Cultivating Compassion

Understand your mind and emotions, manage stress and self-criticism, and discover practical ways to cultivate greater compassion. Have you ever found yourself overthinking, worrying, being hard on yourself or wondering why your mind responds the way it does? This fully evidenced course explores how our brain, body and emotions influence the way we relate to ourselves, other people and life’s challenges. You will learn practical ways to regulate stress, work with difficult emotions and respond with greater understanding and compassion. The course is open to anyone and is particularly valuable for people working in education, healthcare, mental health, social care, public services and other roles involving the support of others. For professionals, it offers a framework for understanding emotional responses, communication and how we can model helpful ways of responding to difficult situations. Compassion is more than kindness. It involves the courage to recognise difficulty and the wisdom and commitment to respond in ways that genuinely help. What you will explore • our threat, drive and soothing systems • regulating stress and difficult emotions • developing a more supportive inner voice • working with self criticism • understanding motives, behaviour and communication • compassion for ourselves, for others and from others • supporting relationships and organisational wellbeing Compassionate Mind Training is rooted in the work of Professor Paul Gilbert, who developed Compassion Focused Therapy and founded the Compassionate Mind Foundation. This six module programme was developed by Professor Frances Maratos at the University of Derby in collaboration with Professor Gilbert. It has been trialled with more than 700 educators and staff in emotionally demanding roles. Research has found improvements in stress, emotional regulation, self criticism, job satisfaction, work life balance and compassion towards ourselves and others. Course format 6 sessions of 90 minutes Maximum of 12 participants Certificate of completion provided from the University of Derby Please note: No session on Tuesday 27 October (Half term) If you are interested in offering the programme to a team or organisation please get in touch.