Tara Riddell is a fourth year chief psychiatry resident at McMaster University. Tara is passionate about wellness, particularly for healthcare providers and caregivers, which has led to her to serving as co-author of RESPITE (Resilience in the Era of Sustainable Physicians) and “Humanism and Resilience in Residency Training”. Tara is a lead editor of Concordia (a wellness newsletter for residents), a facilitator of both peer-support and Balint-informed groups, and co-founder of a formalized wellness curriculum. She has presented at several conferences on these initiatives and her own experiences, which include struggles with perfectionism, anxiety, and burnout. Over the last 10 years, Tara has engaged in various mindfulness practices to optimize her and others’ well-being including having recently completed a Mindful Self-Compassion course.
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) for Skeptical Highly-Driven Perfectionists
Sunday, May 3, 2020 — 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
In a busy, cut-throat, goal-oriented society, is there room for being kind to ourselves? Does being kind to yourself make you lazy, unmotivated and lacking the ferocity necessary to ‘make it in life’? Is self-compassion just a pity party for oneself?
All of these questions will be addressed in this experiential and hands-on workshop, as participants explore self-compassion through the lens of a “skeptic”. Kristin Neff’s three-pronged model of Self Compassion will be presented, along with several exercises that have a mindfulness focus. Recent literature on Self-Compassion will be showcased, including evidence supporting self-compassion’s role in psychopathology (e.g. anxiety, depression), overall well-being, and motivation. Participants will be also be invited to share their triumphs, tribulations, and doubts with regards to self-compassion in small groups, and collaborate and share ways to incorporate kindness into our daily lives.
Participants will come away with:
- Understanding recent evidence on self-compassion and its role in well-being and psychopathology (e.g. anxiety, depression)
- Exploring doubts and skepticism towards self-compassion, and what one can do to address these doubts
- Learning tangible, practical and highly applicable exercises to practice self-compassion in everyday life