You are invited to a thoughtful, powerful, and important conversation on the
transformative power of compassion and self-compassion for boys and men. We have the good fortune of learning from three major thought leaders and practitioners in the integration of psychology, mindfulness, and compassion. Our panelists are central theorists and developers of Compassion Focused Therapy (Paul Gilbert), Mindful Self-Compassion (Chris Germer), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Steven Hayes). The panel moderator will be Daniel Ellenberg, founder of the Men and Boys Compassion Coalition.
The conversation will include their own experiences, research findings, and
practical recommendations on both why we need to focus on compassion and self-compassion as essential male traits and how we can overcome the factors that stop compassion and self-compassion from becoming core male traits. The conversation will be both thought-provoking and practical.
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About our panellists
Steven C. Hayes is a Foundation Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Nevada and President of the Institute for Better Health, a 45 year old charitable organization that promotes quality in mental and behavioral health services. An author of 48 books and over 700 scientific articles, he is especially known for his work on "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy" or “ACT” and the psychological flexibility model on which it is based, which stands atop nearly1,400 randomized controlled trials across virtually every major area of human functioning. Dr. Hayes has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy, and Association for Psychological Science. His TEDx talks and blogs have been viewed or read by over five million people, methods he has developed are distributed worldwide by the World Health Organization and other major agencies, and he is among the most cited psychologists in the world.
Paul Gilbert, Fellow of the British Psychological Society, PhD, OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby and honorary visiting Prof at the University of Queensland. Until his retirement from the NHS in 2016 he was Consultant Clinical Psychologist for over 40 years. He has researched evolutionary approaches to psychopathology with a special focus on mood, shame, and self-criticism in various mental health difficulties for which Compassion Focused Therapy was developed. He was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 1993, president of the BABCP 2002-2004, and was a member of the first British Governments’ NICE guidelines for depression. He has written/edited 23 books and over 300 papers and book chapters. In 2006 he established the Compassionate Mind Foundation as an international charity with the mission statement to promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion. In 2011 he was awarded an OBE for his services to mental health. A recent major meta-analysis has shown CFT to be a highly effective therapy (Petrocchi et al., 2024).
Chris Germer, PhD is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010 and they wrote three books: The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout, and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. MSC has been taught to over 250,000 people worldwide. Dr. Germer is also the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and he co-edited two influential volumes on therapy: Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Dr. Germer lectures and leads workshops internationally and he has a small psychotherapy practice in Massachusetts, USA. www.chrisgermer.com www.centerformsc.org