Mindful Self-Compassion 8-week (In-Person)

ABOUT MINDFUL SELF-COMPASSION

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an 8-week course offered several times a year in the Chicago area. Based on the work and research of Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Christopher Germer, MSC is designed to offer participants the skills for emotional resilience and learning to be kinder to oneself during the difficult times in life.

During the 8-week course participants will learn to:

• Practice mindfulness and self-compassion in daily life
• Understand the science and research of self-compassion
• Use self-compassion to live in accord with personal core values
• Handle difficult emotions with greater ease
• Motivate oneself with kindness rather than criticism
• Work with challenging relationships
• Manage caregiver fatigue
• Practice the art of savoring and self-appreciation
• Teach and/or model simple self-compassion tools to others

Facilitators

Monique Mercier, MA, C.Psych.Assoc.

Monique Mercier, M.A., is a psychological associate registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario who works out of her private practice, Kindful Psychology Services in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She is a trained teacher of the Mindful Self-Compassion curriculum which is based on the clinical and research expertise of Drs. Christopher Germer and Kristen Neff, through the Centre for Mindful Self-Compassion. Her clinical work focuses on working with people suffering from stress, burnout, anxiety, trauma, and depression, both individually and in group settings. Monique blends cognitive-behavioural, mindfulness, and self-compassionate modalities to empower her clients and participants to navigate the inevitable stressors that life can bring and to savour and appreciate the more pleasant aspects.

Bryan MacLeod , MD, CFPC, FCFP

Bryan is the Medical Director for SJCG’s Chronic Pain Management Program. He is the Chair of SJCG ECHO Chronic Pain Interprofessional Medical Education Program (https://sjcg.echoontario.ca/). He cut his teeth as a rural family doc in Marathon Ontario after graduating CCFP from the Northwestern Ontario family medicine program (NOMP) in 1998 and began clinical precepting for NOMP ultimately becoming its Director of Faculty Development. On returning to Thunder Bay in 2004 he was NOSM’s first chair for its FD committee and has since facilitated over fifty undergraduate modules, taught ten years of pain medicine lectures, while continuing bedside teaching, as an associate professor.

Bryan passionately advocates for improved access to Pain Education at all levels of training and is one of two final reviewers for AFMC’s Canadian curriculum on chronic pain, opioids and addiction (release in 2021). Other interprofessional passions include, geriatrics, rheumatology and palliative care. Research interests include Chronic Pain in the ER, chronic pain education, and The Indigenous Pain Reality, all @DrBMacLeod (twitter) He is a father of and cab driver for three busy increasingly adult/teenagers. His passions include: his family, Improv theatre, basketball, and of course medical education.