Mindfulness, Intuition, and Continued Education with Dr. Nikki Rubin

What if mindfulness is not a homework assignment you give clients, but the thread running through every single clinical decision you make? In this episode of Self Careapist Therapist, I sit down with Dr. Nikki Rubin, licensed clinical psychologist, ACT specialist, assistant clinical professor at UCLA, and co-founder and COO of Mind Science Collective, a continuing education platform built by clinicians for clinicians. We trace the full history of cognitive behavioral therapies from first wave behaviorism through second wave cognitive interventions to the third wave approaches that define evidence-based practice today, including ACT, DBT, and CFT. Dr. Rubin breaks down how mindfulness functions as a core behavioral tool in the therapy room, how it connects to clinical intuition, and how to help clients distinguish between what their gut is really telling them versus what anxiety is projecting. We also dig into behavioral case formulation, the entrepreneurial path in private practice, and what it looks like to build a values-driven continuing education business. Stay until the end for a live guided mindfulness exercise, and use code SELFCAREAPIST10 at checkout for 10% off any MindScience Collective course.0:00 - Intro1:27 - How Dr. Rubin's passion for teaching and training clinicians began4:48 - The founding of Mind Science Collective and what it offers10:33 - How CE courses work and the range of topics available13:18 - ACT values, creativity, and what drives the entrepreneurial instinct13:38 - The history of CBT waves from Skinner to the third wave18:06 - What might come after the third wave21:09 - Reframing the therapist's relationship to marketing and business27:22 - How mindfulness functions as the foundation of every clinical intervention29:55 - A clinical example of moment-to-moment mindfulness with a patient32:28 - Live guided mindfulness exercise with Dr. Rubin37:12 - Processing the exercise and debunking myths about mindfulness41:00 - The link between mindfulness and clinical intuition43:35 - Distinguishing intuition from anxiety in session and in life47:45 - Upcoming course: The Science of Intuition48:27 - Supervision training and its parallels with behavioral case formulation50:27 - What clinicians most commonly miss in case formulation54:03 - Mindfulness as a thread across theoretical orientations56:24 - Dr. Rubin's personal approach to self-careEpisode Highlights:Mindfulness is a core behavioral practice that threads through every clinical intervention, from conceptualization to treatment planning to in-session responses, and carries far more clinical utility than assigning meditation as homework.Third wave CBT therapies, including ACT, DBT, and CFT, emerged in the mid-1980s through a formal integration of acceptance-based and mindfulness-based practices alongside second wave cognitive techniques.ACT values extend beyond the therapy room into professional decisions, entrepreneurial endeavors, and how clinicians approach their own continuing education and growth.Mindfulness is not about clearing the mind. It is about paying present-moment attention while the brain does exactly what it is designed to do, which is generate thoughts, get distracted, and generate distraction again.Mindfulness and intuition are deeply linked. Mindfulness creates the space needed to quiet mental noise so that what intuition is communicating can actually be heard.Intuition is not premonition. It is a synthesis of all available data up to this moment, and it requires practiced mindful awareness to distinguish it from The Self Careapist Therapist Podcast is a biweekly conversation with Lorain Moorehead, LCSW a therapist in private practice.  With guests ranging from expert psychologists, therapists, researchers and authors, each episode offers a deep dive and keeps listeners from intern to advanced supervisor  in mind while dropping gems and aha moments for everyone who loves to learn! If you love learning and want to keep track of some future learning opportunities, grab your personal curriculum here!If you liked this episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps us be a top mental health podcast and resource.  See you next week!