Meditation and Mindfulness Therapy at AMFM

Zachary Ehrmann
Published: 11/20/2024 | Updated: 05/08/2026
Authored by: Zachary Ehrmann, MSc
Edited by: Emma Loker, BSc, PgDip

It’s easy to slip into autopilot throughout the day, barely reacting or registering what’s happening before the next thing demands your attention. Meditation and mindfulness therapy teaches you to increase your present-moment awareness and learn how to slow things down and meet your thoughts and feelings as they are without judgement. 

It sounds easy, but the effects can be massive. At A Mission For Michael, you’ll learn to pause before reacting, to recognize harmful thought patterns, and build a new relationship toward your stress, anxiety, and emotional pain. 

Mindfulness techniques, practiced daily, can be a massive aid to your overall treatment and life after services have concluded.

Our Approach to Meditation and Mindfulness Therapy at AMFM Healthcare

Mindfulness has roots in ancient contemplative practices, and decades worth of clinical research have also validated it as one of the most effective tools in all of mental health treatment.[1] At its core, it’s the practice of purposeful attention to your thoughts, your body, and your surroundings without attempting to automatically fix or judge what you find. This practice can be a major challenge and driver of several mental health issues.[2] 

Mindfulness therapy for anxiety and other mental health challenges targets the automatic, often-unconscious ways we respond to things around us. AMFM Healthcare’s programming at every level of care teaches you specific techniques to raise your awareness and skills to integrate into daily living. 

For example, controlled deep breathing can lower cortisol levels – the body’s primary stress hormone – and increase endorphin production, also engaging the lymphatic system to support natural detoxification processes.[3] 

We approach mindfulness through five core principles: 

  1. Being non-judgmental about observing your own experiences, without the need to label something as good or bad.
  2. Patience, to allow things to unfold naturally and in their own time.
  3. Utilizing your beginner’s mind to stay open and curious about things around you.
  4. Anchoring your attention to the present moment, without struggling to change it.
  5. Letting and recognizing when you’re clinging to difficult thoughts or emotions, willfully choosing to release them.
Man sitting in a therapy room during Meditation and Mindfulness Therapy
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What to Expect in Meditation and Mindfulness Therapy

Mindfulness might sound simple, but most people benefit from being guided and grounded in the above core principles. Our treatment programs give you access to a stepwise process to help:

Introduction to Mindfulness

Entering treatment at AMFM Healthcare helps you understand what mindfulness-based therapy and practices are. We’ll also help you recognize why presence matters and how the unconscious mind can make recovery sometimes difficult, setting the foundation for everything that follows. 

Learning the Core Techniques

Early on in treatment, you’ll begin learning the practical tools that anchor our recovery program, with each element being uniquely designed to regulate your nervous system and interrupt the body’s stress response. 

Deepening Your Practice

As treatment goes on, mindfulness techniques for emotional regulation will expand to incorporate movement patterns. This practice will involve connecting your mind, body, and breath during physical activity, along with guided medications for anxiety relief utilizing visualization to build concentration and emotional capacity. 

Building New Daily Habits

Meditation for depression and stress relief benefits from consistency, and AMFM Healthcare gives you this by weaving mindfulness practices into your daily life. Through morning routines, scheduled mindfulness breaks throughout the day, and evening wind-downs, our inpatient and outpatient programs help you build new habits that last well beyond treatment. 

Integration and Ongoing Practice

The clinical team works with you to identify what techniques and ideas resonate with you the most. Then, we’ll support you to be consistent with these after discharge, helping you feel good about your plan for long-term wellness.

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We accept most major insurance providers and can check your coverage levels for you.

If we are not an appropriate provider for care, we will assist in finding a care provider that can help. 

Program Structure and Weekly Schedule

AMFM Healthcare’s meditation programs for mental health follow an eight-week structure that’s delivered by both educational and experiential group sessions. 

Each module delivers engaging content and builds on key concepts and the prior week, training you to experience mindfulness benefits directly with intuition, practice, and cultivated movements. 

  • Week 1: An introduction to mindfulness practices
  • Week 2: The trap of an unconscious mind
  • Week 3: Building new mindfulness habits 
  • Week 4: Mindfulness and gratitude
  • Week 5: Mindfulness and movement
  • Week 6: Finding your breath
  • Week 7: Mindful art integrations
  • Week 8: Mindfulness throughout the day

Alongside this weekly curriculum, daily mindfulness practices are thoughtfully integrated into the treatment process, with mindful eating, breathwork, and light stretching in the morning. 

Throughout the day, clients can use scheduled breaks from treatment to practice the B.R.E.A.K. method. This is a five-step reset involving deep breathing and empowering self-talk with sensory awareness before acting. 

Evenings bring a wind-down routine for restful routines and gratitude practices to improve sleep quality and overall mental focus and acuity.

Treatment Modalities We Use

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, or MBCT, combines the best of cognitive therapy techniques and framework with mindfulness practices. Together, these cultivate how you pay attention and take note of your surroundings and internal states of being. 

