Fall Mindful Self-Compassion 8-Week Course

Mindful Self-Compassion 8-Week Course

taught by Elizabeth Lin, MD, MPH

Course Description

Mindful Self-Compassion or “MSC” is an empirically-supported 8-week training program developed by Drs. Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff. It helps participants cultivate the mental and emotional habit of mindful self-compassion by learning the process of infusing our moment-to-moment habit of experience with kindness, especially when we feel frustrated, hurt, inadequate, or overwhelmed.

Mindful self-compassion is the first step in emotional healing - being able to be-friend oneself, turn inwardly and acknowledge our difficult thoughts and feelings with a spirit of openness, curiosity and love, rather than self-judgement, or self-criticism.

Perhaps most importantly, cultivating self-compassion means that we honor and accept our humanness. Things will not always go the way we want them to. We often encounter fruestrations and losses. We make mistakes and bump up against our limitations, or fall short of our ideals. This is the human condition, a reality shared by us all. The more we open our heart to this reality instead of constantly fighting against it, the more we will be able to feel compassion for ourselves and all of our fellow humans.

Research has shown that self-compassion greatly enhances emotional well-being. It boost resilience, happiness, reduces anxiety and depression, and can even help maintain healthy lifestyle hapbits such as diet and exercise. Being both mindful and compassionate leads to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives.

Mindful self-compassion can be learned by anyone. It's the practice of recognizing moments of difficulty, and repeatedly evoking good will toward ourselves. It extends cultivation of that same desire beyond ourselves to all living beings to live happily and free from suffering.

In the weekly program, participants will learn through activities such as meditatio, experiential exercises, short presentations, group discussion and home practices. Learning is mostly experiential and includes current theory and research on self-compassion.

Pricing and Scholarships

$335 registration fee (includes a 55 page Mindful Self-Compassion booklet, developed by Drs. Christopher Germer & Kristin Neff)

If you are interested in financial assistance, CCFW offers two options:

• Income-based reduced fee of $250 available to individuals with an annual household income from all sources of $60,000 or less. For more details, please email mindfulness@uw.edu 
• A limited number of scholarships are available per course. To apply for a scholarship, please review criteria and complete the application form at https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/mindful/237140   Note: Scholarship applicants will be notified no later than 3 weeks prior to the first day of class (9/19/16). Applicants must wait to register for the course until a decision has been made in order to qualify. 

If you are a UW Affiliate and have department approval to pay using a UW budget transfer, you may register for a 25% discount ($251.25). Please add your department budget number at check out. 

Continuing Education Credits 

Pay $5 at registration to receive a Certificate of Completion for 24 credit hours for licensed psychologists, marriage and family therapists, mental health counselors, and social workers  in Washington State. Please note: the fee increases to $20 if you request credit hours or clock hours AFTER the course begins. 

Cancellation Policy

If you cancel up to two weeks prior to the event (9/26/16), you will receive a full refund less a $5 processing fee. If you cancel within two weeks leading up to the event, you will receive a partial refund of 50% minus a $5 processing fee. Refunds cannot be granted on or after the day the class begins.

Pay it Forward - Support the Scholarship Fund

If you are able to pay more for the course, we encourage you to consider donating to the Mindfulness Outreach Fund which allows CCFW to offer 50% and 100% scholarships to community members to aid in the cost of registration fees for mindfulness courses. Scholarships are awarded to increase accessibility of mindfulness and compassion training for individuals who have limited resources to obtain such training and to those who work with communities experiencing adversity. To make a donation to the scholarship fund, please visit http://giving.uw.edu/mindfulness.

Class Schedule

8 Week course: Mondays from 6:00pm - 8:30pm October 10 through November 28, 2016

Retreat: Sunday, November 20, 2016, from 12:30pm-4:30pm, CCFW

Monday, October 10, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm 

Monday, October 17, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm 

Monday, October 24, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm

Monday, October 31, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm

Monday, November 7, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm 

Monday, November 14, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm

Monday, November 21, 2016, 6:00pm - 8:30 pm

Sunday, Novermber 20, 2016, Retreat from 12:30pm-4:30pm 

Monday, November 28, 2016. 6:00pm - 8:30 pm

About the Instructor

Elizabeth H. B. Lin, MD, MPH.  Dr. Lin, a family medicine physician, is a clinical professor at the School of Medicine, University of Washington and an affiliate scientific investigator at the Group Health Research Institute. As a physician researcher, Dr. Lin is well-known for research on improving mind-body health in general medical settings. Elizabeth has had a daily meditation practice for more than 20 years.  She has trained extensively with leaders in mindfulness programs, and began teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction 4 years ago. Dr. Lin recently trained with Drs. Chris Germer and Kristen Neff, to become a teacher in Mindful Self-Compassion. 

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