Mindful Self‐Compassion Core Skills Training

INTRODUCTION

This online workshop is an introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), an empirically supported training program based on the clinical perspective of Chris Germer, PhD and the pioneering research of Kristin Neff, PhD.

MSC is a resource-building program that makes participants more resilient. This 2-day, online workshop will introduce the MSC model and teach numerous skills. The workshop will give you simple, practical skills that you can use in everyday life for a range of common issues. This will be a fast-paced interactive work-shop that reproduces many of the features of an in-person workshop. You will not be listening to boring, endless lecture. Brief topic presentation will be interspersed with experiential exercises and skill practice along with small-group discussions, followed by large-group Q/A, before moving on to the next topic and skill. Participants will directly experience self-compassion and learn skills to evoke self-compassion in daily life. No previous experience with mindfulness or meditation is required to attend the program.

A large and rapidly increasing body of research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with emotional wellbeing, coping well with life challenges, lower levels of anxiety and depression, more healthy habits such as diet and exercise, and more satisfying, compassionate relationships.

MSC combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion to enhance our capacity for emotional wellbeing. Mindfulness is the first step—turning with loving awareness toward difficult experience (emotions, sensations, thoughts). Self-compassion comes next—bringing kind awareness to ourselves. Together, mindfulness and self-compassion comprise a state of warm, connected presence during difficult moments in our lives. 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. MSC is particularly useful for human service and social service professionals who deal with high workload and resource limitations which are inherently stressful.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After completing this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify and apply the three components of Mindful Self Compassion
• Practice with practical techniques to apply self-compassion in daily life
• Understand the science of self-compassion
• Neutralize and gradually reduce automatic self criticism and harsh self judgments
• Motivate yourself with kindness rather than criticism
• Use guided meditations to build your own self-compassion
• Handle difficult emotions with greater ease
• Manage caregiver fatigue
• Practice the savoring, gratitude and self-appreciation
• Teach simple self-compassion exercises to clients 

COURSE CONTENT

• Self-Compassion Theory
• Self-Compassion: Research
• Meditation: Affectionate Breathing
• Our Wandering Minds
• Present-Moment Awareness and Resistance
• How Mindfulness and Compassion Dance
• Introducing Backdraft
• Myths and Misgivings about Self-Compassion
• Dialogue with Your Inner Critic
• Research about Self-Criticism
• Why Do We Criticize Ourselves?
• Meditation: Loving-kindness for a Loved One
• Practicing with Phrases
• Meditation: Giving and Receiving Compassion
• Finding Hidden Value in Suffering
• Stages of Acceptance
• Meeting Difficult Emotions
• How to Meet Shame
• Empathic Resonance
• Caregiver Fatigue
• Self-Compassion in Clinical Practice
• Negativity Bias
• Cultivating Happiness: Savoring and Gratitude
• Self-appreciation
• MSC practice session: Thursday July 22, 8pm - 8.50pm (attending the follow-up practice session is optional and will not count toward workshop attendance.) 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This workshop is for social-service and human-services professionals who works as caregivers or those who work in social-service or human-service organizations with high levels of stress and demand. Professionals who occupy roles as caregivers will especially benefit from the training. No background with mindfulness or meditation is necessary to attend and benefit from the workshop.

AWARD

Participants who meet 80% class attendance will be awarded a Certificate of Accomplishment by the Academy of Human Development.

COURSE FEES

TRAINER

Dr Benjamin Weinstein, PhD, a clinical psychologist, has been based in Southeast Asia since 2003 working as a lecturer, clinician and facilitator.  He has extensive experience training mental health professionals across the region and is adept at applying western psychological models for Asian cultural contexts (his current former clients include the Thailand Department of Mental Health, numerous psychiatric hospitals across Thailand, as well as NGOs across Southeast Asia).   Dr. Weinstein currently an adjunct lecturer in Clinical Psychology at Chiang Mai University (Thailand).  Previously, he taught at the Lynch School of Education (Boston College, Massachusetts) and the Graduate School of Psychology (MS & Doctoral Programs, Assumption University, Bangkok).   Dr Weinstein specialises in psychotherapy for adults using ACT and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for trauma/PTSD, substance abuse, depression & anxiety disorders.   His wide clinical experiences include working as a consulting clinical psychologist across Asia-Pacific region since 2003, based at Psychological Services International (PSI) in Bangkok, providing psychotherapy for adults and clinical supervision for mental health professionals.

He first graduated with Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed by Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, majoring in Clinical Psychology. In 2001, he completed his doctoral training with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under APA Accredited Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. Since 1989 Dr Weinstein had won various academic honours and awards, such as AGPA 2002 Conference Scholarship awarded by American Group Psychotherapy Association; 1999-2000 UWM Dissertation Fellowship, by University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee Graduate School; Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Academic Year Fellowship from United States Department of Education. Dr Weinstein is versatile in research since 1995 , in conjunction with Veteran Affair Health Science Research and Development, Bedford, MA, and Bedford Veterans Affairs Medical Center, MA and others. He is a prolific writer as well from 1997, contributing either singly or partnering, for books, numerous professional presentation and journals.

Dr. Weinstein has been practicing Acceptance and Committment Therapy since 2004, when he first attended a training with Kelly Wilson, Phd.  He subsequently attended numerous training with Dr Wilson, Stephen Hayes and Kirk Strosahl (the orginators of ACT) and started an ACT peer-study group for clinicians in Bangkok.   In 2014, Dr. Weinstein started to provide training in ACT for other clinician and mental health professionals.  At the current time, he's very excited about the possibiliesites of integrating ACT with compassionate mind training.  Dr. Weinstein is current the first and only Trained Teacher of Mindful Self Compassion in Thailand.

APPLICATION and ENQUIRIES

Dave Goh

6593 5284

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