Course Description:

Healthcare providers require a broad range of effective stress management strategies to maintain well-being and respond skillfully to the multiple stressors we face daily. Kindness and compassion practices are evidence-based tools that can be added to your self-care toolbox to reduce stress and support your well-being. In addition, once familiar with these contemplative practices and their benefits, a clinician can share them with patients. This course introduces you to specific contemplative practices that help you cultivate kindness and compassion, promote positive emotions and reduce stress. Kindness and compassion research is reviewed, phrases evoking these states are introduced and meditation practices to develop them are guided. Combining lecture and experiential exercises, this course is applicable to healthcare professionals in both inpatient and outpatient settings who would benefit from learning self-care practices to promote their own well-being and to share with patients.