Compassion Focused Therapy with St. Michael's House Psychology Department

Issued 3 February 2021

CFT

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) is a talking therapy that was originally developed by Paul Gilbert in the UK and is used in many countries around the world. 

St. Michael's House Compassion Focused Therapy Project was developed by Dr Manus Moynihan (CAMHS-ID) and Dr Anita Hyland (CAMHS-ID/SAT) who are clinical psychologists in St. Michael's House.  These videos are developed for families, staff and service users.  We hope you find them useful, particularly during COVID-19 pandemic.

Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) tries to support people to understand their motivations, thoughts, and feelings. The videos below provide an introduction to CFT and the three related emotion regulation systems, focusing particularly on how these emotion systems may be affected by COVID-19 pandemic. We are all experiencing difficulties in living with COVID-19, and therefore we think these videos are useful for everyone to watch, including frontline staff, service users and families. CFT is a talking therapy that was originally developed by Paul Gilbert in the UK and is used in many countries around the world.

Video 1:  Here we introduce the "Compassion Focused Therapy model" and how it can be used to organise and understand our thoughts, feelings and experiences.

Video 2:  This video looks at a way of understanding how our brains developed through evolution and considers some of the ways our old-new brain interactions can shape our experiences in the here and now, and one way to step back and try something different.

Video 3:  The "Threat System" is a way to understand some of the ways we our fears and worries can be activated for us. Here, we look at common responses to fear and worries, ways you can recognise "threat", and ideas to understand and manage these feelings.

Video 4:  The "Drive System" is a way to understand some of the ways we can be motivated to achieve our goals. Here, we consider some unintended outcomes when ours goals are frustrated, and some ways to avoid common traps.

Video 5: The "Soothing System" is a way to understand some of the ways to slow down, feel safe, and feel content. We will explore how this part of us can often be overshadowed by "Threat" and "Drive" systems and how you might pay more attention to the "Soothing System" to being more balance to your life.

We hope you enjoy these videos.  Should you have any feedback please email communications@smh.ie