Description
“Surveys show that up to three-quarters of people around the world are struggling from burnout. When you’re burned out, you feel it with every fibre of your being. Burnout is a devastating state of exhaustion, perceived incompetence, and detachment from others and your work, and strikes professionals and family caregivers alike. The stress of living in today’s high-pressure world, coupled with the fallout from the recent Covid pandemic, means that many of us are at the end of our rope.
Fortunately, self-compassion can help you both prevent and recover from burnout. Self-compassion involves treating yourself with warmth, encouragement, and support when you’re stressed and overworked. A large body of research shows that self-compassion is one of the most powerful sources of strength, coping, and resilience we have available to cope with burnout. It reduces exhaustion by helping us to draw boundaries, meet our own needs, and tend to our feelings of overwhelm. It also avoids the shame and self-blame that often occurs when we feel we can’t go on a moment longer, lessening feelings of incompetence. And by keeping our hearts open to ourselves, we generate the strength and safety needed to cope with our stress without shutting down, so we can still care about our work in the world.” Dr. Kristen Neff, 2024. Dr. Kristen Neff, is one of our most esteemed teachers and mentors in our personal Mindful Self-Compassion journey. She is a researcher at the University of Texas and co-founder of The Centre for Mindful Self-Compassion.
Hello and thanks for your interest in this program. We are Mindful Self-Compassion teachers who use these skills everyday personally, and in our work with people who are burned out, stressed and anxious.
We invite you to join us for this weekend retreat and immersion into the core principles and practices of mindful self-compassion, so you can learn new ways of relating to yourself that will reduce stress and heal burnout.
The venue, Bethlehem Centre, offers beautiful gardens and forests, peaceful trails, a mindful walking labyrinth and nourishing whole foods. It will hold us beautifully while together we take a deep dive into mindfulness and self-compassion practice.
Self-compassion—an emotional skill that can be learned by everyone—is all about treating ourselves with the same kindness and understanding as we would treat a good friend. Burgeoning research shows that self-compassion greatly enhances emotional well-being, reduces anxiety and depression, and promotes healthy lifestyle habits.
Come join us on this journey of self-discovery and return home with tools to integrate self-compassion into your daily life in a way that will reduce stress, heal burnout and increase life satisfaction.
Victoria Pawlowski,
Registered Clinical Counsellor
Kristy Williams,
Family Physician
