Interested in how to integrate self-compassion into your clinical work?

Our formal training program SCIP — Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy for psychotherapists will establish common ground across other modalities and approaches.

Why Self-Compassion in Psychotherapy? Chris Germer, PhD.

Our Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy (SCIP) Program is created specifically for psychotherapists who see the importance of self-compassion for mental health & wellbeing and want to integrate self-compassion more deeply into their own way of practicing, and…

  • have a foundation in mindfulness- and acceptance-based treatment and would like to add another dimension – self-compassion – to their practice.
  • wish to use their personal mindfulness and compassion practice as a foundation for effective therapeutic relationships and interventions.
  • benefitted from the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program and would like to bring the principles and practices of MSC into how they treat clients.
  • are seeking a continuing education experience that is welcoming to all identities and intersections of identity.

… or therapists who wish to actualize their potential in a community of colleagues and expert teachers.

SCIP 2025 aims to simplify the program, making it more accessible and efficient while retaining it’s comprehensive and experiential learning approach. The new structure proposes a condensed format, moving from a 26-week to a 12-week core program followed by a 10-week practicum focused on case consultation and content modules. 


Becoming a Self-Compassion Informed Therapist

Step 1: SCIP Learning Cohort
The Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy Training course,
12-Week Live Online format. SCIP-LC
Participants who complete this Step are considered 
Practicing Self-Compassion Therapists

Step 2: SCIP Consultations
10-Week Small Group Consultations
Participants who complete this Step will receive a completion certificate in 
Self-Compassion Informed Psychotherapist (SCIP)

Step 1 and 2

  • STEP 1: SCIP Learning Cohort

    Duration / Format: SCIP- Live Online – 12 Weeks/3 hours per week


    Cost:
    $2595 USD – Early-bird rate (before December 31, 2024)
    $2895 USD – Standard Fee
    $3195 USD – “Lend a Hand” Fee for those with the means to support other participant costs


    SUMMARY

    The Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy (SCIP) Step one addresses a crucial need within the therapeutic community. It identifies a gap in the integration of self-compassion practices into psychotherapy. The program is a response to the growing acknowledgment among psychotherapists of the importance of self-compassion for mental health and wellbeing. It aims to equip therapists who have benefited from Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) practices with the skills to incorporate these principles into their clinical work. Furthermore, it seeks to support clinicians in using their personal mindfulness and compassion practices as a foundation for fostering effective therapeutic relationships and interventions. This initiative is also driven by the desire to offer a continuing education experience that is inclusive and welcoming to all identities and intersections of identity, addressing the call for greater diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in therapeutic practices.

    • 12 weekly sessions, 3 hours each
    • Total contact time: 36 hours
    • CEU credits are available

  • STEP 2: SCIP Consultations

    Duration / Format: Live Online – 10 Weeks/2  hours a week with 16 participants/group


    Cost: 
    $1295 Early Bird rate
    $1495 Standard Rate


    SUMMARY

    SCIP Consultation creates an opportunity for smaller groups to discuss, practice and lead self-compassion skills around the specific SCIP modules. Skills would include inquiry, leading brief body-based mindfulness practices, developing specific SC interventions tailored to clients’ needs, presenting clinical cases for peer review, fish bowls where participants role play being a therapist and receive feedback. Time would be given to reflect on content from modules and integrate into participants’ professional practice.

    Modules discussed include: Anxiety, Trauma, Couples, Borderline PD, Addictions, Eating Disorders, Depression, Internal Family Systems, Teens, Youth and Racial and Social Justice

    • 10 weekly sessions, 2  hours each
    • Total contact time: 20  hours

Why Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy?

Over the past 16 years, research has established that self-compassion is a key ingredient in mental health and psychological wellbeing.

Compassion-based psychotherapy has also been shown to alleviate a wide range of psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance dependency. Self-compassion also appears to be an underlying mechanism by which other kinds of therapy seem to work. As a result, psychotherapists and other healthcare professionals are eager to integrate self-compassion more fully into their clinical work.

Do you recognize yourself…

You’re working very hard, many hours, not feeling compensated enough, and not feeling a specialty in your role as a psychotherapist? Dealing daily with multi-tasking, not receiving enough external validation, yet still, depending on it to feel good about yourself and your work?

