Mastering Compassion Focused Practice from The Inside Out: An Experiential Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind Training
Presented in English, also available for session attendees (in Buenos Aires) via simultaneous AI (artificial intelligence) translation software in Spanish and Portuguese. More details available here.
Tuesday, 23 July 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, 24 July 2024 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
(13 total contact hours)
Workshop Leaders:
Dennis Tirch Ph.D.
Laura Silberstein-Tirch, Psy.D.
Manuela O'Connell, Lic.
Workshop Description:
Mindful Compassion. We all know it is an important part of the therapeutic alliance, but how can we reliably awaken and cultivate compassion for ourselves and others, enhancing our psychological flexibility and quality of life in the process? Recent advances in psychological research, theory and practice have suggested that compassion may be one of the most important elements in psychotherapeutic effectiveness. Training in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) can help you unlock this potential therapeutic power of compassion-based interventions. In this workshop, you will discover how CFT can offer us cutting-edge mindfulness, self-compassion and psychotherapy techniques, learning CFT from the inside out.
This workshop is designed to be an experiential introduction to CFT, with a special emphasis on Compassionate Mind Training (CMT), the mindfulness and imagery practices found in CFT. Participants will walk through a workshop sized CMT group process, learning CFT through personal experience, and working with their own processes and struggle. Compassionate mind imagery and meditative techniques will be linked to specific psychotherapy interventions, so that what you learn from within can be simply applied with clients.
Over the course of this two-day workshop, you will explore how cultivating mindfulness and compassion can result in powerful change in your life, as well as how to masterfully deploy these techniques in the psychotherapy consultation room. Participants will engage in didactic learning, experiential self-practice, and role-play practice, in this personal journey into compassionate mind training, that is a new frontier in engaged psychotherapy training in compassion. For thousands of years, wisdom traditions have used mindfulness, acceptance and compassion-based training as a platform to transform the mind. Developed by Dr. Paul Gilbert, CFT puts these processes in your hands, drawing on rigorous behavioral psychology, neuroscience and
evolutionary theory.
This workshop will be delivered by internationally recognized experts in CFT and ACT, who have nearly a century of combined experience in working with compassion training, mediation, and contextual behavioral science. Dr. Dennis Tirch and Dr. Laura Silberstein-Tirch, CFT and ACT thought leaders and originators of Compassion Focused ACT (CFACT) will co-lead this
workshop with ACT, FAP and CFACT integration pioneer, Dr. Manuela O’Connell. This training is specifically designed to help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and other behavior therapy practitioners deepen their understanding and practice CFT. Experiential learning of CFT from the inside out is an essential component of CFT mastery, and this workshop can serve as a foundation for the renewal and enlivening of your practice and your approach.
About the Workshop Leaders:
Dr. Dennis Tirch is the Founding Director of The Center for CFT in New York; President of The Compassionate Mind Foundation, USA; Past-President and Fellow of The Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) and an Associate Clinical Professor at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. Dr Tirch is the author of seven books, and numerous chapters and peer reviewed articles on mindfulness, acceptance and compassion in psychology. Dr Tirch regularly conducts Compassion Focused ACT and CFT trainings & workshops globally. He is also a Dharma Holder and lay teacher of Zen Buddhism; a Diplomate, Fellow & Certified Consultant for The Academy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and a Founding Fellow and Past President of both the NYC-CBT association & NYC-ACBS. Dr. Tirch serves as a mindfulness, wellness and performance coach to leading figures in business, science and policy design. Dr. Tirch regularly presents workshops and trainings globally, in person and via video-conference. His
work has been featured by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other media outlets.
Dr. Laura Silberstein is the Director of The Center for CFT in New York and board member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation, USA. She has served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr Silberstein-Tirch is the co-author of four books, including How to Be Nice To Yourself. Dr Silberstein-Tirch regularly conducts trainings and workshops on Compassion Focused ACT and CFT internationally. She is a Past President of NYC-ACBS & Compassion Focused SIG of ACBS. Dr. Silberstein-Tirch is a founding member and Past President of the Women of ACBS SIG.
Dr. Manuela O’Connell is a clinical psychologist specialized in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness, Functional Analytical Psychotherapy and Compassion. She is a peer reviewed ACT trainer and Fellow of ACBS. Dr. O’Connell has private practice and regular training programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a board President of ACL Foundation (Live with Awareness, Courage and Love). Dr. O’Connell is a Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher (MMTCP- training program through UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield Accredited by IMTA.org). Dr. O’Connell also offers
Mindfulness programs for general public and have offered a Mindfulness and Psychotherapy course oriented in CBS for 8 years and done several conferences on the topic of Mindfulness and CBS. She has been involved also in body work and somatic training for the last 30 years and is a certified Eutony teacher. Dr. O’Connell is the author of a general public book Una Vida Valiosa
from Random House, Penguin, co-author of the ACT for Anger Workbook and The Heart of ACT with Dr. Robyn Walser.
After this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Describe the foundational evolutionary model of compassion, mindfulness and emotion used in CFT.
- Use the CFT "Three Circle Model" of emotion regulation in clinical contexts.
- Understand and be able to discuss and utilize Social Mentality Theory in psychotherapy and in scalable interventions.
- Utilize the therapeutic relationship to create a context of relational safeness in the therapy room as a part of CFT process
- Outline and implement a CFT model of functional analysis of interpersonal exchanges in psychotherapy, using the therapist's response to shape client behavior.
- Discuss the multiple self-model and intervention set in CFT
- Have a working knowledge of multiple-self dialogue work in CFT
- Identify and embody the 12 competencies of compassion, experientially training patients in using these elements.
- Use a working knowledge of specific therapist micro-skills and active therapy processes that can lead to greater flexibility and adaptive responding in the moment.
Deploy a range of specific techniques that are focused on cultivating the competencies of compassion in the therapy relationship.
Target Audience: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Clinical
Components: Conceptual analysis, Literature review, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Role play
Topic Areas (primary): Compassion Focused Therapy
Topic Areas (secondary): Other
Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance
CEs Available (13 hours): CEs for Psychologists