What is Compassionate Mind Training (CMT)?
Compassionate Mind Training is an integral part of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). It involves psycho-education that helps us to understand our tricky brains and how difficult it can be to be ‘human’, whilst teaching a variety of mind and body skills that help us to be with these struggles in a helpful and supportive way.
We can learn to direct our compassionate minds to others and to ourselves, with the intention to be helpful not harmful.
What is the 8-week CMT course?
In 2015, Dr Chris Irons and Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland developed and ran the first 8 Week CMT course for the general public. The course built upon the pioneering work of Professor Paul Gilbert and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), and was designed to bring many of the ideas and practices of CMT to non-clinical populations.
This 8 Week CMT group has now been run across the world, including in the UK, Greece, Denmark, Spain, South America and Australia. It’s been run with a variety of populations, including:
- General Population
- Health Care Staff
- Social Care Staff
- Parents
- Clinical Groups (E.G. People With Diagnosed Mental Health Problems)
How effective is the CMT course?
In 2020, Chris and Charlie published findings of the 8-week course based on 55 participants who completed pre- and post- course questionnaires. The research found that the course led to:
- Significant Increases In Compassion, Self-Reassurance, Social Rank, Positive Emotions, And Well-Being
- Significant Reductions In Self-Criticism, Attachment Anxiety, And Psychological Distress.
These changes were maintained at 3-month follow-up, and the results suggested that increases in self-compassion – and reductions in self-criticism – were important in participants’ improvement in well-being and psychological distress.
The abstract of the paper can be found here, and if you’d like a full copy of the article, contact chris@balancedminds.com
The CMT Facilitator Training course
The CMT Facilitator Training (‘train the trainer’) course will equip participants with the theoretical and practical skills to deliver the 8-week CMT course (Irons & Heriot-Maitland, 2020), which is based upon the pioneering work of Professor Paul Gilbert.
The training consists of four parts:, which includes elements of personal practice, theoretical and practical work, responding to common issues and feedback, and supervision of facilitating CMT sessions.
The only pre-requisite for participants enrolling on this course is that they must be a health or social care practitioner with experience of working with mental health and wellbeing.
The total fee for the course is £1500 (all four parts); however, if a participant has already attended an 8-week course (Part 1) or a CFT introductory training (Part 2) and can provide evidence of this at the time of enrolling, they will not be required to (re-)attend this part.
Discounts are available for large group bookings. Please email info@balancedminds.com for more information and admin@balancedminds.com if you would you prefer to pay via invoice.
PART 1 – Personal practice
Fee: £249.99 (self-guided course) or £300 (live course)
Date: Self-guided course is accessible anytime (content is pre-recorded, with Drs Chris Irons & Charlie Heriot-Maitland).
Time: Self-guided course is accessible anytime.
Content: Experiencing the CMT 8-week course as a participant.
Attendance can be either via one of the live courses that are run by Balanced Minds at various points / locations over the year, or via a pre-recorded version that can be accessed from home in your own time.
Part 2 – Introduction to CFT
Fee: £250
Date: 26th – 27th April 2023 (online, with Dr Chris Irons)
Following course dates: 13th – 14th September 2023
Time: 9.00am-4.30pm UK
Content: A two day introductory workshop facilitated by an experienced CFT trainer.
This part provides participants with a solid foundation in the science and theory of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and it’s application for promoting wellbeing.
PART 3 – The 8-week protocol
Fee: £625
Date: 29th Nov – 5th Dec 2023 (online, with Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland)
Time: 9.00am-4.30pm UK
Prerequisite: Part 1 – Personal practice
Content: A 5-day workshop comprising a comprehensive walkthrough the 8- week protocol, including practical exercises, role plays, dealing with feedback, questions, and common issues.
Day 1 (1st): Overview & Week 1
Day 2 (2nd): Weeks 2 & 3
Day 3 (3rd): Weeks 4 & 5
Day 4 (6th): Weeks 6 & 7
Day 5 (7th): Week 8 & Wrap up
PART 4 – Supervision
Fee: £375
Date: Options available throughout the year (upon completion of Part 3)
Time: 8 x 90 mins
Prerequisite: Parts 1, 2 & 3 (or equivalent)
Content: After completing Parts 1-3, supervision is provided in the form of ‘drop in’ 90-min online groups with a CMT expert from our supervision team.
The minimum requirement to complete Part 4 is participation in 8 groups, and we ask that these are completed within the first year of attending Part 3.
The supervsion dates are posted on our website here: balancedminds.com/cmt-supervision
About your trainers
Drs Chris Irons
Hi, I’m Chris. I’m a clinical psychologist specialising in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Compassionate Mind Training (CMT).
I’ve got many years of experience in helping individuals, groups and organisations cultivate their compassionate minds – becoming more compassionate with themselves and others. I’ve published lots of research on the benefits of compassion, and have authored a number of compassion-related books, including the Compassionate Mind Workbook & Compassionate Mind Approach to Difficult EmotionsI
Charlie Heriot-Maitland
Hi, I’m Charlie. I am a clinical psychologist specialising in Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Compassionate Mind Training (CMT).
I provide compassion-focused interventions for individuals, groups, and organisations. I have also run over a hundred various compassion training workshops both nationally and internationally.
Sign up to the training
CMT Facilitator Training can either be booked as a training package, or as individual training events. Discounts are available for large group bookings. Please email admin@balancedminds.com if you would you prefer to pay via invoice.
(Please note, the ‘live’ version of Part 1 (£300) cannot be booked as part of a package, only the ‘self-guided’ version (£250))
To book a training package:
To book an individual training event:
PART 1
Available to start anytime
Personal practice – A self-guided 8-week course (£249.99)
PART 2
26th – 27th April 2023
or
13th – 14th September 2023
Introduction to CFT – A 2-day workshop (£250)
PART 3
1st Mar – 7th Mar 2023
or
29th Nov – 5th Dec 2023
The 8-week protocol – A 5-day workshop (£625)
PART 4
Supervision – 8 x 90min ‘drop in’ group sessions
(£375)
