The Women's Mental Health Network were delighted to host a webinar and Network members meeting on 4th December 2020. The first half of the webinar involved a presentation from Dr Katie Baird who presented on Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). 

Dr Katie Baird is a practising compassion focused therapist, and the founder of the Irish Centre for Compassion Focused Therapy (ICCFT). She is a counselling psychologist with over 20 years experience working with young people and adults. Having trained in the U.S. and Dr Baird has worked in mental health care and academic settings in Ireland for 19 years.

Dr Baird offered a variety of ways to think from a compassionate perspective, and practices and resources to cultivate compassion in our personal and professional lives. A number of the recommended resources are detailed below.

From Dr Katie Baird:

• The Compassionate Mind Workbook, book by Chris Irons and Elaine Beaumont
• Mindful Compassion, book by Paul Gilbert and Choden
• An Open-hearted Life, book by Russel Kolts
• Compassion-focussed Therapy for Dummies, book by Mary Welford
• Online lectures by Paul Gilbert
• The Compassionate Mind, book by Paul Gilbert (scholarly book)

From webinar attendees:

• Dance Breathe from Tara Mohr
• Self-Compassion Guided Meditations and Exercises from Kristin Neff
• Guided Meditations from Christopher Germer 
• Practical tips, podcast and meditations from Rick Hanson
• How to be resilient by Dr Selda Koydemir
• Where should we begin? Podcast from Ester Perel

The second half of the webinar involved an interactive session with members of the Women’s Mental Health Network.

If you would like to learn more about the Women's Mental Health Network or sign up as a member click here.