"I am a human like you."

Ross McIntosh is an organisational and coaching psychologist in the UK. He focuses on cultivating psychological well-being and flexibility in organisations and individuals. He’s worked for over 20 years senior HR roles in government, and now consults with organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as well as researching and lecturing at City, University of London in organisational psychology. He hosts People Soup Podcast - nourishing the mind, flourishing at work - where he interviews a wide range of people in the fields of psychological well-being, acceptance and commitment therapy, and compassion.

Time Stamps:

4:32 Tell us a little bit about yourself, your work, your life.

13:06 Noticing with curiosity and kindness.

16:09 What are your thoughts around the concept of curiosity?

21:12 How do you communicate the concept of kindness to the people you are working with?

25:18 What are some of the challenges you face working with curiosity, kindness, compassion and psychological flexibility?

35:38 A metaphor for the human mind - different selves around the boardroom table.

39:15 What are your thoughts regarding empathy in leadership?

43:29 Tell us about the People Soup Podcast.

47:27 What are some of the projects coming up for you, what's coming next?

51:30 What are three tips you would offer others who are making their way on their own compassionate journey?

55:39 How can people find you, or engage with you and your work?

Social Media:

Twitter - @PeopleSoupPod

Instagram - @people.soup

Facebook - @PeopleSoupPod

Website:

www.rossmcintosh.co.uk

"Compassion, not just for ourselves and those around us, but for other living creatures and the planet itself!"

Dr Tara Hickey is a clinical psychologist in private practice at Victorian Counselling and Psychological Services (VCPS), as well as an adjunct research fellow at Monash University and University of Sydney. She recently completed her PhD on mindfulness and compassion, piloting and evaluating a mindfulness and compassion focused group program for youth with psychosis. She is also the Victorian representative for Compassionate Mind Australia (CMA).

Time Stamps:

3:32 Tell us a little bit about yourself.

6:33 What approaches were you originally using with young people at risk of psychosis?

10:02 How did you bring more compassion focused therapy into your work?

11:43 The PhD research brought together early intervention, mindfulness and compassion focused approaches.

16:50 How did young people receive the psychoeducation component of CFT?

18.37 How do you see the experience of psychosis and the three circles model fitting together?

25:55 What compassion skills were incorporated into the group for young people?

30:46 What were some of the challenges you noticed working with young people with compassion?

35:35 Can you describe some of the results of your research?

42:04 How have compassion and self-compassion found their way into your life, or made a difference for you?

45:10 What's next for you in terms of current or future projects?

48:40 What are three tips you would offer others who are making their way on their own compassionate journey?

51:20 Where can people find you, engage with you and/or your work?

Published Papers:

Evidence Map of Mindfulness for Stages of Psychosis: State of the Literature and Implications for Future Research https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-021-01611-x

The MAC‐P program: A pilot study of a mindfulness and compassion program for youth with psychotic experiences https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eip.13085

The potential role of self-criticism in distress related to attenuated psychotic symptoms and implications for clinical trajectory https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920996420303753?via%3Dihub

Mindfulness and compassion for youth with psychotic symptoms: A description of a group program and a consumer’s experience https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17522439.2019.1639800?journalCode=rpsy20

The use of formal criteria to assess psychological models of hallucinations: a systematic review https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17522439.2019.1607892?journalCode=rpsy20

Application of a mindfulness and compassion-based approach to the at-risk mental state: Mindfulness, compassion and the ARMS https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cp.12132?journalCode=rcnp20

Websites:

VCPS - https://www.vcps.com.au/clinical-psychologist/dr-tara-hickey

CMA - https://www.compassionatemind.org.au/

“Compassion brings light and it brings hope into the darkest of stories.”

Dr Mats Hogmark is a medical doctor specialising in general medicine at Darlana County Council in Sweden. He is also a motivational interviewing trainer and member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). He runs training and seminars on motivational interviewing and communication skills with professionals in health care and social services.

