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Handouts and any accompanying materials will be sent to you via email before the beginning of the workshop. If this is not possible, one of our admin team will be in touch.
Once you click the meeting link to join the meeting, you will be placed in a waiting room and a member of our admin team will add you to the workshop shortly before it begins. A team member will be available for any technical support (should it arise) throughout the day, and can be contacted by private message or via hello@compassionatemind.co.uk
This workshop will offer 21 hours towards your CPD, and you will receive a certificate of attendance shortly after the workshop via email. This workshop will be recorded, and a recording will be sent to all participants and will be available for up to three months after the live broadcast.
This workshop will run on from 14th-16th September 2026.
It will run from 09.30 – 17.00 on both days. All timings are according to BST (UK time zone).
This workshop is offered at a flat rate £350.00.
To pay in installments, or for those who may struggle or be unable to afford this price, please contact finance@compassionatemind.co.uk
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is now one of the fastestexpanding psychological therapies, with a steadily growing evidence base. A recent meta-analysis based on 7,875 participants (from 17 countries and over 14 years) found that CFT was effective in reducing overall negative mental health outcomes, depression, self-criticism and in improving compassion for self and others (Petrocchi et al, 2024).
This workshop will provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of CFT. Participants will learn how compassion can have an impact on our bodies, brains, minds and social relationships, and how we can bring this compassion into our therapeutic work. The CFT model draws on, and integrates, a number of different approaches and insights, such as including evolutionary approaches to the origins of our ‘tricky’ brain, with the nature of our complex of motives, and emotions and beliefs. This workshop will guide participants to in how to explore these processes including explore working with three basic emotion regulation systems that are focused on:
1. dealing with stresses and threats
2. guiding us to strive and pursuethings we want or need and are sources of positive feelings
3. settling threat and drive, and underpining social connectedness and feeling safe.
CFT utilises insights from attachment theory, emotion and body focused approaches, and cognitive behavioural frameworks. Participants will learn how compassion is viewed as a basic algorithm defined as sensitivity to suffering in self and others, with a commitment to alleviate and prevent it. They will explore how we can use the processes of engaging with suffering and the processes of taking action in therapeutic work. Workshop trainers will guide participants in understanding what is necessary to be able to develop empathic sensitivity, courage and wisdom to take effective actions to address the sources of mental and physical suffering.
Trainers will also guide participants through the basic elements and foundations of CFT and Compassionate Mind Training (CMT), including how to use the body to support the mind, the use of compassionate imagery, how to practise compassionate behaviours and texture compassionate cognitive interventions. These can be applies to the three flows of compassion (developing compassion for others, being open to the compassion from others and developing self-compassion), and how these dimensions of compassion can be met with fears, blocks and resistances, and how we can work with this. There will be a focus also on how we can use a compassion focused approach to work with the transdiagnostic problems of shame and self criticism.
- The origins and development of CFT, and how compassion is defined and understood
- Understanding of CMT
- Introduction to an evolutionary model of human psychology and its influence on vulnerability to difficulties
- The role of social mentalities, and how this can inform our understanding of human behaviour and experience
- The role of attachment and how the presence/absence of early secure base and safe haven impacts development and capacities for compassion cultivation
- Key areas of psychoeducation, including ‘the tricky brain ’and the three circle model of emotion regulation
- Compassion as flow: compassion to others, being open to compassion from others and self-compassion
- Practices that stimulate compassion focused brain states and build a sense of a compassionate self identity
- How to use CFT and CMT work with shame and hostile self-criticism
Location: Online via Zoom
Gilbert, P. (2020). Compassion: From its evolution to a psychotherapy. Frontiers in psychology, 11,586161.
Gilbert, P., & Simos,G. (Eds.). (2022). Compassion Focused Therapy: Clinical Practice andApplications.Routledge.
Petrocchi, N., Ottaviani,C., Cheli, S., Matos, M., Baldi, B., Basran, J. K., & Gilbert, P.(2024) The impact of CompassionFocused Therapy on positive and negative mental health outcomes: Results of aseries of meta-analyses. ClinicalPsychology: Science and Practice.
Foundational Texts
Gilbert, P. (2010) Compassion Focused Therapy DistinctiveFeatures Series. London: Routledge
Gilbert. P. (2009). The Compassionate Mind.Robinson
Irons, C. & Beaumont,E. (2017) The Compassionate MindWorkbook. Robinson
Kolts, R. L. (2016) CFT Made Simple: A Clinician's Guide to Practising Compassion FocusedTherapy. New Harbinger.
Kolts, R. L., Bell, T.,Bennett-Levy, J., & Irons, C. (2018). Experiencing Compassion Focused Therapy from the Inside Out: ASelf-Practice/Self-Reflection Workbook for Therapists. Guilford Publications.
Welford, M. (2016) Compassion Focused Therapy for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Papers and Book Chapters
Brown, N., & Ashcroft,K. (2025). The effectiveness ofcompassion focused therapy for the three flows of compassion, self-criticism,and shame in clinical populations: A systematic review. Behavioral Sciences, 15(8),1031.
