Club Lunch: Stressed And Burnout? Try Self-Compassion

Wednesday, May 18, 2016
12:30pm for 12:45pm – lunch
1:15pm – address
1st Floor

Speaker: Anna Friis, Health Psychologist

Self-compassion is emerging as a balm for many modern day ailments, arising out of scientific studies into the health benefits associated with mindfulness. Not only does self-compassion offer a pathway to reducing the negative effects of stress on health and wellbeing, but may also be the missing link in preventing empathy fatigue and so-called compassion burn-out. Anna Friis talked about the latest research showing how compassion is a skill that can be trained, enabling one to ”breath underwater” when faced with difficult life circumstances and – importantly – more likely to care for others.

First trained as a journalist, Anna Friis developed an early interest in mindfulness-based practices as a non-pharmacological way to manage stress and optimize well-being. With a Masters degree in the brain-body effects of stress, Ms. Friis retrained as a health psychologist before embarking on a PhD investigating the health benefits of self-compassion among people suffering chronic illness. Anna also works in private practise as a psychologist and has trained with some of the world’s leading teachers of mindful self-compassion.