as you like while your membership is active, whenever you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
Course Content
Meet Your Instructor
Anxious teens, stressed college students, and overwhelmed families struggling with modern pressures need more than traditional therapy approaches - they need clinicians who understand how mindfulness and other neuroscience backed practices can rewire young brains for resilience. Christopher Willard has dedicated his career to making mindfulness accessible and practical, becoming one of the world's leading experts in mindful approaches to youth mental health.
As a Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Willard has visited and trained practitioners across 44 countries in resilience, mental health, emotional intelligence, communication and more. His 20+ books - including Growing Up Mindful, College Mental Health 101, and the upcoming Neuroscience of Negotiation - have been translated into over a dozen languages and earned praise from mindfulness leaders like Thich Nhat Hanh, Tara Brach, Dan Siegel, and Jack Kornfield. His work bridges ancient wisdom with contemporary neuroscience, showing clinicians how contemplative practices can address anxiety, depression, and stress-related disorders for all ages
Dr. Willard's expertise spans mindfulness-based interventions, developmental neuroscience and corporate and educational consulting. His approach combines 20 years of personal meditation practice with rigorous clinical training, giving him unique insight into resilience across the lifespan. He helps clinicians understand when mindfulness is appropriate, how to adapt practices for different challenges, and ways to integrate contemplative approaches with evidence-based therapies.
What sets his training apart is developmental sophistication and practicality. Willard doesn't just water down mindfulness but make it relevant culturally, cognitively and developmentally for a multitasking world. His work from corporations to clinics to classrooms have shown him what interventions succeed or fail in different settings.
For your practice, expect to gain age-appropriate mindfulness techniques, practical tools for treating anxious and depressed youth, and frameworks for integrating contemplative practices with traditional therapy. His methods particularly benefit clinicians working with adolescents, college students, or families seeking alternatives to medication-focused treatment.
Quick Win: Willard's "Alphabreaths" technique gives young clients 26 different breathing practices they can choose from based on their current emotional state - creating immediate buy-in and personalised coping tools they actually use.
Qualifications
- PsyD, Clinical Psychology, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, 2008
- B.A., English, Wesleyan University, 2001
- Licensed Psychologist (Massachusetts)
- 20+ years of personal meditation practice
Authored Books
- College Mental Health 101 (2025, co-author with Blaise Aguirre & Chelsie Green, New Harbinger)
- How We Grow Through What We Go Through (2022, Sounds True)
- Alphabreaths (2019, Sounds True)
- Raising Resilience (2017, Sounds True, praised by Sharon Salzberg, Tina Bryson)
- Growing Up Mindful (2016, Sounds True, praised by Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield)
- Child's Mind (2010, Parallax Press, praised by Thich Nhat Hanh)
- 20+ total titles including therapeutic games and card sets, translated into 10+ languages
Teaching & Roles
- Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 2014–present
- Clinical Instructor, Cambridge Health Alliance Department of Psychiatry, 2014–present
- President, Mindfulness in Education Network, 2015–present
- Psychologist & Consultant, Enlightened Livelihoods, 2005–present
- Psychologist, Tufts University Counseling and Mental Health Services, 2009–2014
Speaking & Training
- Harvard Medical School faculty presentations
- Brahm Centre Singapore keynote (2020)
- International mindfulness training and consultation
Ready to help young people develop lifelong resilience skills? Discover how Dr. Willard's mindfulness-based methods can transform your work with anxious and stressed youth while enhancing your own clinical presence.
Feedback & Reviews
This course includes:
- Lessons 1
- Topics 12
- Duration 3 hours
- Quizzes 1
- Language English