The Compassion Initiative: Just Two Guys in Brisbane talking Compassion. www.thecompassioninitiative.com.au

"Teams know what are the blocks to compassion, what prevents them from being compassionate, and what are the things that they do that can actually enhance it."

Dr Tony Fernando is a psychiatrist and researcher in Auckland, New Zealand. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the Philippines and his internship at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital (Columbia University) in New York. Tony’s research interest is in sleep medicine and medical compassion. He plays the cello, is a cheap-eats foodie and despite his fear of the water, has swum across the Auckland Harbour and competes in ocean races and triathlons. In January of 2017, he received temporary ordination as a Buddhist monk in Chanmyay Myaing monastery in Myanmar. He completed his PhD at the University of Auckland, studying barriers to compassion in medicine. More recently, he started a weekly mindfulness and emotional balance programme for inmates at Mt Eden Correctional Facility in Auckland. This is Part 2 of my conversation with Tony, where he speaks about his research exploring doctors' compassion.

Time Stamps:

2.31 Tell us a bit about your research, exploring compassion and barriers to compassion amongst doctors.

17.02 What is next for you, in terms of helping doctors cultivate compassion?

21.47 What are three tips you would offer others who are on their own compassionate journey?

"As long as the sky exists, as long as there are sentient beings, may I remain to help and relieve them of their suffering."

Dr Tony Fernando is a psychiatrist and researcher in Auckland, New Zealand. He obtained his medical degree from the University of the Philippines and his internship at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital (Columbia University) in New York. Tony’s research interest is in sleep medicine and medical compassion. He plays the cello, is a cheap-eats foodie and despite his fear of the water, has swum across the Auckland Harbour and competes in ocean races and triathlons. In January of 2017, he received temporary ordination as a Buddhist monk in Chanmyay Myaing monastery in Myanmar. He completed his PhD at the University of Auckland, studying barriers to compassion in medicine. More recently, he started a weekly mindfulness and emotional balance programme for inmates at Mt Eden Correctional Facility in Auckland. This is Part 1 of my conversation with Tony.

Time Stamps:

3.06 Tell us a little bit about yourself, your life, your work.

6.11 Tell us more about your interest in Buddhist philosophy.

11.45 What did you notice was the interface between Buddhism and psychiatry?

19.59 Having daily reminders to prompt mindfulness and compassion.

20.38 As long as the sky exists, as long as there are sentient beings, may I remain to help and relieve them of their suffering.

25.16 How are loving-kindness and compassion meditations similar or different?

Publications:

Beyond Compassion Fatigue: The Transactional Model of Physician Compassion. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885392413006179

Barriers to Medical Compassion as a Function of Experience and Specialization: Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and General Practice. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885392416312209

How Do Health Professionals Maintain Compassion Over Time? Insights From a Study of Compassion in Health. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.564554/full?utm_source=researcher_app&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RESR_MRKT_Researcher_inbound

Self-compassion as a Stress Moderator: A Cross-sectional Study of 1700 Doctors, Nurses, and Medical Students. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-020-01325-6

Transforming shame with people who have intellectual disabilities: "I'm not all bad with stuff like this. I'm quite good!"

Dr Johannes Graser is a Clinical Psychologist, licensed CBT-Therapist, Researcher and Lecturer based at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He has extensive training in CFT and has presented workshops on CFT and Loving Kindness Meditation. His research focuses on CFT for patients with intellectual disabilities and patients with persistent depressive disorder. He is founder of a German volunteering platform to bring together volunteers and social institutions (www.freizeit-helden.de). In his free time, he writes jokes which he loves to perform at rather small standup-comedy clubs.

