Marie Bloomfield
Clinical Psychologist
B.Sc(Psych.), M.Clin. Psych(UNSW), MAPS(Coll.Clin.Psych.)
Flyer for the Compassion-Focused Therapy Practice and Supervision Meetings
Compassion-Focused Therapy
Practice & Supervision Meetings
You are invited to join us for Compassion-focused therapy Practice and Supervision Monthly Meetings online. The aim is to bring together health professionals such as psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and other mental health practitioners who have already received training in Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) to consolidate and to reflect on their personal practice and clinical skills. The first prerequisite is to have attended one of our previous Online CFT courses or to have participated in previous workshops with Paul Gilbert and other Compassion-Focused Therapy teachers. The second prerequisite is that you are currently using or aim to use this approach in a group or individual setting.
If you are new to Compassion-Focused Therapy and wish to join our next Online CFT course click here
Who is it for:
The CFT Practice and Supervision (CFT P&S) Meetings are for health professionals who see clients individually or in group sessions such as psychologists, clinical psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, school counsellors, mental health/psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, coaches, counsellors and others working in a variety of settings in mental health, drug and alcohol, relationship counselling, genetic counselling, private practice and so on.
Format:
We will meet once a month, on a Tuesday of each month for one hour and a half on Zoom (see the dates below). The meetings will consist of an initial compassion-focused meditation/visualisation, followed by a discussion and reflections on topics and case presentations. The aim is to provide support to strengthen our personal practice and to extend clinical skills in CFT especially to assist with complex clients' needs.
The focus of CFT Practice and Supervision Meetings
The aim of the meetings is to support one another in compassionate mind training and to cultivate the three flows of compassion in our personal lives as well as the application of tools/strategies that can better assist clients in treating a wide range of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, anger, inner criticisms and shame in clients. There will also be a focus on self-care and supportive compassionate practices that strengthen our capacity to attend to our clients effectively with compassion.
We wish to bring together therapists and mental health workers who are in various stages of their careers, and who are motivated to bring more compassion into their life and work. The purpose of these meetings is to promote friendly and supportive peer supervision. We will consult with each other as peers in a small group format, for the purposes of self-awareness and professional development in our clinical practice. We will support each other to facilitate a reflective focus on our practice and clinical challenges to promote positive therapeutic outcomes using mostly Compassion-Focused Therapy processes and other compassion-based applications.
WHAT IS COMPASSION-FOCUSED THERAPY (CFT)?
CFT developed by Paul Gilbert is an empirically validated therapeutic intervention that calls on the more evolved human mental capacity of empathy and compassion to promote wellbeing, resilience, and better relationships. Compassion-Focused Therapy or Compassionate Mind Training is beneficial for clients who are experiencing a high level of self-criticism and shame which is known to exacerbate and maintain depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, weight concerns, obsessive-compulsive disorders, chronic pain, hoarding and post-traumatic stress disorders.
Cultivating compassion and self-compassion increases the capacity to engage in supportive relationships and to foster emotions of safeness, contentment, belonging and connection which are key to psychological healing. In our personal compassion-focused practices, we develop a relationship with ourselves that is kind, supportive, understanding and caring, to regulate difficult emotions and re-organise motivations and perspectives to promote courage, wisdom, and skilful actions. Therapists come from a variety of approaches such as CBT, ACT, and EMDR, to extend their clinical expertise to facilitate greater transformation in themselves and their clients through Compassion-Focused therapy which is also called Compassionate Mind Training.
Research findings
Research increasingly shows that cultivating the three flows of compassion promotes positive clinical outcomes as well as protects therapists from stress burnout, empathy distress, caregiver fatigue and vicarious trauma which arises as we resonate with the struggles of our clients.
Compassion-Focused Therapy fosters mental and physical health. Studies in clinical settings are showing that compassion-focused therapy leads to significant psychological improvements in clients with a diagnosis of anxiety, depression, trauma, brain injury, eating disorders, personality disorders, hoarding disorders, chronic pain, schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and other chronic mental health problems (Paul Gilbert & Gregoris Simos, 2022).