Time Stamps:

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

6.50 What does your working week entail?

10.07 Feeling safe in the context of a longterm working relationship.

12.19 Sometimes you can form a relationship and create safeness quite quickly.

14.22 Fine tuning facial expressions, body posture and voice tone to express warmth, openness and empathy.

16.59 Carefully choosing what to say and what not to say to help create safeness.

19.06 Dividing the consultation into three parts: the patient's part, the doctor's part, and the mutual part at the end.

20.28 The patient's part involves: Ideas--Concerns--Expectations (ICE).

25.46 A compassionate conversation is a conversation between two experts.

30.37 Taking the lower place, elevating those who we are working with.

35.28 A compassionate outlook towards others, and towards oneself.

36.53 When the clinician's threat system is activated too.

39.27 Considering compassion fatigue or physician burnout.

40.42 How do you offer yourself compassion, how do you look after your self-care?

44.25 Compassion and self-compassion can involve joy.

46.52 A Carl Rogers quote.

48.17 A Bill Miller quote.

49.51 How can people find you or engage with you and your work?

51.03 Three tips for others making their way on their own compassionate journeys.

Email:

Social Media:

Twitter @matshogmark

“Music is a part of my identity, my work, my leisure, my humanness.”

Matt Le Mare is a British Association of Music Therapy (BAMT) registered music therapist presently working with elders with dementia and a variety of private clients. Matt also trains music therapists at Derby University where he encountered compassion focussed therapy (CFT) and trained as a CFT practitioner with Paul Gilbert. Matt is very interested in how compassion can be used alongside music therapy and has blended it into his approach with clients.

Time Stamps:

3.05 What does music mean to you?

7.15 What was it like to feel enchanted by music?

11.17 Matt Le Mare first hears about Professor Paul Gilbert!

14.17 Music as an expression of a compassionate motivation.

19.53 Tell us a bit about how music can also activate threat or drive systems.

22.22 How might you integrate music into your practice of CFT?

27.14 What are some examples of the successes, or where bringing music into CFT has been helpful?

34.07 Would you mind playing us some music?

38.44 What about the role of the instrument or musical preferences?

40.44 What are some of the challenges you have encountered working with compassion and music?

44.26 Music helps us embody the compassionate self.

45.15 What current projects do you have on the go?

47.16 How can people access your musical pieces?

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

Website:

https://compassionfocusedmusicians.bandcamp.com/music

Email:

"Practicing and cultivating compassion throughout our whole lives."

Dr Julia E. Wahl, PhD, psychologist, mindfulness and compassion trainer, lecturer, director of the post-grad studies in mindfulness and compassion at the Social Sciences and Humanities SWPS University in Poznań; director of the Mind Institute, Warsaw; Proactive Leadership Training Programme; CFT/CMT Poland; Professional Training Programme in Mindfulness for Children and Adolescents (Mindfulness for the Future).

Time Stamps:

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

7.25 Are certain people drawn to compassion, does compassion grow on you, or both?

8.43 What do we mean when we say compassion feels like a good fit?

9.47 Being the Devil's Advocate: We need to be careful with our tricky brains!

13.12 Being wise and aware in the growing CFT community, especially regarding diversity and inclusivity.

18.02 Mindfulness and compassion as commodities.

20.30 Compassion in other areas of society: leadership, business, healthcare, education.

26.17 What is "disinterested thinking"?

30.40 Is humility another important quality of the compassionate mind?

31.07 The importance of understanding our own blindspots.

35.29 Compassion is not the same as being nice or feeling good.

40.17 Returning to our compassionate intentions.

44.25 Can intention be compromised by blindspots and unconscious biases?

48.18 Set intentions, take actions, review and reflect, including identifying blindspots and unconscious biases, and re-setting intentions.

51.07 Practicing and cultivating compassion throughout our whole lives.

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

Websites:

Dr Julia E. Wahl

http://juliawahl.co.uk/

The Mind Institute

www.mindinstitute.com.pl

SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities

https://www.swps.pl/oferta/poznan/podyplomowe/psychologia-psychoterapia/studia-uwaznosci-i-wspolczucia

Proactive Leadership Academy

http://proactiveleadershipacademy.com/

Polish Mindfulness School

http://polskaszkolauwaznosci.pl/

"The shame is not for survivors to carry."

Dr Lisa McLean is a psychologist in private practice at Ocean Psychology, Sunshine Coast, Australia who provides support to adults across a wide range of mental health and other life concerns. Lisa offers a safe, warm, and compassionate space where clients are empowered to create positive change. Lisa has over twenty years’ experience working across private practice and community-based settings, and has a special interest in working with clients who have been impacted by trauma. Her PhD was titled "Compassion focused therapy (CFT) as a group-based intervention for adult female survivors of childhood sexual abuse" and her findings shed light on the possibilities of CFT being particularly helpful for this client group.