What’s more, mindfulness can easily be incorporated into all of our other evidence-based techniques and treatment modalities for mental health recovery. We integrate these into a customized treatment plan that’s uniquely designed for your needs, potentially including the following:

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Psychodynamic therapy
  • Internal Family Systems (IFS)
  • Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
  • Yoga and meditation
  • Art therapy
  • Music therapy
  • Animal-assisted therapy
  • Group therapy

Find Mental Health Treatment Programs

A Mission For Michael (AMFM) provides treatment for adults experiencing various conditions. Mental Health support is a phone call away – call 866-478-4383 to learn about our current treatment options.

California Locations

See our residences in Southern California’s Orange County & San Diego County.

Fallbrook - Peony
Female identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Secluded area with library, large backyard, and pool with beautiful views.
Dana Point - Blue Lantern
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features calming large rooms, updated interior, and outdoor pool.
Carlsbad - Goldenbush
Female identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features large rooms, updated interior, & covered seating in backyard.
Lake Forest - Grayston
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features large rooms, relaxing spaces, & covered seating in backyard.
Laguna Niguel - Campeon
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features large rooms, updated interior, and covered seating in backyard.
Laguna Hills - Waterwheel
Female identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features large rooms, updated interior, and large backyard.
Dana Point - Crystal Lantern
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Includes large rooms, updated interior, and private treatment rooms.
San Juan Capistrano - Banderas
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features updated, modern interior with relaxing outdoor space to unwind.
San Juan Capistrano - Valencia
Female identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Features large rooms, updated interior, & covered seating in backyard.
Fallbrook - North Ridge
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Featured amenties include tennis court, pool, and game area.
Carlsbad - Hoover
Male identifying house with double occupancy rooms for our clients with beautiful ocean views, large rooms and relaxng atmosphere.
Lake Forest - Sunnybrook
Female identifying house with double occupancy rooms. Newly remodeled interior with large rooms and backyard with garden.
Mission Viejo - Michelle's House
Residential treatment center just for women who’ve experienced trauma, domestic violence, or overwhelming life challenges
Minnesota Locations

Take a look at our homes on the east side of the Metro area in Washington County.

Stillwater - Arcola
Male residential house with double and single occupancy rooms. Secluded area with large backyard many dedicated spaces for therapy.
Stillwater - Dellwood
Female mental health residential house with double and single occupancy rooms. Beautifully appointed, relaxing atmosphere for healing.
Virginia Locations

View our facilities in Fairfax County, VA within the DC metro area.

Great Falls - Kellie Jean
Gender inclusive house with double and single occupancy rooms. Secluded area with movie theater, game room, and large property.
Vienna - Corsica
Gender inclusive house with double & single occupancy rooms. Secluded area with large backyard, movie theater, & dedicated therapy spaces.
Fairfax Station - Derbyshire
Male only house with double occupancy rooms. Secluded area with large rooms, gorgeous interior, and music/game room.
Annandale - Rebel Rose
Female identifying house with single and double occupancy rooms. Secluded area with movie theater, on a large property.
Vienna - Browns Mill
Gender inclusive property with double and single occupancy rooms providing compassionate care in a peaceful setting for adults.
Vienna - Lawyers
Male identifying house with double and single occupancy rooms. Secluded area with large backyard many dedicated spaces for therapy.
McLean - Lewinsville
Female house with double occupancy rooms. Featuring modern living spaces, comfortable meeting rooms, & well-appointed bedrooms.

Why Choose Us?

AMFM Healthcare knows the power of mindfulness – research has well-established its power to improve your daily experiences and recovery process.[4] Our meditation programs for mental health are built on the foundation that your attention and empathy are powerful allies. Both have the power to help reshape your brain and thought processes over time. 

Our eight-week curriculum moves with intention, guiding you from key concepts through integrated practices to build lifelong healthy habits. Morning and evening routines, thoughtful integration into every level of treatment (and other research-based, holistic modalities) all run in parallel for a complete experience. 

A Mission For Michael offers residential and outpatient-based programs (PHP, IOP, and standard outpatient services) across several states to give you the time and support you need to heal from mental health challenges and live the life of potential you were meant for. 

Contact us today to access our meditation program.

References

  1. American Psychological Association (2019-10-30). Mindfulness meditation: a research-proven way to reduce stress https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation
  2. Harvard University (2023). Mindfulness & meditation https://www.harvard.edu/in-focus/mindfulness-meditation/
  3. Bentley, T. G. K.; D’Andrea-Penna et al. (2023). Breathing practices for stress and anxiety reduction: conceptual framework of implementation guidelines based on a systematic review of the published literature https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13121612
  4. Keng, S. L.; Smoski, M. J.; Robins, C. J. (2011). Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: a review of empirical studies https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2011.04.006

At AMFM, we strive to provide the most up-to-date and accurate medical information based on current best practices, evolving information, and our team’s approach to care. Our aim is that our readers can make informed decisions about their healthcare.

Our reviewers are credentialed medical providers specializing and practicing behavioral healthcare. We follow strict guidelines when fact-checking information and only use credible sources when citing statistics and medical information. Look for the medically reviewed badge on our articles for the most up-to-date and accurate information.

If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate or out of date, please let us know at info@amfmhealthcare.com