ONLINE: Creating Social Safeness in Compassion Focused Psychotherapy Groups

Timings and Registration‍

Session 1: 22nd January 2026

Session 2: 23rd January 2026

Session 3: 29th January 2026

Session 4: 30th January 2026

‍All timings are according to British Summer Time (BST): 14.00 - 18.00 each session.

This workshop will be 16 hours towards your CPD, and you will receive a certificate of attendance shortly after the workshop via email. Handouts will be sent via email to be brought to the workshop. There will be no formal registration. You will be placed in a waiting room once you click on the link and the CMF Team will add you to the meeting.

This workshop is priced at a flat rate of £239.00. For those in difficult financial circumstances, who may struggle to afford this price, please contact hello@compassionatemind.co.uk

Level: Intermediate

About this Course

In this experiential workshop, we'll be drawing on some of the feedback and insights gleaned from recent studies exploring the use of CFT in group psychotherapy. This workshop will include didactic training on the basics of group therapy, and we will explore: the importance of group induction and group composition; how we can help clients see the potential benefits of group therapy; how we can help clients address their own fears/blocks/resistances to attending group therapy; how we can help clients (and perhaps clinicians) dispel the typical myths associated with group therapy; and ways that group leaders can co-lead effectively. Workshop participants will also be given information on how to assess the functioning of a group using a routine outcome monitoring measure - the Group Questionnaire (GQ).

We will spend some time discussing ways that CFT focused groups are both similar to and different from other group therapy styles. Together, we will explore a CFT group therapy guide that was developed under the direction of Paul Gilbert. Derek used this guide while co-leading a group in England (while on sabbatical), continuing to use this guide for groups run in an American university counselling centre. We will discuss ways to use and adapt this guide for the clients with whom you work.

Ideally those attending this workshop will have had exposure to CFT and will have interest in group therapy. To provide participants a sense of how CFT can be ideal for a group setting, we will engage in a group experience using multiple fishbowl-style demonstration groups. Following each demonstration session, we will process reactions from group participants and observers. Given the likelihood that many attendees will have significant CFT experience, we will work together to address questions that arise and draw on the collective wisdom of our group of attendees.

Finally, this training will also make space to talk about specific case examples and process together ways to move forward in incorporating CFT into group psychotherapy. Throughout the workshop we will be exploring the significance of social safeness, and how we can co-create and cultivate this in a group setting.

Recommended Readings:

1. Cattani, K., Griner, D., Erekson, D.M., Burlingame, G.M., Beecher, M.E. & Alldredge, C. (In Press) Compassion Focused Group Therapy for University Counseling Centers: A Clinician’s Guide. Routledge.
2. Lundgreen, R., Alldredge, C., Cattani, K., Griner, D., Erekson, D.M., Burlingame, G.M.,& Beecher, M.E. (In Press) Compassion Focused Therapy Participant Workbook. Routledge.
3. Gilbert, P. & Choden (2015). Mindful Compassion. Robinson.
4. Griner, D., Beecher, M. E., Burlingame, G. M., Erekson, D. M., & Cattani, K. (2022). Compassion focused therapy in groups. In P. Gilbert, G. Simos (Eds.). Compassion focused therapy: Clinical Practice and Application (pp. 413-426). Routledge.
5. Griner, D., Beecher, M. E., Brown, L. B., Millet, A. J., Worthen, V., Boardman, R. D., Hansen, K., Cox, J.C., & Gleave, R. L. (2018). Practice-based evidence can help! Using the Group Questionnaire to enhance clinical practice. Psychotherapy, 55(2), 196.

Workshop Leader:

Dr Derek Griner is a clinical professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah (US). He is a board certified (ABPP) psychologist who also meets the internationally accepted criteria of education, training, and experience to be endorsed as a certified group psychotherapist (CGP). He has worked in several clinical settings and currently engages in individual, couples, and group psychotherapy, teaching, research, and program development. He also serves as the associate training director at his university’s counselling centre.

Derek spent the summer of 2024 on sabbatical at the Compassionate Mind Foundation in Derby, England, where he worked directly with Professor Paul Gilbert. On this sabbatical, he did clinical work and research focused on Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) in group psychotherapy. Derek focuses his research, teaching, and clinical work on CFT. He is also committed to diversity issues and has conducted award winning research in this domain.