Self Compassion Skills (Part 1)

A Four Part In Person Course. Compassion for ourselves and others can be hard to maintain when faced with hardship and mental health difficulties. In this small- group course, we will explore what compassion means, what can get in the way, and why compassion can help us. We will also develop practical skills such as grounding, breathing exercises, and compassionate voice and imagery. A therapy dog will be present in some sessions to support selected activities and discussions (but without becoming the primary focus of the work).

PLEASE NOTE: This is a newly developed course in collaboration with the University of Oxford, and has a RESEARCH COMPONENT consisting of questionnaires at the start and end of each session. The first questionnaire is longer and will take about 15-20 minutes to complete, subsequent questionnaires will be shorter and take no more than 5-10 minutes. The research explores whether the course is effective and whether the presence of a THERAPY DOG might impact this. The therapy dog will be randomly allocated to attend either the first three sessions for one group or only the last (fourth) session for the other group. Anyone who signs up to the course will be invited to take part in the research, and you will receive a full information sheet when signing up. You can still participate in the course if you decide you do not want to take part in the research (i.e. complete the questionnaires).