Previous training is required to attend this CFT Practice and Supervision meeting
The participants will need to have received prior training in CFT, either having attended our Compassion-Focused Therapy course or having participated in other Compassion-Focused Therapy training workshops presented by Paul Gilbert and other CFT teachers. The participants will be expected to understand the CFT theoretical framework and clinical applications such as:
• Three flows of compassion
• Fears and blocks of compassion
• Evolutionary model of the “tricky” brain
• Role of affiliative emotions in threat regulation
• Case Formulation and Life Plan Formulation
• Three circles of emotion systems
• Functional analysis of inner critic and shame self
• Multiple selves inner dialogues
• Chairwork
• Visualisations of compassionate other/self
• Mindfulness and self-compassionate practices for grounding and soothing
• Sympathetic joy and other positive emotions
• Compassionate self-care practices to ease burnout and to promote resilience and wellbeing
What to expect:
At every meeting (1.5 hours), the participants will be asked to commit to the group rules of confidentiality and compassionate behaviours.
We will begin the meeting with a compassion-focused meditation/visualisation (20 minutes). Following this, we will invite a discussion on a pre-selected topic. We will finish the one-hour meeting with the option to present a clinical case in a small group and/or to ask further questions relating to the applications of CFT. Presenting a clinical case is optional.
The meetings aim at peer support and are facilitated by Marie Bloomfield. This is not a formal teaching or therapeutic meeting as such. The aim is to support each other through our challenges and explore how a compassion-focused therapy approach can promote healing, resilience, well-being and better relationships. We wish to assist one another in the applications of CFT but each therapist is clinically responsible for how they use CFT.
To register for the CFT P&S meeting you will need to contact Marie Bloomfield to clarify the CFT training you have received. If you meet the pre-requisite you will be sent the private Event Brite link to register for the meetings. Once you have registered, closer to the time of the meeting, you will receive an email with the Zoom link to access the meeting and the pre-selected topic for discussion. We will ask everyone who attends as much as possible to turn on their camera. These meetings will not be recorded.
Learning Outcomes:
- Personal Practice in Compassionate Mind Training
- Compassionate peer-supportive practice
- Compassionate therapeutic engagement with clients
- Cultivation of compassionate equanimity and self-care
- Moving in a flexible manner in the three flows of compassion
- Balanced regulation of the threat, drive and soothing-caring emotional systems
- Working to ease fears and blocks in self-compassion
- Fluency in CFT Functional Analysis, Case Formulation and Life Plan Formulation
- Self-care and self-compassion to promote resilience and meaningful engagement
Continued Professional Development (CPD)
These meetings will be a valuable source of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This can also count towards your professional supervision hours depending on the requirements of your professional cohort. The five-hour attendance will count for Peer Consultation Continued Professional Development (CPD) to maintain your registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency(AHPRA) as a psychologist or mental health social worker.
About the Presenter:
Marie Bloomfield B.Sc(Psych.), M.Clin. Psych(UNSW), MAPS(Coll.Clin.Psych.) is an accomplished clinical psychologist, with over 40 years of experience in working in mental health, including public, academic and private sectors. She initially operated from a CBT and positive psychology framework. In the last twelve years, she has been very fortunate to receive training in mindfulness (MBSR & MBCT), Compassion-Focused Therapy(CFT) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) with Paul Gilbert, Kristin Neff and Chris Germer. Marie has been using these compassion-based approaches for individual and group clinical interventions. She is a leader in teaching Mindfulness and Self-Compassion to health professionals in Australia.
For more reading in CFT we recommend:
Compassion Focused Therapy - Clinical Practice and Applications, ed. by Paul Gilbert & Gregoris Simos, 2022
To register for the Evening CFT Practice & Supervision Meetings you will need to contact Marie Bloomfield (Clinical Psychologist) to clarify the CFT training you have received. If you meet the pre-requisite requirements you will be sent the private Event Brite link to register to join the meetings in the evening. Once you have registered, closer to the time of the meeting, you will receive an email with the Zoom link to access the meeting and the pre-selected topic for discussion. For more information or to register contact Marie Bloomfield at [email protected]
Compassion-Focused Therapy Practice and Supervision (7.5 hours)
Date: Tuesday, once a month
Time: 7:00 -8:30 pm (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra time)
Venue: Online
Cost: $200.00 for 5 sessions (1.5 hours)
If you are interested to know more or to register please contact us