Are you needing support in your household, and lacking the bandwidth to be with your kids? Craving intimate moments with your significant other. Do you have the strong feeling that you’re not delivering the best for your clients, not taking the time to nurture yourself professionally, not able to give back to your community because you just don’t know where you’re going to find the time or energy?

The Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy (SCIP) Program is designed and hosted by the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.

  • The Self-Compassion In Psychotherapy (SCIP) Program addresses a crucial need within the therapeutic community. It identifies a gap in the integration of self-compassion practices into psychotherapy. The program is a response to the growing acknowledgment among psychotherapists of the importance of self-compassion for mental health and wellbeing. It aims to equip therapists who have benefited from Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) practices with the skills to incorporate these principles into their clinical work. Furthermore, it seeks to support clinicians in using their personal mindfulness and compassion practices as a foundation for fostering effective therapeutic relationships and interventions. This initiative is also driven by the desire to offer a continuing education experience that is inclusive and welcoming to all identities and intersections of identity, addressing the call for greater diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in therapeutic practices.

  • The SCIP program is specifically designed for:

    • Psychotherapists of all persuasions who recognize the significance of self-compassion in mental health and wish to deeply integrate it into their practice.
    • Therapists who have benefited from MSC practice and aim to incorporate MSC principles and practices into their client treatments.
    • Clinicians seeking to base their therapeutic relationships and interventions on their personal mindfulness and compassion practices.
    • Therapists in search of a continuing education experience that is inclusive and accommodating to all identities and intersections thereof.

Supportive online platform for learning and engagement.

The CMSC Learning Platform will serve as the program “home” to access recordings, engage in ongoing online discussions facilitated by program faculty around specific topic areas, and to join in affinity groups around specific identities for additional support.

The SCIP Faculty.

We created and are hosting this program with leading experts in the field worldwide, including our certified self-compassion senior teachers from The Center of Mindful Self-Compassion. The lead facilitators for our Fall 2024 Cohorts are:
• Galia Tyano Ronen
• Jorge C. Armesto
• Shari Geller
• Anna Friis

Learn More About SCIP Experts

SCIP Program Topics Will Include:

  • How to embody, speak and apply mindfulness and self-compassion with patients
  • The lived experience as the gateway to freedom
  • What’s appropriate and not appropriate for self-compassion interventions. Is self-compassion ever ‘wrong’ as a suggested modality? Clinical examples of all types
  • Discerning the self-compassion tools and view to be used in the psychotherapies
  • Neuroscientific and clinical research in self-compassion
  • Clinical applications across psychotherapeutic modalities & populations, including: depression; anxiety; eating disorders; psychophysiological disorders; CFT; trauma-sensitive mindfulness; shame; addictions and recovery; children and teens; parenting; diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
  • The practice of ethical conduct in clinical practice and the role of ethical conduct in patient well-being
  • Teaching self-compassion practices to clients
  • Risks and adverse effects of self-compassion practice
  • Psychotherapy as a relational mindfulness practice

Program Prerequisites

  • Have attended the full Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program (8 Week, 10 week LOMSC or 5-Day Intensive format, in-person or online prior to starting the program). In order to establish a firm foundation of immersion in self-compassion and personal practice, this is a firm requirement for entry into the Certification program. If you need to find an open 10 Week LOMSC you can find those here.


    Be a licensed or supervised mental health professional with active liability insurance.     Psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, licensed mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, are invited to apply, as are students enrolled in a graduate psychotherapy training program. Other professionals will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

  • Participants are expected to commit themselves to daily meditation practice for the duration of the course. This is essential for the understanding of how meditation practice works and its application in psychotherapy and caregiving. This commitment will be supported by ongoing instruction and through regular consultation with experienced MSC teachers.


    All sessions will be recorded for those who are unable to attend in real-time, although attendance will be kept at the live sessions and all program participants must attend 80% of the sessions to formally complete the course and receive Continuing Education credit.

SCIP Offerings Open for Registration

These offerings require pre-approval for purchase, if you have received approval please purchase below.