Mindfulness & Resilience
Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities
This course has been cancelled.
Have you ever wondered if there was a skill you could use to help you sustain real compassionate care for patients in the face of competing demands like technology and documentation, time pressure, patient trauma and fatigue? Burgeoning research is showing that self-compassion skills can be of particular benefit to health care professionals, allowing them to experience greater satisfaction in their caregiving roles, less stress, and more emotional resilience. The good news is that self-compassion skills are trainable and build your capacity to handle stressful challenges.
📅September 28th - November 12th, 2022
💻 Delivered Virtually
Main SessionsSeptember 28th, 2022, 6-7:30pm EDTOctober 5th, 2022, 6-7:30pm EDTOctober 12th, 2022, 6-7:30pm EDTOctober 19th, 2022, 6-7:30pm EDTOctober 26th, 2022, 6-7:30pm EDTNovember 2nd, 2022, 6-7:30pm EDT
RetreatNovember 12th, 2022, from 9am-12pm EST
Questions? Contact Us
Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities (SCHC) is a 9-hr evidence-based healthcare adaptation of Mindful Self-Compassion, the empirically supported program of Dr. Kristin Neff at UT Austin and Dr. Chris Germer at Harvard Medical School. This brief training aims to improve wellbeing and personal resilience in healthcare professionals by teaching mindful self-compassion skills to deal with distressing emotional situations as they occur at work and at home.
In research conducted in 2019, the SCHC program was found to significantly decrease depression, stress, secondary traumatic stress and burnout, and to increase self-compassion, mindfulness, compassion for others, and job satisfaction in healthcare professionals.
Each ninety minute session will include didactic material, discussion, self compassion practices, and Q&A.
Learning Objectives
As opposed to other self-care techniques, self-compassion practices can be used on the spot while at work with patients and colleagues. As a participant of the program, you can learn tools to use throughout the day to:
• Care for yourself while caring for others.
• Be able to listen with compassion.
• Handle difficult emotions with greater ease.
• Reconnect to the values that give your life and work meaning.
Planning Member
Ken Burgess
Ken Burgess is a semi-retired family, occupational, and emergency physician. He has been on faculty since 1980, teaching medical students and residents. He helped found the first free –standing occupational health clinic in Canada in 1981. He was a leader in the Hamilton Family Health Team and the Ontario Association of Family Health teams. He has had a meditation practice for about twenty five years, and has attended numerous meditation retreats and mindfulness courses; Ken teaches mindfulness and, in particular, the neuroscience of mindfulness. He has completed stage one of Unified Mindfulness meditation teacher training. Since 2014 Ken has been a co-chair of the Program for Faculty Development’s Discovering Resilience Leadership Team, which has run mindfulness courses and workshops.
Facilitator
Barbara Smith
Barbara is a Gestalt Therapist and Registered Psychotherapist in private practice for 3 decades. She is retired from the Hamilton Family Health Team where she worked as a mental health counsellor for 10+ years. Barbara has been involved in contemplative studies for over four decades and has extensive experience in Mindfulness. She has trained in MBSR, DRAM, and Mindful Communication. She is a trained Mindful Self Compassion Teacher through the CMSC and was trained by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer. She studied with Michael Stone, Pema Chodron, Ron Siegel and Thich Nhat Hanh. Barbara has extensive professional experience as a group leader in several modalities. She presently teaches Mindful Communication and MindfulSelf Compassion courses.
Facilitator
Valerie Spironello
Valerie is a social worker with over 40 years of experience including working in health care, child welfare, and family violence. She has a private practice offering counselling, presentations, and workshops/ courses to support others in living well (choosewellness.ca). She has a special interest in care-giver fatigue and the impact of working as a helper. Valerie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. She is a mindfulness teacher trained in: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction; Mindful Self-Compassion; Mindful Communication; Transformative Mindfulness and Mindfulness Meditation in Clinical Practice. Valerie has attended, as well as co-led, numerous meditation courses/retreats, within a variety of sectors and has a long standing personal meditation practice. Her wish is to support others in learning about this life-changing practice.
Cancellation Policy: McMaster University, Program for Faculty Development, reserves the right to cancel a course due to insufficient registration or any circumstances beyond our control. Cancellations received prior to September 22nd, 2022 will be refunded minus a 25% administrative fee. No refunds will be issued for cancellations received after this date.