LIVE OPENING KEYNOTE: Self-Compassion: An Antidote to Shame

Christopher Germer, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010 and they wrote three books: The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout, and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. MSC has been taught to over 250,000 people worldwide. Dr. Germer is also the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and he co-edited two influential volumes on therapy:Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Dr. Germer lectures and leads workshops internationally and he has a small psychotherapy practice in Massachusetts, USA.

Kristin Neff, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion more than twenty years ago. She has been recognized as one of the most influential researchers in psychology worldwide. Kristin runs the Self-Compassion Community, an online learning platform where people can learn the skill of self-compassion with the help of others. She is author of the best-selling books Self-Compassion and Fierce Self-Compassion. Along with her colleague Chris Germer, she developed the empirically-supported Mindful Self-Compassion program and co-founded the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. They co-wrote the best-selling The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook and have a new book called Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout coming out in September 2024.