Learn to manage difficulty with more ease and kindness
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion to enhance our emotional well-being.
For more details, visit our MSC page.

Timing
Tuesdays
Orientation: Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | 6pm – 7pm ET
Intake Interviews (via telephone): Tuesday, January 23, 2024 | 7pm – 9pm ET and Thursday, January 25, 2024 | 6pm – 9pm ET
Sessions 1-8: January 30, 2024 – March 26, 2024 | 6pm – 9pm ET
NOTE: March 5 is the 3-hour silent retreat during the regular session time

Helpful Insurance & Registration Info
Insurance receipts can be given from the following healthcare providers to registrants from the provinces listed below:

• Registered Social Worker with a Masters of Social Work (MSW RSW): Ontario

Please consult your extended health benefits provider to see if you have coverage for these clinical designations. For more information see About Insurance.

If you live outside the provinces listed above, you may only take this program for professional development reasons, as the facilitators are only licensed to practice in those specific regions. You will be required to complete a specific Professional Development Questionnaire and Informed Consent. If requested, you can receive a certificate of participation signed by the Centre for Mindfulness Studies upon completion of the program.

Online Format
Please note this will be a highly interactive web-based course. Your full attention and participation will be required.
For technical requirements, click here.

Fee: $625
Payment, cancellation and refund policies

Strongly recommended reading:
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength and Thrive by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer  (available on Amazon.ca and Guilford.com)

Recommended readings:
The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion by Christopher Germer, Ph.D.
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff, Ph.D.

What is Mindful Self-Compassion?

Mindful Self-Compassion MSC is an empirically supported program based on the groundbreaking research of Christopher Germer (PhD) and Kristin Neff (PhD).

MSC helps you turn towards yourself with kindness and understanding, become your own best friend and ally, and learn to build a warm-hearted response to your daily experience, especially during difficult times. The program will include practical components such as meditations, exercises, movement and group discussions that help you cultivate your inner resource of compassion.

This application of the Mindful Self-Compassion program addresses the needs of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as it offers an environment of belonging. We as members of the community (no allies, please) learn about and practice self-compassion together and begin to explore the two sides of self-compassion – tender and fierce – and to see how they apply to our lives as 2SLGBTQIA+ folks.

At the completion of this program, participants will begin to:

• Describe the theory and research supporting mindful self-compassion, in particular as they apply to 2SLGBTQIA+

• Develop and use self-compassion practices to alleviate minority stress

• Explore tender and fierce compassion and how they pertain to the lives of 2SLGBTQIA+ folks

• Discern and manage difficult situations and emotions, in particular shame and anger because these are predominant emotions with which we as 2SLGBTQIA+ folks struggle.

• Increase self-awareness and self-love

• Engage in topics of intimacy and consent so we strengthen our authenticity

• Befriend the inner critic and motivate ourselves with kindness to affect change in our lives as 2SLGBTQIA+ folks

• Feel belonging within a community of same-spirited people

Who created the MSC application for 2SLGBTQIA+?
Wiebke Pausch, Markus Bohlmann, and Armel Wraight have been invited by Chris Germer, the co-founder of the MSC program, to write an application for their community. They have been teaching the program to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community for several years and have integrated their teaching experience and feedback from participants into the application. Currently, the program is only taught by them.

Timing
Saturdays
Intake Interviews (via Zoom): Friday, March 8, 2024 | 10am – 1pm ET and Sunday, March 10, 2024 | 10am – 1pm ET
Sessions 1-8*: March 16, 2024 – May 25, 2024 | 10am – 12:30pm ET
NOTE: April 27th is the 3-hour silent retreat, 10am – 1pm ET
*skips March 30 and May 11
Please reserve June 1 in case we need to move a session

Online Format
Please note this will be a highly interactive web-based course. Your full attention and participation will be required.
For technical requirements, click here.

Fee: $625
Payment, cancellation and refund policies

Strongly recommended reading:
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength and Thrive by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer  (available on Amazon.ca and Guilford.com)

Recommended readings:
The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion by Christopher Germer, Ph.D.
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff, Ph.D.

Learn to manage difficulty with more ease and kindness
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion to enhance our emotional well-being.
For more details, visit our MSC page.

Timing
Sundays
Intake Interviews (via Zoom): Saturday, March 9, 2024 | 10am – 1pm ET and Sunday, March 10, 2024 | 10am – 1pm ET and Friday, March 15, 2024 | 10am – 1pm ET *reserved for late registrants
Sessions 1-8*: March 17, 2024 – May 26, 2024 | 10am – 1pm ET
NOTE: April 28th is the 3-hour silent retreat during the normal session time
*skips March 31 and May 12
Please reserve Sunday, June 02, in case we need to move a session.

Online Format
Please note this will be a highly interactive web-based course. Your full attention and participation will be required.
For technical requirements, click here.

Fee: $625
Payment, cancellation and refund policies

Strongly recommended reading:
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength and Thrive by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer  (available on Amazon.ca and Guilford.com)

Recommended readings:
The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion by Christopher Germer, Ph.D.
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff, Ph.D.