Are you are a psychologist, social worker, counselor, or nurse who wants to explore self-compassion in your clinical practice?

  • You want to have evidence-informed and ethically-sensitive conversations with clients about how self-compassion practices could improve their recovery and treatment outcomes.

  • You hope to gain the ability to introduce and share self-compassion practices with clients through the use of free online resources.

  • You wish to make appropriate recommendations for clients who want to integrate self-compassion practices into their treatments.

  • You aspire to know when it is appropriate to integrate self-compassion into a client's therapy as opposed to making a referral to a meditation teacher.

But there's a solution. Through SCA courses, you will gain the knowledge PLUS the evidence-based skills to:

  • Have evidence-informed and ethically-sensitive conversations with clients about forgiveness.

  • Make appropriate recommendations and referrals for clients who want to integrate spiritual practices into their treatments.

  • Harness clients’ religious and spiritual strengths.

  • Build a stronger therapeutic alliance based on showing respect toward clients’ deeply held beliefs and values.

Over the past 20 years, self-compassion has emerged as one of the fastest growing and most promising areas in therapy. In psychological terms, self-compassion is most commonly defined in three parts as follows:

“Self-compassion entails being kind and understanding toward oneself in instances of pain or failure rather than being harshly self-critical; perceiving one’s experiences as part of the larger human experience rather than seeing them as isolating; holding painful thoughts and feelings in mindful awareness rather than over-identifying with them.”

- Kirstin Neff, PhD, pioneering researcher on self-compassion.

The Self-Compassion Bundle for CE

Here are all the courses that are included in your bundle.

Meet Your Instructors

Gary Buck, PhD is a graduate of Meridian University’s Doctor of Psychology program and also holds a bachelor’s degree in Religion from Princeton University. He is a licensed psychologist and has participated in trainings led by Zindel Segal, PhD in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, by Richard Miller, PhD in Yoga Nidra/Integrative Restoration, and completed an internship with Saki Santorelli in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at the U. of Massachusetts Medical School. A Buddhist meditator of nearly 50 years, he currently practices in the Vajrayana tradition where his main interests are Mahamudra and Dzogchen. He is a former Buddhist monk in the Thai Theravadan tradition. Gary is a former Managing Director and Board member of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts and a former Associate Director of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County. He is currently a psychotherapist in private practice in San Rafael and Petaluma, CA, where he sees child and adult clients.

David Lukoff, PhD is a licensed psychologist and co-author of the DSM IV and DSM 5 diagnostic category Religious or Spiritual Problem which increased awareness of  spiritual issues in clinical practice. He has published over 80 articles on spirituality and mental health, and is an active workshop presenter internationally on spiritual competency, grief, death, recovery, and spiritual crises. He is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, CA and previously served on the faculties of Harvard and UCLA. He is co-founder of the Spiritual Competency Academy which offers training programs on mindfulness, forgiveness and spiritual assessment.

Cassandra Vieten, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist, mind-body medicine researcher, author, consultant, and public speaker. She is Executive Director of the John W. Brick Foundation, Associate Research Scientist at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. Her research has focused on spirituality and health, transformative experiences and practices, the development of mindfulness-based interventions for emotional well-being, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and completed her research training in behavioral genetics at UC San Francisco. She has authored three books, published numerous articles in scientific journals, and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop leader.


Read An Article by Dr. Lukoff and Dr. Vieten

Testimonials

"The information and guidance in Dr. Lukoff's courses will soon be, if not already, mandatory for all health care professionals who choose to remain current and literate in their fields."

-Jeanne Achterberg, Ph.D. , Former Professor of Psychology at Saybrook Graduate School

"An excellent job of guiding people through the mental health resources."

-John Suler, Ph.D , Department of Psychology, Rider University Webmaster: Psychology of Cyberspace

"I am so excited to know that I am not the only one seeing the importance of this concept and how it would help to broaden the area of wellness and emphasis on the mind, body, and spirit/psyche/soul."

"This course has helped me to see the progression of the relationship between spiritual and religion. The section on the history of religion and spirituality was fascinating."

"The information presented here will help me demonstrate to my interdisciplinary colleagues that spirituality is foundational to human care...or rather is the foundation of human/holistic care."


View More Testimonials

SCA courses provide approved CE and CME credits through the following accreditation agencies:

✦American Psychological Association                             ✦California Board of Behavioral Sciences 

✦California Board of Registered Nursing                        ✦The California Board of Chiropractic Examiners

✦The California Board of Occupational Therapy           ✦The National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching 


More info on accreditation 

Want more credits? Buy the comprehensive series of forgiveness, mindfulness, and self-compassion courses.

A TOTAL OF 19 CEUs!

  • Self-Compassion Practices for Mental Health Care Professionals

    $40 - 4 Courses for 4 CE Credits

    This four course bundle reviews the contemporary theories and research on psychological approaches to self-compassion the pioneers in this field the instruments for measuring this important human capacity how to use of self-compassion interventions that allow you to bring self-compassion into the clinical setting online resources such as guided self-compassion meditations for therapeutic use.

    View Self-Compassion Bundle

  • Forgiveness Practices for Mental Health Care Professionals

    $50 - 5 Courses for 5 CE Credits

    The theory and practices of forgiveness have been largely the province of the world’s religious and philosophical traditions. However the topic has recently attracted the increasing interest of researchers and clinicians. Starting in the mid 1980’s, forgiveness has found a new home within psychology, and research on forgiveness began in earnest. The health benefits have been well-documented and approaches to forgiveness have been developed that therapists can currently drawn on in their work. These five courses focus on the religious background to approaches to forgiveness, contemporary research, and clinical applications.

    View Forgiveness Bundle