March 2016 Tool of the Month

This month’s tool: Recognizing trustworthy others with BRAVING (adapted from Brene Brown): People don’t operate in a vacuum Have you ever worked with a client to change the way she treats herself, only to have her come back the following week beating herself up  because of a difficult interaction she had with a loved one … Read more

April 2016 Tool of the Month: Video recordings for highly self-critical clients

This month’s tool: Video recordings for highly self-critical clients We have updated our resource page with some of our favorite videos that we find useful in working with shame-prone and self-critical clients. Some of the videos are educational for clients, some are emotionally evocative, and some are both educational and evocative. Videos can be a … Read more

May 2016 Tool of the Month – Books for the public

This month’s tool: Books on shame, self-criticism, and self-compassion for the public We have updated our resource page with some of our favorite books on shame, self-criticism, and self-compassion for the public that we find useful in working with shame-prone and self-critical clients. We find that it can be helpful to recommend these types of … Read more

June 2016 Tool of the Month

This month’s tool: Guided meditations for highly self-critical and shame-prone clients We have updated our resource page with some of our favorite meditations that we find useful in working with shame-prone and self-critical clients. Often, people who are highly self-critical and shame-prone tend to spend a lot of time with emotion systems related to threat … Read more

February 2016 Tool of the Month

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. Our aim here is to provide a brief overview and offer you a few resources where you can find out more information if these ideas are of interest to you. This month’s tool: Compassionate letter writing exercise Writing a letter to one’s self … Read more

December 2015 Compassion Tool of the Month

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. Our aim here is to provide a brief overview and offer you a few resources where you can find out more information if these ideas are of interest to you. This Month’s Tool: The Berkeley Greater Good Science Center’s Compassion Page This page … Read more

Collaborative Case Conceptualization with Highly Shame-Prone and Self-Critical Clients

Case conceptualization with highly shame-prone and self-critical clients may often be thought of as case re-conceptualization. That is, clients with high degrees of shame and self-criticism often arrive in therapy with their own conceptualization of their problems, one that is often driven by fusion with the story that they are broken, damaged, incompetent, stupid, or … Read more

January 2016 Tool of the Month: The Self Compassion Scale, Short Form (SCS-SF)

In our previous Tool of the Month posts, we have written about two assessment measures we often give clients who are struggling with shame and self criticism, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS) and the Fears of Compassion Scale. This month we highlight another self report measure, the Self Compassion Scale, Short Form … Read more

November 2015 Compassion Tool of the Month

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. Our aim here is to provide a brief overview and offer you a few resources where you can find out more information if these ideas are of interest to you. This Month’s Tool: Fears of Compassion Scale In our previous blog posts, we … Read more

September 2015 Compassion Tool of the Month – Meditations to open the heart from Tara Brach

Each month we highlight some practical resources for therapists interested in compassion. We don’t go into great depth about what we find, but encourage you to check them out if you think they’re interesting. This Month’s Find: Meditations to Open the Heart from Tara Brach The other day as I was searching for meditation resources, I … Read more