With Clara Strauss and Robert Marx

SIX ONLINE SESSIONS: Wednesdays at 2.00-3.30pm on 3, 10, 17 and 24 May, 7 and 14 June 2023 (break on 31 May) 

Compassionate leadership is linked with improved learning and innovation, and reduced staff stress, injuries and absenteeism, and even reduced patient mortality.

At the heart of compassion is the notion that everyone experiences difficulty, and that we can all play a role in alleviating our own difficulties and those of others. Whether this is compassion for ourselves, the people we lead, colleagues or service users. We won't always feel like helping and will sometimes be tired or overwhelmed or unable to connect. Although it helps to have positive feelings, we do not have to feel compassion to be compassionate. We can recognise our physical and mental state, resource ourselves as best we can, and respond from our firm compassionate intention, rather than from impulse or intense emotion.

How does this translate into compassion in health and social care organisations? How might we think about compassionate leadership, working with colleagues, service users and their friends and families? Prof Michael West has spent his career answering this question, pointing to research that shows how compassionate leadership is linked with improved learning and innovation, and reduced staff stress, injuries and absenteeism, and even reduced patient mortality. In short, compassion is essential to high quality healthcare.

Dr Robert Marx and Professor Clara Strauss have designed a training programme of six weekly sessions, lasting 1.5 hours.

The course is for anyone in a leadership role within Health and Social Care and will combine experiential practice and reflection, as well as home practice to help cultivate compassion for ourselves and the people we lead.

Please note, we ask all those who book a place on this training programme to fill in an application form that will be sent to the facilitators. If you haven't already, please head HERE to fill in the form.

Ticket price:

• £150 per person 

For enquiries: smc@spft.nhs.uk