Balanced Minds

11/07/2025

☀️ Soak Up Summer with Compassion-Focused Discounts!

As the days grow warmer and brighter, why not take time to nurture your personal and professional growth? Enjoy 20% off our selected Self-Help and Training Courses using the code SUMMER20

🌿 Self-Help Courses
• 4-week Self-Compassion Course
• 8-week Compassionate Mind Training Course

📘 Training Courses
• Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy workshop
• CMT Facilitator ('Train the Trainer') workshop
• All Parts (1, 2, 3 & 4) of our CMT 'Train the Trainer' training pathway
• On Demand Introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy

Whether you’re looking to reflect, recharge or refine your professional skills, these courses are here to support you – all at 20% off with SUMMER20

Offer ends 3rd August 2025
www.balancedminds.com

21/03/2025

If you’d like to learn about the CFT for Psychosis approach, is running a half-day introductory session next week (Tues 25th) with .inspire.training

Everyone is welcome! It’s 9am-1pm (US) / 4pm-8pm (UK).
To register, go to Stanford website: https://med.stanford.edu/inspire-training/cft

18/03/2025

Join us in our upcoming Acting into Compassion workshop with Korina & Gareth in sunny Cascais, Portugal, this May 2nd -3rd! ☀️🎭🪷

Acting into compassion! Find out how acting skills can be used in Compassion Focused Therapy to develop the compassionate mind

17/03/2025

One of our Directors (Dr Chris Irons) had the privilege to run the first Compassion Focused Therapy training Colombia last week

If you're interested in learning more about CFT, take a look at our trainings: https://balancedminds.com/compassion-focused-therapy-training/

16/02/2025

A reminder that Balanced Minds' next CMT Facilitator Training – PART 3 starts this Wed 19 Feb.

This 'train the trainer’ course will equip you with the theoretical and practical skills to deliver the 8-week Compassionate Mind Training course (Dr Chris Irons & Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, 2020), which is based upon the pioneering work of Professor Paul Gilbert.

Here's some great feedback from a previous CMT workshop participant: "Very intensive 5 full days, yet very focused course, specific and helpful in every detail. Well-balanced between theory, sharing experience and own practice. Also a perfect way to meet a lot of amazing people contributing to the international CFT community."

Join us for the next step in your CMT training journey and register now — https://balancedminds.com/product/cmt-facilitator-training-part-3-feb-2025/

* Participants will have already completed Parts 1 & 2 (or equivalent).

13/02/2025

We regularly point to publications that Balanced Minds' Directors, Dr Chris Irons and Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, have contributed to, with this week's focus on the subject, 'Exploring the roles of compassion and post-traumatic stress disorder on global distress after sexual trauma'.

The objective of the research states: "Recovery from sexual trauma can be complex and multi-faceted. Most current psychological treatment protocols for trauma use a cognitive model of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ... Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is an approach that incorporates evolutionary, relational and social perspectives. This study explored the relationships between variables associated with CFT, PTSD and distress in survivors of sexual abuse to determine the role of CFT-related variables."

Find out more about Dr Chris Irons' co-authorship of this research article by accessing the literature online — https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjc.12465

11/02/2025

Join Balanced Minds' Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland for our next CMT Facilitator Training – PART 3.

Starting next Wed 19 Feb, the training will be structured as follows:
Day1️⃣ Wed 19 Feb — Overview & Week 1
Day2️⃣ Thu 20 Feb — Weeks 2 & 3
Day3️⃣ Fri 21 Feb — Weeks 4 & 5
Day4️⃣ Mon 24 Feb — Weeks 6 & 7
Day5️⃣ Tue 25 Feb — Week 8 & Wrap up

The 5-day workshop involves a comprehensive walkthrough the CMT 8-week protocol, including:
🙆🏽‍♂️ practical exercises
🤓☝️ role plays
🤔💭dealing with feedback
❓ questions, and
💡common issues

Take the next step in your CMT training journey and register now — https://balancedminds.com/product/cmt-facilitator-training-part-3-feb-2025/

* Participants will have already completed Parts 1 & 2 (or equivalent).

06/02/2025

You've still got time to sign-up for tomorrow's 'Compassion-focused approaches for Educational Psychologist Practice' with Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland and Dr Jo Taylor.

Head to Eventbrite now to book and we'll see you online tomorrow — https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/compassion-focused-approaches-for-educational-psychologist-practice-tickets-1031122704767

05/02/2025

Join Dr Jo Taylor (pictured) and Balanced Minds' Director, Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, at this week's 'Compassion-focused approaches for Educational Psychologist Practice' workshop.

This all-day event (9AM–4PM) on 7 February will cover:

• An introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy and Compassion Focused Approaches
• Mapping compassionate attributes onto the EP role
• Practical activities using two models to support with the understanding and unpicking of emotions in EP work (3 circles, multiple selves)
• Using compassionate qualities as a planning tool, to create next steps for your work as an EP, and much more

Sign-up via Eventbrite — https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/compassion-focused-approaches-for-educational-psychologist-practice-tickets-1031122704767

04/02/2025

In the lead-up to this Friday's 'Compassion-focused approaches for Educational Psychologist Practice' workshop, here's some wider reading on the subject in an article that Balanced Minds' Director & Clinical Psychologist, Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, contributed to last year, titled 'Developing a Compassion Focused Supervision Model for Senior Leaders in Education'.

The piece opens with: "This article describes the development and delivery of a novel model of supervision for senior teachers in schools, informed by Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). It explores whether this model can be considered acceptable and valuable to senior teachers, and is able to be delivered by multiple supervisors using a manual."

Read more about the scope of this research by following this link — https://www.lidsen.com/journals/icm/icm-09-02-033

31/01/2025

Both Balanced Minds' Directors, Clinical Psychologists Dr Chris Irons and Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, are leading specialists in the field of .

And at the beginning of next month, you can join Dr Charlie Heriot-Maitland, along with Dr Jo Taylor, for their one day workshop, 'Compassion-focused approaches for Educational Psychologist Practice'.

Dr Jo Taylor is a Child & Educational Psychologist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is currently completing a Churchill Fellowship into compassion as a facilitator of caregiving.

If you would like to find out more about compassion focused approaches whilst developing your skills in talking about suffering and distress, then this is the perfect introductory course for you.

Secure your place for this all-day event on 7 February via Eventbrite — https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/compassion-focused-approaches-for-educational-psychologist-practice-tickets-1031122704767

29/01/2025

Looking ahead into March already, with a focus on our online two-day introduction to Compassion Focused Therapy Training (Part 2), running 26-27 March 2025 with Balanced Minds Director and Clinical Psychologist, Dr Chris Irons.

In this section of our ongoing Compassion Focused Therapy training, you will explore the key concepts, theory and practices of CFT, learning about the model underpinning CFT, rooted in evolutionary understanding of the development of mind, neuroscience, neurophysiological and attachment research.

The training enables an understanding of the nature of our three basic emotions regulation systems, as well as the development and function of shame and self-criticism.

Book your place — https://balancedminds.com/product/online-compassion-focused-therapy-training-26th-27th-march-2025/