Live Online with
Chris Germer, PhD and Kristin Neff, PhD
About MSC Core Skills Workshop
The MSC program has been taught to over 250,000 people around the world by our global community of teachers. This online workshop is taught by the developers of the MSC program, Chris Germer and Kristin Neff, and assisted by a team of mentors and affinity group leaders to provide a more personalized experience. It contains the core concepts and practices from the 8-week MSC program and occurs over 4 sessions, 3 hours each. It is an ideal introduction to MSC for people who want to start integrating self-compassion into their personal and professional lives.
Thursday, January 25, Saturday, January 27, Thursday, February 1, Saturday, February 3
9am-12pm PT
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What you will Learn
- Practice self-compassion in daily life
- Understand the evidence-based benefits of self-compassion
- Motivate yourself with kindness rather than criticism
- Handle difficult emotions with greater ease
- Manage caregiver fatigue
- Increase your happiness with savoring and self-appreciation
- Teach simple self-compassion practices to others
Please Note: This workshop contains the highlights of the MSC training but is not the entire course and therefore does not fulfill the pre-requisite for attending teacher training or participating in other CMSC programs for MSC graduates (with the exception of the Fierce Self-Compassion Course and workshops for which Core Skills is considered a pre-requisite).
About the Course
This workshop is completely live and online.
Program activities include short talks, meditation, experiential exercises, group discussion, and home practices. The goal is for participants to directly experience self-compassion and learn practices that evoke self-compassion in daily life.
No previous experience with mindfulness or meditation is required to attend this workshop.
Numerous four-person breakout groups provide an opportunity for participants to connect and share their direct experience of the practices with others.
MSC is a resource-building program rather than a retreat.
In that regard, difficult emotions are likely to emerge as we give ourselves the kindness that we need. Participants are asked to attend to their own safety and wellbeing, and there will be trained MSC teachers ready to support participants as we proceed together through the course. We are committed to making the journey safe, interesting and enjoyable for everyone.
**Please be aware that this workshop will be video-recorded by CMSC and made available (and not downloadable) only to participants in the workshop for a period of four weeks after the conclusion of the program. You will be asked to acknowledge and accept this on the registration form.
About the Instructors
Kristin Neff
Kristin Neff is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion more than twenty years ago.
She has been recognized as one of the most influential researchers in psychology worldwide. She is author of the bestselling book Self-Compassion and her latest book is Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their
Power, and Thrive. Along with her colleague Chris Germer, she developed the empirically-supported Mindful Self-Compassion program and founded the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. They co-wrote the best-selling The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook. For more info go to self-compassion.org.
Christopher Germer
Christopher Germer, Ph.D., is a co-developer of the MSC program and a co-founder of the Center for MSC. He is the author of the popular book, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, and co-author (with Kristin Neff) of the professional text, Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program, and a workbook, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook. Chris is an MSC Teacher Trainer and leads MSC intensives and workshops around the world.
Chris is also a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. Chris has been integrating the principles and practices of meditation into psychotherapy since 1978.
He has co-edited two influential volumes — Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy — and he is a founding faculty member of both the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy and the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School. Chris maintains a small private practice in Arlington, Massachusetts, USA, specializing in mindfulness and compassion-based psychotherapy.
Included with Workshop Registration:
Empower yourself and optimize learning by attending additional interactive practice sessions!
A premium aspect of this Core Skills training is the unique opportunity to engage in virtual practice group sessions while going through the Core Skills program. Most trainings do not include this kind of opportunity. These extra practice sessions are designed to help you maximize learning and get a jump start on integrating Mindful Self-Compassion into your life.
MSC Workshop Objectives:
At the completion of this activity, participants will:
- Identify the three key components of self-compassion
- Describe key research that supports the benefits of self-compassion
- Apply techniques to increase self-compassion in everyday life
- Use self-compassion to alleviate caregiver burnout
- Implement self-compassion practice to motivate behavior change
- Develop and apply self-compassion practices to respond to feelings of failure or inadequacy with self-kindness
- Assess and manage difficult situations and emotions with greater moment-to-moment acceptance
Self-Compassion Mentoring Sessions (optional)
Engage with highly trained and experienced Self-Compassion Mentors for on-the-spot learning and application of Self-Compassion skills and teachings.
Each Self-Compassion Mentor is a highly trained MSC teacher, who has achieved the highest level of training in Mindful Self-Compassion.
- Clarify what you are learning
- Apply skills immediately in real time
- Answers to your questions
- Address difficulties
- Deepen your understanding of Self-Compassion
- Review, personalize and apply practices
- Optimize learning in community through Common Humanity
Before the course begins you will be notified about dates and times of mentor sessions, attendance is optional.
Affinity Groups (optional)
A group of Core Skills training participants who self-identify with a particular social-cultural identity (i.e. race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, social class, etc.). With this shared identity they come together to explore the intersection of their diverse experiences in relation to learning and practicing Mindful Self-Compassion. The intention is to provide a safe space in which participants from underrepresented populations have an opportunity to create community and discuss the course experiences and learning with others who share the same social-cultural identity. This can afford participants from the numerical minority greater accessibility to a supportive space for the cultivation of social-cultural identity affirmation, inclusiveness and belonging.
- Black, Indigenous and People of Color: BIPOC (for people who have felt stigma, bias or oppression who are from underrepresented racial identities)
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Genderqueer, +Plus: LGBTQIAP2S+ (no allies please) (sexual orientation, gender identity, nonbinary/gender expansion & expression, intersex and two-spirit)
Before the course begins you will be notified about dates and times of affinity group sessions, attendance is optional.
Scholarships
There are a limited number of scholarships available for this program. CMSC is especially committed to providing access to participants of color and members of other underserved groups and we prioritize scholarship applications of these individuals. Please click here to fill out our scholarship application
Continuing Education Credits Policy
Fees for CE credits: $55 USD (Submit when registering)
In order to receive CE credits you must attend the whole course. Credit will not be given for partial attendance. There is also an online evaluation which must be filled-out after the workshop concludes. CE Certificates will be emailed 2-3 weeks after the course.
If you have any questions about CEs, please email [email protected]
- Psychologists:
- This course offers 11.0 CE credit. CE Credit for this program is provided by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. The UCSD Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UCSD Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- California licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, LCSWs:
- 11.0 CE Credit may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. CE Credit for this program is provided by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. For those licensed outside California, please check with your local licensing board to determine if CE Credit is accepted.
- Nurses
- UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16351, for 13.0 contact hours. Please check with your local board to see if California BRN contact hours are applicable.
Cancellation Policy
Please review our refund policy here.
