Self-compassion workshop

An opportunity to explore a range of compassion-based strategies for building and maintaining emotional resilience.

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change". - Carl Rogers

Recent research into the effectiveness of mindfulness-based approaches to counselling and psychotherapy has found self-compassion to be linked to an enhanced sense of well-being, an improved ability to cope with the emotional set-backs and challenges of life and a greater degree of empathy and compassion – both for oneself and others. It has also been found to help reduce a number of symptoms associated with anxiety and depression.

Being self-compassionate is about creating a caring and non-judgemental attitude towards yourself, learning how to empathise with your own personal hurts, struggles and limitations, and allowing yourself to view these experiences in a kind and non-critical way.

"Self-compassion involves acting the same way towards yourself when you are having a difficult time, fail, or notice something you don’t like about yourself. Instead of just ignoring your pain with a “stiff upper lip” mentality, you stop to tell yourself “this is really difficult right now,” how can I comfort and care for myself in this moment?" - Kristin Neff (Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself)

The core components

Based on the traditional Buddhist metta (loving kindness) principle, self-compassion is a skill that can be learned by anyone and comprises of three core components:

Self-kindness - being caring and non-judgemental towards oneself.
Sharing in a sense of common humanity - feeling connected to others.
Mindfulness - being aware of uncomfortable feelings and experiences without suppressing or exaggerating the significance of them.

Led by experienced therapist and training facilitator Sharon Hinsull, this one-day workshop will look at a variety of compassion-based interventions aimed at building and maintaining emotional resilience. During the course of the day participants will have the chance to take part in a series of individual and group-based activities and become acquainted with a range of helpful strategies for integrating self-compassion into day-to-day life.

This workshop is designed to facilitate the use of compassion-based methods, either for one's own personal development, or, for those attending for professional reasons, for integration into therapeutic practice.

The course is recommended for anyone with an interest in exploring the theory and practice of self-compassion, and may be of particular interest to those involved in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy, life coaching, mental health, mentoring, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, nursing and palliative care, supporting older adults and health and social care.

All delegates will receive a Certificate of Attendance and accompanying workshop hand-outs.