The UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Program on Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Families is a suite of programs related to self-compassion in families and schools. Our mission is to bring specialized self-compassion training to teens, pre-teens, children, parents, educators, and all adults who traverse the lives of youth, with the ultimate goal of creating a community embued with greater compassion for ourselves and others. We explore ways of bringing programs into schools, serve as a resource for up-to-date research on self-compassion, and provide support for families toward integrating self-compassion into their lives at home.
Our program offerings include:
- Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) – an 8-week adult course with a foundation of mindfulness and a focus on cultivating self-compassion
- Making Friends with Yourself (MFY) – adapted from MSC, an empirically-based course for teens to help them not be so hard on themselves
- Self-Compassion for Parents – a 4-hour workshop to help parents learn ways to be less self-critical, thereby “refilling their own jug” so they can be more present for their children
- Tweens and Parents Mindfulness & Compassion – a 6-week class for parents and children age 7-10 to cultivate mindfulness and compassion skills to provide a healthy foundation for family life