Time Stamps:

4.00 Please tell us a little bit about yourself

11.04 Tell us about your PhD, working with persistent depressive disorder using CFT

13.06 CFT with people who have mild to moderate intellectual disability

15.14 What has your research found in terms of process of change for those with persistent depressive disorder?

19.02 What has your research found in terms of process of change for those with intellectual disabilities?

19.46 How might you adapt CFT to work with people who have intellectual disabilities?

25.05 What challenges arrive when working with this group?

31.29 Working with shame with people who have intellectual disabilities.

40.00 How have compassion and self-compassion found their way into your personal life?

43.55 What are three tips you might offer others who are on their own compassionate journey?

46.57 Where can people find you and engage with you and your work?

Website:

https://www.uni-wh.de/detailseiten/kontakte/johannes-graser-2352/f0/

Harvard Review of Psychiatry Publication:

Graser, Johannes MSc; Stangier, Ulrich PhD Compassion and Loving-Kindness Meditation: An Overview and Prospects for the Application in Clinical Samples, Harvard Review of Psychiatry: 7/8 2018 - Volume 26 - Issue 4 - p 201-215 doi: 10.1097/HRP.0000000000000192

"Reaching...opening...gathering...""

Deirdre Fay, MSW, LICSW, integrates trauma and attachment theory with yoga and meditation in embodiment. The founder of the Becoming Safely Embodied Skills, she maintains a private practice working with individuals and groups and presenting around the world. She is the author of several books, most recently "Becoming Safely Embodied: A Guide to Organize Your Mind, Body and Heart to Feel Secure in the World." This is Part 2 of a 2-part conversation with Deirdre. In Part 1, we discussed how she arrived at her approach to becoming safely embodied. In Part 2, she describes the nine becoming safely embodied skills from her recent book: belonging, meditation, internal information flow, separating facts from feelings, addressing parallel lives, working with parts, carving out a new path, telling and retelling, and finding guidance from your older wiser self.

Time Stamps:

1.22 Skill 1: Belonging

7.05 Skill 2: Meditation

15.33 Skill 3: Internal Information Flow

17.59 Skill 4: Separating Facts from Feelings

22.08 Skill 5: Addressing Parallel Lives

25.59 Skill 6: Working with Parts

27.39 Skill 7: Carving Out a New Path

28.48 Skill 8: Telling and Retelling, and Skill 9: Finding Guidance from Your Older, Wiser Self

32.35 What are three tips you might offer people who are on their own compassionate journey?

Website:

https://dfay.com/

Social Media:

Facebook @healingattachment

Twitter @defay

Instagram @dfaypics

Book:

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Safely-Embodied-Organize-Secure/dp/163195184X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=becoming+safely+embodied&qid=1624772027&sr=8-1

"What happened to me and how can I put myself back together again?"

Deirdre Fay, MSW, LICSW, integrates trauma and attachment theory with yoga and meditation in embodiment. The founder of the Becoming Safely Embodied Skills, she maintains a private practice working with individuals and groups and presenting around the world. She is the author of several books, most recently "Becoming Safely Embodied: A Guide to Organize Your Mind, Body and Heart to Feel Secure in the World." This is Part 1 of a 2-part conversation with Deirdre. In Part 1, we discuss how she arrived at her approach to becoming safely embodied. Part 2 will discuss the nine becoming safely embodied skills from her recent book.

Time Stamps:

2.13 How did you arrive at this notion of becoming safely embodied?

4.00 What happened to me and how can I put myself back together again?

5.01 Could this approach work for others too?

6.29 Attachment theory and the importance of scaffolding.

8.03 Becoming Safely Embodied identifies these fundamental skills that help with scaffolding.

12.01 Becoming embodied is scary, and so we have to find a way to do it safely.

15.39 When we are exposed to all the facets to ourselves, it's chaos and overwhelming.

17.20 When the rise, crest and fall gets blocked.

Website:

https://dfay.com/

Social Media:

Facebook @healingattachment

Twitter @defay

Instagram @dfaypics

Book:

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Safely-Embodied-Organize-Secure/dp/163195184X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=becoming+safely+embodied&qid=1624772027&sr=8-1

“I’m not going to take your ambition away, I’m just going to help you not drown in it.”

