Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens & Young Adults

Adolescence is a time of change, growth and all too often, struggle.  This course is designed to help teens cope more effectively with the ongoing challenges of their day-to-day life. It brings together the benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion: Mindfulness teaches us to be present with difficult emotions, and self-compassion helps us to respond to these emotions with greater kindness and self-care.  Through developmentally appropriate activities and meditations, teens learn specific tools which help them navigate the emotional ups and downs of this life stage with greater ease.

“At long last, a self-compassion training for teens! This delightful, innovative program captures the essence of self-compassion for an age group that needs it the most.  Wholeheartedly recommended!”    – Christopher Germer, PhD

A preliminary research study on this program has demonstrated significant decreases in depression, anxiety, perceived stress and negative mood from before to after taking this course. Making Friends With Yourself has been adapted from the adult Mindful Self-Compassion program (created by Kristin Neff, PhD and Christopher Germer, PhD) by Karen Bluth, PhD,  Associate Director, Mindfulness-Based Stress and Pain Management Program at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Lorraine Hobbs, M.A., Director, Youth and Family Programs, University of California, San Diego Center for Mindfulness. For more information about self-compassion please see www.self-compassion.org or http://www.mindfulselfcompassion.org. For information about the adult mindful self-compassion program: www.centerformsc.org.

“This is a brilliant adaptation of the MSC program for adolescents, providing a wide variety self-compassion skills using developmentally appropriate language and activities.  Imagine if all teens learned self-compassion early on – so much unnecessary suffering would be prevented!  Thank goodness this program is now available.”  – Kristin Neff, PhD