Below are resources to accompany my short video on self-compassion and mental health. They include evidence-based academic material as well as practical examples and approaches to developing self-compassion.

  • • Bonnardel, V., Biddington, T., May, B., Jones, R., & Roffey, S. (2018). Toward the implementation of contemplative practices in Higher Education. Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 6(3), 3-13. Available at: https://jpaap.napier.ac.uk/index.php/JPAAP/article/view/362/502

This article reports student attitudes towards the introduction of contemplative practices such as Buddhist meditation in a UK university. Results showed that 79% of students would be favourable to the introduction of contemplative practices on a voluntary basis, and 58% would be keen to engage. However, if they were introduced more formally in the classroom, 44% would be self-conscious. 70% of students admitted difficulty with their attention during lectures and exam revision, and 58% were distracted by pervasive use of technology and ‘online multitasking’. The researchers concluded that learning about contemplative practices in relation to the mind and emotions should be part of students’ higher education experience.

  • • Godfrey, P., Larkin-Wells, J., & Frechette, J. (2018). Addressing students’ mental health in a ‘sustainable societies’ class: A collective case study in intersectional compassionate pedagogy (ICP). Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 6(3), 57-65. Available at: https://jpaap.napier.ac.uk/index.php/JPAAP/article/view/379/504

This article is written by a sociologist and two students about their shared experience of participating in a ‘sustainable societies’ class in an American university. The American Psychological Association (APA) estimates that 42% of US students suffer with anxiety, and 36% with depression. This is a reflection of a wider international global epidemic of poor mental health which impedes student learning and success. The authors argue that student mental health challenges intersect with, and are exacerbated by, social / personal oppressions such as racism, sexism, classism, LGBT-phobias and other forms of marginalisation that can compromise healthy identity formation. They conclude that by working together, their experiences show how it is possible to take student and academic staff mental health, and commitments to social justice and sustainability, seriously.

  • • Inwood, W., & Ferrari, M. (2019). Mechanisms of change in the relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health: A systematic review. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 10(2), 215-235. Available at:

https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Inwood2018.pdf

This article reviewed academic research studies investigating the relationship between self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health. Research shows a positive relationship between self-compassion and mental health, along with encouraging results from self-compassion interventions. It concluded that if people can learn to be present with their distress, they are better able to manage negative emotions, reducing the need for processing may be facilitated. Explicitly cultivating self-compassion can be an effective approach to promoting good mental health.

  • • Kneff, K. & Germer, C. (2018). The mindful self-compassion workbook. New York, NY: The Guildford Press.

A practical workbook which starts with the assumption that self-compassion involves treating yourself in the same way that you would treat a friend who is having a hard time. However, we find it easier to offer kindness and compassion to our family, friends and colleagues, and are less likely to offer kindness and compassion to ourselves. There are three elements to self-compassion:

1. Self-kindness – this entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or beating ourselves up with self-criticism. Self-compassionate people recognise that being imperfect, failing, and experiencing life difficulties is inevitable, so they tend to be gentle with themselves when confronted with painful experiences rather than getting angry when life falls short of set ideals.

2. Shared humanity – being human means that one is mortal, vulnerable and imperfect. Therefore, self-compassion involves recognising that personal inadequacy and suffering is part of the shared human experience; something everyone goes through rather than being something that happens to me alone.

3. Mindfulness – this is a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which thoughts and feelings are experienced and observed as they are, without being suppressed or denied. We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time; mindfulness requires that we do not ‘over-identify’ with thoughts and feelings and become caught up and swept away by negative reactivity.

  • • Narain, N. & Narain Phillips, K. (2017). Self-care for the real world. London: Hutchinson.

This is a practical book which contains advice on how to incorporate self-care into daily habits in the form of small achievable steps, grouped together into sections labelled: Love; Hope; Peace; and Joy.

  • • Nowlan, J. (2021, forthcoming). Befriending ourselves: self-compassion. Chapter 6 in K. Waddington (Ed.), Towards the compassionate university: From golden rule to global impact. Abingdon: Routledge.

Jenni is a Senior Lecturer in the University of Westminster Business School where she lectures in work and organizational psychology, and researches in the area of mindfulness and compassion. Her evidence-based chapter begins with a quote by Pema Chödrön, the American Tibetan Buddhist, who argues that the journey to self-compassion begins thus: The first step is developing friendship with yourself. Unconditional friendship means staying open when you want to shut down, when it is just too painful, too embarrassing, too unpleasant what you see in yourself. It unpacks exactly what self-compassion is and compares it to other, perhaps similar, concepts, along with looking at the validity of self-compassion scales. Studies on the positive effects from developing self-compassion are also explored. The chapter includes experiences and stories of practicing self-compassion by members of a university action learning set.

Websites

Kristen Neff’s website contains a wide range of further reading and resources, including guided meditations, exercises to develop self-compassion, and practical tips.

The Contemplative Pedagogy Network website provides resources to help students to become more aware of their internal world and connect their learning to their own values and sense of meaning which in turn enables them to form richer deeper, relationships with their peers, their communities and the world around them. It includes further reading, websites, and guided breathing exercises for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.