Upcoming Mindful Self Compassion Programs
Self-Compassion: The art and science of treating yourself like a good friend. Self-compassion is often cited as an essential ingredient to positive and lasting change.
Upcoming 8 Week Online Mindful Self Compassion Program
Online via Zoom
Wednesdays September 13th - November 1, 2023
6:30-9:00 pm EST
Retreat October 15 10;00 am -2:00 pm
Co facilitated by Sandy Sousa and Sarah Gouveia
Contact the Krame Centre to register
Limited spaces
https://thekramecenter.org/
Self Compassion For Health Care Professionals
Co-facilitated by Sandy Sousa and Adrienne Gaudet M.D.
Fall Course Date TBD
Please contact with interest in registering for the Fall Course
Sandy Sousa sandraleesousa@gmail.com or 613-561-9304
Please note that this training is recognized as part of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec’s continuing education program in psychotherapy .
The program is offered in a variety of formats.
1. Consisting of 9 weekly three-hour sessions over 9 weeks for a a total of 27 hours
2.Consisting of 6 weekly one-hour sessions, either by videoconference or in person.
3. Consisting of three consecutive two hour classes.
9 week Course Schedule:
Week 1 – Introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion
Week 2 – Practicing Mindfulness
Week 3 – Practicing Loving-Kindness
Week 4 – Discovering your Compassionate Voice
Week 5 – Living Deeply
Week 6- Retreat
Week 7– Meeting Difficult Emotions
Week 8– Exploring Challenging Relationships
Week 9 – Embracing your life
All of the sessions follow a general pattern with topic discussions, exercises, and practices as well as moments of inquiry focused on the exercise or practice.
A detailed email will be sent to all participants. This online course will be on Zoom. All participants must have a stable internet connection and a computer.
We Strive to make mindfulness practices accessible to all communities with the intention to be inclusive across race, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, gender identity, religion, body size, ability, age, and class.
What is Mindful Self Compassion?
Mindful Self Compassion is a research-supported program developed by Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Christopher Germer. Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion to enhance our capacity for emotional wellbeing.
The Mindful Self Compassion Program combines mindful awareness with self compassion to cultivate emotional resources for well-being. It primarily focuses on developing the skill of self compassion where we learn to offer ourselves the same quality of attention we would give a friend. We learn to motivate ourselves with kindness and caring rather than criticism. Practicing Mindful Self Compassion can enhance one's self compassion and resilience, increase compassion for others, improve one's relationships, as well as increasing one's mindful awareness and sense of well-being. It can also decrease depression, anxiety, stress, and caregiver and compassion fatigue.
Weekly sessions include teachings, discussions, experiential exercises, meditation and home practices.
It is strongly recommended to purchase the Mindful Self Compassion Workbook by Kristen Neff and Chris Germer to further support and deepen your home practice.
In MSC you will learn to:
- Practice mindfulness and self-compassion in daily life
- Understand the science of self-compassion
- Use self-compassion to live in accord with your values
- Handle difficult emotions with greater ease
- Motivate yourself with kindness rather than criticism
- Work with challenging relationships
- Manage caregiver fatigue
- Practice the art of savouring and self-appreciation
- Teach Mindful Self Compassion to others
Mindful Self Compassion Short Course for Health Care Professionals
Have you ever wondered if there was a skill you could use to help you sustain real compassionate care for patients in the face of competing demands like technology and documentation, time pressure, patient trauma and fatigue?
Burgeoning research is showing that self-compassion skills can be of particular benefit to health care professionals, allowing them to experience greater satisfaction in their caregiving roles, less stress, and more emotional resilience. The good news is that self-compassion skills are trainable and build your capacity to handle stressful challenges.
Schedule:
All sessions are delivered live-online via Zoom meeting for an interactive learning experience. The SCHC program week by week which can follow the format of a one hour class once per week or three two hour classes over three weeks.
Topic 1: What is Self-Compassion? Definition and Science of Self-Compassion
- Introduction: What is Self-Compassion? Misgivings and research about Self-Compassion.
Topic 2: Practicing Self-Compassion: Physiology and Practice of Self-Compassion with Mindfulness
- The physiology of self-compassion. Self-compassion break. Backdraft. Moments of mindfulness.
Topic 3: Discovering your Compassionate Voice: Motivating Ourselves with Fierce Self-Compassion
- Self-criticism and safety. Motivating ourselves with compassion.
Topic 4: Self-Compassion and Resilience
- Strategies for Meeting Difficult Emotions
Topic 5: Burnout: Self-Compassion for Caregiver Fatigue
- Stress and Burnout. Compassion with Equanimity.
Topic 6: Making it Count: Reconnecting to Core Values
- Core Values for Healthcare Professionals. Setting an intention. Practice going forward.
Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities (SCHC) is a 6-hr evidence-based healthcare adaptation of Mindful Self-Compassion, the empirically supported program of Dr. Kristin Neff at UT Austin and Dr. Chris Germer at Harvard Medical School. This training aims to improve wellbeing and personal resilience in healthcare professionals by teaching mindful self-compassion skills to deal with distressing emotional situations as they occur at work and at home.
In research published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, Neff.Knox.2020, the SCHC program was found to significantly:
- Decrease: Depression, Stress, Secondary Traumatic stress, and Burnout
- Increase: Self-compassion, Mindfulness, Compassion for others, Job satisfaction in healthcare professionals
As opposed to other self-care techniques, self-compassion practices can be used on the spot while at work with patients and colleagues.
As a participant of the program you can learn the following objectives:
- Be able to describe the key components of self-compassion and mindfulness and how they can be integrated into your role as a healthcare professional.
- Be able to explain the difference between empathy and compassion and utilize strategies to avoid emotional exhaustion.
- Be able to practice techniques to increase self-compassion at work and everyday life.
- Practice at least one skill from each session to care for yourself emotionally while caring for others who are experiencing difficulty.
A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life. Chris Germer, PhD
Additional Resources:
Recommended books, before, during, or after the course are:
Self Compassion: The Proven Power Of Being Kind To Yourself, by Kristen Neff
The Mindful Path To Self Compassion, by Christopher Germer
