Mindfulness

This was me when I was just starting out in mental healthcare and was told that I should not get so emotional when I heard painful stories.

That comment stayed with me.

Now I know the problem was not that I was affected by what people shared. The problem was that I had not yet learned how to be with that pain in a way that was steady, healthy, and sustainable.

Self-compassion would have helped me enormously then. Not because it would have made me less caring, but because it would have helped me stay present without losing myself in the process.

Later, after I had children, I moved from treating people to training people. I shifted from healthcare into education, though still within healthcare education.

Over time, my work became focused on supporting healthcare professionals through mindfulness and compassion training. I kept seeing how little space there is in many professional trainings for the mental and emotional pressure healthcare professionals carry every day.

At the same time, I knew that mindfulness and self-compassion could make a real difference there. It helps people build resilience and learn how to care for their own mental and emotional state in deeply demanding work.

It is not about becoming detached from patients. It is about learning how to stay connected to the person in front of you without losing connection with yourself.

That is why I do the work I do now. It is also why this upcoming Mindful Self-Compassion Intensive for Healthcare Professionals in Costa Rica is so meaningful to me: not only because of what we will teach there, but because of the kind of space we will create together.

A brave and compassionate space, with healthcare professionals from different countries and backgrounds, where people do not have to perform, defend, or pretend.

I am teaching this together with Sarah-Anne Schumann (Sarah-Anne Schumann). We both know the pressure of healthcare and the power of self-compassion. And we know the healing energy of an international group when people come together with openness, courage, and compassion.

More about the intensive in link in bio