3. Respond With Compassion

Inner Critic: Softening Harsh Voices with Self-Compassion

From Self-Criticism to Self-Compassion

When the inner critic is loud, simply telling clients to “be kinder to themselves” can feel unrealistic, uncomfortable or even threatening. For many people, self-criticism has become a familiar way of managing mistakes, maintaining standards or protecting themselves from rejection and failure.

This experiential two-hour CPD workshop explores how self-compassion can provide an alternative way of responding to the inner critic. Participants will explore the psychological foundations of self-compassion and consider why compassion can be difficult for some clients to access or accept.

Through practical exercises, reflection and therapeutic examples, participants will explore how self-compassion can help clients develop a more balanced and supportive internal response without dismissing responsibility, lowering standards or resorting to superficial positive thinking.

The workshop will provide practitioners with practical ways to introduce and work with compassion in therapy, while remaining sensitive to clients for whom compassionate approaches may initially evoke resistance, shame or vulnerability.

The third stage of the Taming the Inner Critic journey moves beyond simply working with the critical voice towards developing a different internal response: responding with compassion.

Description supplied by the event organiser.