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May 30th & 31st, In Person MSC Core Skills Workshop with Chris Germer and Kristin Neff

May 30th & 31st, In Person MSC Core Skills Workshop with Chris Germer and Kristin Neff

Registration fee $495; Supporter fee $595 (supports scholarships)
$495.00 USD
$495.00 USD
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In-Person MSC Core Skills Training - Los Angeles, CA

Join Chris Germer and Kristin Neff for this unique in person opportunity this May!

In-Person MSC Core Skills Workshop with Chris Germer and Kristin Neff

Friday, May 30, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Saturday, May 31, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Presbyterian Church, 1220 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA
(This is a secular event)

For the first time in three years, MSC founders Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Chris Germer are offering a rare in-person Core Skills Workshop! This unique opportunity allows participants to experience their guidance firsthand in a live setting. The MSC Core Skills workshop, is designed for individuals who want to integrate self-compassion into their personal lives and professional work. It is open to the general public and provides a total of 12 hours of training over two days.

When we fail, make mistakes, or we’re faced with life challenges, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, inadequate, and disconnected from ourselves and others. In these moments, self-compassion, especially when practiced in community, can serve as a powerful tool for grounding, healing, and connection. 

By offering ourselves the same kindness, understanding, and care that we would a close friend, we can navigate the imperfection of life with greater self-acceptance, resilience and clarity. Practicing self-compassion in community helps us reconnect with our inner and collective wisdom, fostering a sense of inner peace and strength.

Dr. Neff and Dr. Germer are pioneers who created the empirically-supported Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, which teaches the skills needed to cultivate self-compassion and enhance emotional well-being.

What You’ll Learn:

MSC helps you develop self-compassion through three core elements:

  • Mindfulness – Turning toward difficult emotions, sensations, and thoughts with awareness and an open mind.
  • Common Humanity – Recognizing that feelings of inadequacy and disappointment are universal and that suffering is part of the shared human experience.
  • Self-Kindness – Offering warmth and understanding to ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate.

Benefits of Self-Compassion:

Research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with:

  • Greater emotional well-being
  • Enhanced ability to cope with life challenges
  • Lower levels of anxiety and depression
  • Healthier habits such as good nutrition and exercise
  • More satisfying and compassionate relationships

Self-compassion not only helps us comfort, soothe, and validate ourselves but also empowers us to protect, provide, and motivate ourselves toward achieving our goals.

This workshop is an empowering introduction for those new to self-compassion and a valuable refresher for MSC graduates looking to deepen their practice.

Missed use of coupon codes or other credits can not be refunded after purchase, please review our full refund guidelines here.

Scholarships are available, if you would like to apply please do so here.

Please Note: This is an in person event, accommodations are not included in the price. A break for lunch is provided each day for participants to have time to leave the event space and purchase lunch at local businesses.

Thank you to our Co-Founders Kristin Neff and Chris Germer for donating their time to lead this valuable experience.

View full details

Workshop Details

  • Overview

    Workshop Presented By Kristin Neff and Chris Germer

    This workshop is an opportunity to immerse yourself in some of the key practices and exercises of the full 8-week MSC program in an intensive online format. The course is intended for mental health and medical professionals as well as the general population.

    MSC teaches the skill of self-compassion to enhance our capacity for emotional wellbeing. Mindfulness is the first step—turning toward difficult experience (emotions, sensations, thoughts). Self-kindness comes next—bringing care and concern to ourselves. Finally we honor our shared humanity in the experience of imperfection. Taken together, the elements of self-compassion comprise a state of warm, connected presence during difficult moments in our lives.

    Burgeoning research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with emotional wellbeing, coping with life challenges, lower levels of anxiety and depression, healthy habits such as diet and exercise, and more satisfying, compassionate relationships. Self-compassion includes the capacity to comfort, soothe and validate ourselves, but also to protect and provide for ourselves, and to motivate ourselves to achieve our goals. Fortunately, anyone can learn self-compassion.

    These events are intended to raise awareness of Mindful Self-Compassion and, in many cases, the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion.

  • MSC Core Skills Objectives:

    At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

    • Identify the three key components of self-compassion
    • Describe key research that supports the benefits of self-compassion
    • Practice techniques to increase self-compassion in everyday life
    • Use self-compassion to alleviate caregiver burnout
    • Motivate themselves with encouragement rather than self-criticism
    • Relate to difficult emotions with greater moment-to-moment acceptance
    • Respond to feelings of failure or inadequacy with self-kindness
    • Begin to transform difficult relationships, old and new, through self-validation
    • Practice the art of savoring and self-appreciation
    • Integrate core mindfulness and self-compassion exercises into daily life
    • Teach simple self-compassion practices to patients, students, or clients

    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.

    Refunds
    For any refund requests, questions regarding the course or the registration process, please fill out the refund form here.

  • Sponsors

    This workshop is co-sponsored by the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion and InsightLA, two organizations dedicated to spreading the transformative power of self-compassion.

About the Instructors

Kristin Neff, CMSC Co-Founder

Kristin Neff 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, CMSC Co-Founder

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.

Location

First Presbyterian Church
1220 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Directions

FAQs & Important Information

What will I learn in this course?

- 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.

If I'm unable to attend, can I request a refund?

Our entire Refund Policy is located here: https://centerformsc.org/cmsc-policies/

We encourage you to review the Refund Policy in its entirety. Below is important information that we would like you to be aware of before choosing to make a financial commitment with us.

All refund requests must be made via the refund request form at the link above.


Refunds must meet specific terms of eligibility to include the reason for requesting a refund.
Our Refund Policy (at the link above) includes details on when we are able and are not able to issue a full refund.


All refund request forms are reviewed by a small team of our staff. We ask for your patience and understanding when requesting a refund.


If you have any questions after reviewing our Refund Policy, feel free to reach out to us at hello@centerformsc.org

Important Info: Mindful Self-Compassion is not a substitute for Therapy

Our programs are designed to teach participants the tools needed to develop and cultivate a mindfulness and self-compassion practice.

It is not a substitute for mental health care, personal therapy or medical treatment.


Personal safety and emotional wellbeing are the foundation of self-compassion training and you are primarily responsible for your own safety.

Teachers and facilitators are not expected or able to provide medical and/or psychological care. Course experiences may bring up challenging memories or feelings.

If you have a history with a serious mental health condition or other concerns you think may impact your ability to take this course, please contact CMSC or your healthcare professional to determine if this course is right for you. Your personal contact information may be used in the event the teacher or facilitator reasonably determines a need to call emergency services on your behalf.

Important Info: Productive Participation in Courses & Workshops

Participation is at the discretion of the teachers and facilitators at all times.

If, in the opinion of the teachers and facilitators, you are unable to participate productively and appropriately in the course or workshop you have registered for, you may be asked to discontinue.

Decisions of removal are to ensure CMSC provides the safest space possible for our participants and teachers. Please see our refund policy regarding necessary participant removal.

Continuing Education Credit Information

Fees for CE credit: $45  *Must attend all classes live to receive credits.

Please see the dropdown box, below the course title, above the add to cart button to purchase.

For those licensed outside California, please check with your local licensing board to determine if CE credit is accepted.

Feel free to email hello@centerformsc.org for any follow up CEU/CME questions.

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.

California licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, LCSWs: 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. 11.0 contact hours may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.For those licensed outside California, please check with your local licensing board to determine if APA accreditation meets their requirements.


Nurses: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16351, for 13.0 contact hours.