Compassionate Mind Facilitator Training:
Are you interested in learning about and developing your skills in compassion training?
We've designed a comprehensive journey to empower you with the skills and knowledge to lead our evidenced based, 8-week Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) course
Whether you're working in health, education or corporate settings - or with the general population - this CMT training will provide you with everything you need to help people develop their compassionate mind
What is Compassionate Mind Training (CMT)?
Compassionate Mind Training is an integral part of 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.
CMT exercises can include:
- Attention training
- Mindfulness
- Body posture
- Soothing breathing
- Calm place imagery
- Compassionate memory
- Compassionate self
- Compassionate other
- Loving-kindness practice (metta)
The Compassion Mind 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.
This 8-week CMT group has been run across the world, including UK, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, South America and Australia.
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: £250
This 8-week self-guided course, pre-recorded by Dr Chris Irons & Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitlands is available anytime.
Content: Experiencing the CMT 8-week course as a participant.
Attendance for this course 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
Dates: (online, with Dr Chris Irons)
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 CFT and it’s application for promoting wellbeing.
PART 3 – The 8-week protocol
Fee: £625
Date: 23rd – 29th June 2027
(online, with Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland)
Time: 9.30am-5.00pm 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: Overview & Week 1
Day 2: Weeks 2 & 3
Day 3: Weeks 4 & 5
Day 4: Weeks 6 & 7
Day 5: 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 Compassionate Mind Facilitator trainers
Dr Chris Irons
Hi, I’m Chris. I’m a clinical psychologist specialising in 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
Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland
Hi, I’m Charlie. I am a clinical psychologist specialising in 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.
I’ve published lots of research on the benefits of CFT, and co-authored the book ‘Relating to Voices with Compassion Focused Therapy’
Sign up to the Compassionate Mind Facilitator 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.
To book an individual training event:
How Effective is CMT?
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
There are now a wide range of studies that have supported the helpfulness of CMT in different settings, and in different lengths and amounts of training
Our Compassion Mind Training course is inspired by CFT and CMT developed by Professor Paul Gilbert