Michaela Thomas is a UK-based Clinical Psychologist and couples therapist with over fifteen years' experience. She established and runs The Thomas Connection, and has recently published a couples and compassion book called "The Lasting Connection". Michaela's special interests lie in Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, perfectionism and couples relationships. The original YouTube video can be found here: https://youtu.be/wDgKDSBVUsU

Time Stamps:

2.24 Tell us a little bit about yourself, your work, your life.

5.05 Perfectionism: I must be perfect; self-criticism: I'm never good enough.

7.59 The three flows, or orientations, of perfectionism.

11.14 What is the definition of clinical perfectionism?

14.04 The potential downsides of perfectionism.

18.10 Tell us a little bit about your journey into compassion and self-compassion.

20.55 Fears, blocks and resistance to compassion and self-compassion.

22.01 The "inner mentor(s)" and the "inner tormentor".

25.34 Introducing the "Goblin Self" in compassion focused couples therapy.

28.16 What are your thoughts about guilt in the context of compassion focused couples therapy?

34.20 Working with forgiveness in compassion focused couples therapy.

36.09 The Lasting Connection by Michaela Thomas.

39.22 Where does tolerance fit in healthy couples relationships?

42.14 How do you differentiate love versus compassion?

48.31 Tell us a bit about any current or future projects that you might have on the go.

52.28 What are three tips you would offer others who are making their way on their own compassionate journey?

54.58 How can people find you, and engage with you and your work?

Website:

https://thethomasconnection.co.uk/

Social Media:

Facebook @thethomasconnection

Twitter @ThomasConnect

Instagram the_thomas_connection

Book:

The Lasting Connection https://thethomasconnection.co.uk/thelastingconnection/

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale:

https://hewittlab.psych.ubc.ca/measures-3/multidimensional-perfectionism-scale-2/

Somatic Self-Compassion: checking in with the interoceptive experience, buckets of choice to create safeness, and individualised approaches to soothing.

Kristy Arbon is an experienced mindfulness and mindful self-compassion teacher and trainer. She has had a long association with Drs Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, and was administrator for the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. She has worked extensively with mindful self-compassion, teaching and training all around the world. And she has many other strings to her bow, not least developing over recent years her trauma informed and sensitive Somatic Self-Compassion program, which has been evaluated in a recent paper published just this year.

Time Stamps:

3.01 Tell us a bit about yourself, your work, your life.

5.24 Being introduced to Mindful Self-Compassion.

12.33 What do you notice about people's experience of "backdraft" when they first engage with self-compassion?

14.06 Individual differences in the experience of self-compassion.

30.07 Tell us more about Somatic Self-Compassion.

37.36 Checking in with interoceptive experiences in Somatic Self-Compassion is a learned skill.

42.48 The importance of choice in Somatic Self-Compassion to help create a sense of safeness.

45.34 The third phase of Somatic Self-Compassion is the soothing.

51.33 How can people engage with you and your work?

53.29 What are three tips you would offer others who are making their way on their own compassionate journey?

Websites:

https://kristyarbon.com/

https://centerformsc.org/

Publications:

Somatic Self-Compassion Training Reduces Perceived Stress, Internalized Shame, and Bodily Shame while Increasing Coping Self-efficacy and Self-compassion. http://www.lidsen.com/journals/icm/icm-06-01-011

"CFT is something we learn and embody and it becomes a part of the process of all the things that we do."

Dr Hayley D Quinn is a Clinical Psychologist, Supervisor and Trainer based at The Compassionate Well-Being Centre in Brisbane, Australia. She has extensive training in CFT and has presented workshops in Australia and overseas. She’s a strong believer in supporting practitioners to incorporate compassion practices into their own lives and work to care for both their clients and themselves, allowing practitioners to maintain sustainable practice. If you would like to see the original video, go here: https://youtu.be/tNTqLUG0-cY

Time Stamps:

2.19 Tell us a little bit about yourself, your work and your life.

10.57 External and internal challenges and how the internal can persist.

14.18 What was already there, within you, that helped you move in a very positive direction?

16.37 Changing the external, and then changing the internal.

21.04 Tell us about the new direction you are taking with helping develop self-care for clinicians and practitioners?

26.28 Arriving at the notion of Welcome to Self.

29.23 How might you bring compassion focused therapy into self-care for clinicians and practitioners?

33.32 Clinicians operating from threat-based drive, insecure striving and clinician shame.43.56 We have these tricky brains!