Craig, C., Hiskey, S.,& Spector, A. (2020). Compassion focused therapy: Asystematic review of its effectiveness and acceptability in clinicalpopulations. Expert review ofneurotherapeutics, 20(4), 385-400.
French, J., Brown, R.,& Bell, T. (2023). ‘It’s Nice for My Body but IDon’t Like It’–Experiences of Soothing Rhythm Breathing in Clients withDepression. OBM Integrativeand Complementary Medicine, 8(4), 1-31
Gilbert, P. (2024). Threat, safety, safenessand social safeness 30 years on: Fundamental dimensions and distinctions formental health and well‐being. British journalof clinical psychology
Gilbert, P. (2021). Creating a compassionateworld: Addressing the conflicts between sharing and caring versus controllingand holding evolved strategies. Frontiersin psychology, 11, 582090.
Gilbert, P. (2019) Living Like Crazy. York: Annwyn House.
Gilbert, P. (2014). The origins and nature of compassion focusedtherapy. British Journalof Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 6-41.
Gilbert, P., Basran, J.K., Plowright, P., & Gilbert, H. (2023). Energizing compassion: usingmusic and community focus to stimulate compassion drive and sense ofconnectedness. Frontiersin Psychology, 14.
Harris, D. (2023). An Exploration of CompassionFocused Therapy for Grieving Individuals. OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 8(4), 1-31.
Kirby, J. N., Day, J.,& Gilbert, P. (2024). Social rank andcompassion: How insecure striving, social safeness and fears of compassionmediate the relationship between masculinity, depression and anxiety. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory,Research and Practice.
Kirby, J. N., &Gilbert, P. (2017). The emergence of the compassion focused therapies. In P.Gilbert (ed) Compassion: Concepts, Research & Application (pp.258-285). Routledge.
Kirby, J. N., &Petrocchi, N. (2023). Compassion Focused Therapy–What It Is, What It Targets,and the Evidence. In A, Finlay-Jones, K. Bluth & K. Neff (eds) Handbook of Self-Compassion (pp. 417-432). Cham: Springer InternationalPublishing.
Lawrence, V. A., &Lee, D. (2014). An exploration of people's experiences ofcompassion‐focused therapy for trauma,using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 21(6),495-507.
Leaviss, J., & Uttley,L. (2015). Psychotherapeutic benefits of compassion-focusedtherapy: An early systematic review. Psychologicalmedicine, 45(5), 927-945.
Lee, D. (2005) The perfectnurturer: A model to develop a compassionate mind within the context ofcognitive therapy. In P.Gilbert (Ed) Compassion: Conceptualisations, Research and use in Psychotherapy. London: Routledge
Lucre, K., & Clapton,N. (2021). The Compassionate Kitbag: A creative andintegrative approach to compassion‐focusedtherapy. Psychology andPsychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 94, 497-516.
McEwan, K., & Minou,L. (2023). Defining compassion: A Delphistudy of compassion therapists’ experiences when introducing patients to theterm ‘compassion’. Psychologyand Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 96(1), 16-24.
Steindl, S., Bell, T.,Dixon, A., & Kirby, J. N. (2023). Therapist perspectives on working with fears,blocks and resistances to compassion in compassion focused therapy. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 23(3),850-863.
Vidal, J., &Soldevilla, J. M. (2023). Effect of compassion‐focused therapy on self‐criticism and self‐soothing: A meta‐analysis. BritishJournal of Clinical Psychology, 62(1), 70-81.
To see the full range ofCompassion Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind related books, please checkout the link: compassionatemind.co.uk/resources/books
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We understand that, due to time differences, it may not be possible for you to attend all of this training live with us. With that in mind, the workshop will be recorded, and you'll have access to the recordings for up to three months after the live broadcast to watch in your own time.
If you're unable to attend for the entire duration, please email hello@compassionatemind.co.uk to let us know, as non-attendees will not receive a certificate unless we are informed of your circumstances.
Yes, towards the bottom of the page under the 'prices' section you will find a link to download a booking form for this workshop. Please fill this in and email to finance@compassionatemind.co.uk
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All places booked for our event, must be paid for prior to attending the event unless pre-agreed with management. Please note that we cannot confirm your place until we have received payment.
Should you be unable to attend the event, please contact our admin team as soon as possible via hello@compassionatemind.co.uk. Refunds, less the Eventbrite administration fee, will be made if cancellations are received in writing up to one month before the event. Any cancellations received after this time will not be eligible for a refund, although we will consider exceptional circumstances. While refunds for failure to attend cannot be made, you can transfer your event fee to a future event that will take place within 12 months of your booking without an additional penalty.
Please note that information about the event and venue are subject to change and cancellation. Occasionally, an event may have to be cancelled or postponed. We will endeavour to inform you of any changes and cancellations as soon as possible via email. We cannot take responsibility for any resulting costs you may incur for travel, accommodation, any other related goods or service or other compensation should an event cancellation occur.
For all face-to-face events, lunch provided at the event will be vegetarian and will include eggs, but no meat or fish (though vegan options will also be made available). However, please advise us of any dietary requirements in the notes section whilst booking online and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
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