Time Stamps:

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

4.20 How do you use compassion focused therapy in your work?

12.55 Tell us a bit about embarking on your PhD research.

15.31 How did your PhD research evolve from that core motivation?

28.39 What are some of the challenges you face taking a CFT approach with people who have experienced trauma?

48.01 How have compassion and self-compassion found their way into your life or made a difference for you personally?

50.59 What projects are you working on next?

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

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

Website:

www.oceanpsychology.com.au

Research:

Perspectives on Self-Compassion From Adult Female Survivors of Sexual Abuse and the Counselors Who Work With Them. [ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260518793975 ]

Compassion-Focused Therapy as an Intervention for Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse. [ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10538712.2017.1390718?journalCode=wcsa20 ]

"The suffering will be relieved and from this comes joy."

Dr Isabelle Leboeuf is a psychologist and psychotherapist in France. In her clinical work, she integrates hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and compassion-focused therapy in working with people with a wide range of mental and physical health distress. She has a private practice in the North of France. Her PhD research project focused on compassion focused therapy. She is interested in the theoretical and clinical developments and adaptations of compassion focused therapy in the light of scientific knowledge around human relations, love and social joy.

Time Stamps:

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

6.37 Tell us a bit about your PhD and your research findings.

9.19 Social joy as part of the mechanisms of compassionate motivation.

11.46 "The suffering will be relieved and from this comes joy."

14.34 Tell us about your journey into compassion and self-compassion.

25.06 Tell us about how you use compassion and compassion focused therapy in your work.

28.26 How might you work with transference and counter-transference from a CFT perspective?

35.10 What challenges do you notice working with clients from a CFT perspective?

39.16 What is next for you professionally?

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

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

Website:

https://joycompassion.org/

Social Media:

Facebook: Isabelle Leboeuf

Twitter: @isacompassion

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC6g6VtIKO8_wnpD4jM4wvWA

Research:

Can compassion-focused imagery be used as an attention bias modification treatment? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348295812_Can_compassion-focused_imagery_be_used_as_an_attention_bias_modification_treatment

Validation of the French version of the Forms of Self‐Criticizing/Attacking and Self‐Reassuring Scale (FSCRS). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337190417_Validation_of_the_French_version_of_the_Forms_of_Self-CriticizingAttacking_and_Self-Reassuring_Scale_FSCRS

Curiosity as an antidote to fearful imagining and an antidote to need for control.

Natali Gumiy is a psychologist in private practice, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She specialises in mindfulness and compassion-based approaches, and works with individuals and families, as well as running group programs, including work with teachers and schools. Along with colleagues, she has established Motivación Compasiva, an association working towards disseminating compassion focused therapy in Argentina through peer supervision groups and training.

Time Stamps:

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

8.29 Curiosity as an antidote to fearful imagining and an antidote to need for control.

11.06 What is your current work and practice?

13.16 What is Motivación Compasiva?

1909 Where did you first come across compassion and self-compassion?

28.35 Where did your focus on compassion focused therapy begin?

32.00 What are some of the challenges you face working as a CFT therapist?

38.26 Compassionate Self, multiple selves, functional analysis of self-criticism.

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

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

Website:

http://motivacioncompasiva.com.ar/

Social Media:

Facebook: Motivación Compasiva

LinkedIn: Motivación Compasiva

Instagram: motivacioncompasiva

Email:

"I'm trying to help people connect with their caring part, their caring motivation. 'I want to try this because it is going to help me, or help me to be with others,' rather than, 'I need to get rid of my anxiety.'"

Elli Tholouli is a psychologist specializing in compassion focused therapy and compassionate mind training at www.compassioncentre.gr in Athens, Greece. She is an active member of the Compassionate Mind Foundation, as well as the International Center for Compassionate Organizations, and she is a Research Fellow in the Laboratory of Quality Research in Psychology and Health at Athens University and teaches Compassion in Education at Harokopio University.

Her purpose is to support people to feel accepted and safe, to understand their difficulties as part of the human experience, and to face them with compassion and courage.

Time Stamps:

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

10.43 Tell us about your journey into compassion and self-compassion.

22.47 How do you use compassion focused therapy in your work?

27.28 Tell us about your compassion focused work alongside other therapies.

33.10 What are some of the challenges you face working as a CFT Therapist?

41.07 What are some of the things you really love about CFT, the success or triumphs?

46.18 How have compassion and self-compassion made their way into your personal life?

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

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

Website:

www.compassioncentre.gr

Social Media:

Facebook: Elli Tholouli, CFT Athens

Twitter: @etholouli

Events and Activities:

CFT training for Therapists

CMT for therapists and general public

CFT peer support and supervision group

In this practice we work with 1) posture, 2) soothing rhythm breathing, 3) developing compassionate self. There is more space and less spoken word to the previous track I uploaded