43.56 We have these tricky brains!

44.43 Fears, blocks and resistances to self-care.

47.12 Identifying our own self-care committed actions.

50.47 What are three tips you would offer others on their own compassionate journey, including therapists and other health practitioners?

53.03 Where can people find you, and engage with you and your work?

Social Media:

Twitter @HayleyQuinnPhD

Facebook @DrHayleyDQuinnBrisbane

Instagram drhayleydquinn

Website:

www.drhayleydquinn.com

"It was about the connection with other people, not feeling alone, other people understanding how I feel...the humanness."

Alison Dixon is a senior Psychological Therapist and supervisor in the UK, and has worked in NHS psychology services for over 10 years. She works with people experiencing a wide range of difficulties and specializes in addressing longstanding relationship problems. She has published research in compassion-focused therapy (CFT), runs CFT and mindfulness groups and has co-facilitated workshops on the use of compassion-focused chairwork. She is also simply a delightful human being. I hope you enjoy my conversation in session with my friend Alison Dixon! The original YouTube video can be found here: https://youtu.be/gaTO2LLp9mI

Time Stamps:

2.08 Tell us a little bit about yourself, your work, your life.

4.41 Tell us a little bit about your work with people experiencing relational difficulties.

8.43 What has been the professional development in and around the different approaches you use?

20.12 Tell us a little bit about the way you use CFT in your work.

28.30 What are your thoughts about using chairwork in motivational interviewing?

30.21 What are some of the things you have really loved about compassion or CFT, successes, triumphs?

31.30 Can you elaborate on the CFT group you are running?

39.33 How have compassion and self-compassion or compassion focused therapy found their way into your life or made a difference for you?

46.11 What are three tips you would offer others who are making their way on their own compassionate journey?

51.46 Where can people find you, and engage with you and/or your work?

Social Media:

Twitter @alisondixonbell

Resources on Chairwork:

https://chairwork.co.uk/resources/

“I believe that advocacy is lending your power or your voice to someone or something who needs it.”

Dr. Watson is a public speaker, author, and podcaster, as well as President and Founder of The Advocacy Academy, based in Philadelphia, USA. She has conducted educational workshops throughout the US and internationally, and across many fields: healthcare, education, social services, financial advising, victim advocacy, corrections, and leadership. In addition to her speaking and consulting work, Dr. Watson sits on the Board of Directors for The Lady Parts Collective, which is a Los Angeles-based theater company specializing in the development of work relevant to women in the United States. She is also a Director Emeritus for the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. Dr. Watson is the author of the recently published book, Only Trying to Help, which is also the name of her podcast, now in its 5th season. To watch the YouTube version of this conversation, go to: https://youtu.be/D_ydjpmyfr0

Time Stamps:

3.25 Tell us a little bit about yourself, your life and your work.

6.42 When you look back at your busy work schedule, how did you cope? How did you sustain that?

8.58 Self care can take a lot of strength and courage.

12.15 How do you define "advocacy"?

17.13 Human Beings are a funny bunch!

20.00 What are your thoughts about advocacy and compassion, the overlaps?

23.48 Wisdom, understanding, insight, creativity...and vulnerability.

27.30 The body as an early warning system.

30.02 Advocacy can be depleting.

36.13 Strength and determination.

38.22 What do you really love about your advocacy work and compassionate action?

42.24 What about your personal life? How have advocacy and compassion made a difference for you?

47.52 Tell us about some of your current projects.

52.23 What are three tips you would offer others who are making their way on their own compassionate journey, or advocacy journey?

55.05 How can people find you and engage with you and your work?

Social Media:

Twitter @IWasOTTH or @AdvoKateW

Instagram @iwasotth or @advokatew

Facebook: @IwasOTTH or @AdvocacyAcademy

Podcast:

https://www.onlytryingtohelp.com/our-podcast

Book:

https://www.onlytryingtohelp.com/the-book