Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer are pioneers in the scientific development of self-compassion. They have brought their respective experience together in the empirically-supported Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program. This Core Skills Workshop allows an opportunity for people to immerse themselves in some of the key practices and exercises of the full 8-week program in an intensive 2-day format.
Self-compassion: What is It?
Self-compassion is the emotional attitude of bringing kindness to ourselves when things go wrong in our lives. Most of us easily treat our friends and loved ones with warmth, tenderness and patience when they struggle, fall short or fail at times in their lives, but we have a much harder time bringing those same qualities of compassion to our own selves in the same situations. Self-compassion is directed to the one who is suffering, and encourages us to consider the fundamental question of “What do I need?” By recognizing that difficulty is here (mindfulness), that these things are a part of every human life (common humanity), and connecting with our natural capacity for kindness toward suffering (self-kindness), we can develop healthy and enduring patterns of relating to all the circumstances of life.
Self-compassion: How to Learn It
Self-compassion can be learned by anyone, even those who didn’t receive enough affection in childhood or who find it embarrassing to be kind to oneself. It’s a courageous mental attitude that stands up to harm, including the discomfort that we unwittingly inflict on ourselves through self-criticism, self-isolation, and self-rumination when things go wrong. Self-compassion provides emotional strength and resilience, allowing us to admit our shortcomings, forgive ourselves, and respond to ourselves and others with care and respect, and be fully human.
MSC Core Skills Objectives:
At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
Program activities include talks, meditation, experiential exercises, and group discussion. Participants will 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 the program.
Approximate Course Times:
Friday and Saturday, April 5 & 6, 2019
9:00 am – 5:00 pm both days
Please plan to arrive at 8:15 am for check-in and coffee.
Coffee, tea and snacks included. Lunch is not included.
Venue Location:
Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 5K3
Meeting Hall: Joseph & Rosalie Segal Centre
Main Floor, Room # 1400-1430
Continuing Education and Scholarships:
For participants who are licensed in the United States we offer the following Continuing Education certifications. Please check with the Canadian Boards to see if they would be applicable in Canada.
Psychologists: Continuing Education 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. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course offers 11.0 hours of credit.
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.
Social Workers: TBD
Fees for CE credits: $30 USD (Submit when registering)
In order to receive CE credits you must attend the whole course. Credit will not be given for partial attendance. Please bring your License number as you will be required to sign-in/out daily on a CE attendance list. There will also be an online evaluation to fill-out which will be emailed to you a few days after the workshop. CE Certificates will be emailed 4-6 weeks after the course.
There are a limited amount of Scholarships for $77 USD /approx $100 CAD and Student Discounts available ($38.50 USD/approx $50 CAD). If you are interested in receiving more information, please contact gail@centerformsc.org
Recommended reading:
Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
Christopher Germer, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion
Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive
Program fees:
The tuition fees for the course are payable to the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion in USD. (As conversion rates can change, the rates posted below for CAD are approximate.)
Earlybird tuition (by February 5, 2019): $230.50 USD/$300 CAD
Standard tuition (from February 5, 2019): $269.00/$350 CAD
Student Discounts are available for $38.50 USD/approx $50 CAD off the the tuition fee. Must be a full-time student with ID. IDs will be checked at the door. Please contact gail@centerformsc.org to apply.
Group Discounts are available for groups of 5 or more. ($38.50 USD/approx $50 CAD per person off the fee.) Please contact gail@centerformsc.org for more information.
Cancellation policy:
Your fee will be refunded if we are notified by March 4, 2019, that you need to cancel your registration.
A $38.50 USD/approx $50 CAD service fee will be retained if you cancel between March 5 and March 21, 2019.
No refunds are available after March 21, 2019, except on compassionate grounds.
In the unlikely event that the workshop is canceled, Center for Mindful Self-Compassion is responsible only for a full refund of the registration fee and not for transportation, hotel accommodations or any miscellaneous fees.
Teachers
Christopher Germer is a co-founder of CMSC and co-developer of MSC. He is a clinical psychologist in private practice, specializing in mindfulness- and compassion-based treatment. He has been integrating the principles and practices of meditation into psychotherapy since 1978. He is a lecturer on psychiatry, part-time, at Harvard Medical School, and a founding faculty member of both the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy and the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance. Chris has co-edited two influential volumes –Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy – and is author of the popular book The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions. Chris is an MSC teacher trainer, and leads MSC intensives and workshops around the world.
Dr. Germer currently divides his time evenly between clinical practice and teaching/writing. He is a co-director of the annual Harvard Medical School “Meditation and Psychotherapy” conference. Dr. Germer is a committed student of insight meditation (vipassana) through the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. His main clinical interest is the need for self-compassion, in addition to mindfulness, to manage intense and difficult emotions. Toward that end, Dr. Germer and Dr. Kristin Neff (University of Texas) have co-developed the 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion program which is currently being taught around the world.
Kristin Neff, Ph.D. is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion, being the first one to operationally define and measure the construct over a decade ago. In addition to her pioneering research into self-compassion, she has developed an eight-week program to teach self-compassion skills in daily life, co-created with her colleague Dr. Chris Germer, called Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC). Her book, Self-Compassion, was published by William Morrow in April, 2011.
