A Compassion Focused Approach to Living with Long Term Health Conditions and Chronic Pain 

What does the group involve? 

The group is based on a psychological therapy intervention called Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT).  

CFT recognises that we all have the same internal systems that manage our emotions. 

CFT teaches us how developing a compassionate approach to our difficulties can improve emotional balance of these systems, management of our physical health and therefore our wellbeing.  

There is a mixture of teaching and group discussion. It is important to take an active part in the group sessions to get the best out of them.  

Learning what the 3 emotional systems are, and how they can become unbalanced when living with long term physical health conditions and pain. 

Learning about how our minds work, how our thinking can get easily caught up in difficult loops like self-criticism and how this impacts how we act, feel and manage long term health conditions.  

Understanding what compassion means, and how you can develop skills in showing compassion to yourself. 

Learning and practicing different exercises to help you to develop your ‘compassionate mind.’ 

Some of the topics covered include: 

How might it help? 

People attending similar groups have found it helpful in: 

  • Being less self-critical 
  • Being more accepting of themselves and others and the problems that living with long-lasting health difficulties and pain can cause. 
  • Reducing feelings of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and isolation. 
  • Having a better understanding of how to manage the difficult emotions that go along with living with long term health conditions and chronic pain 

What can I expect from the group? 

The Compassion Focused Group will be delivered in weekly sessions for 8 weeks. Each session will last up to 2 hours.  

The group is delivered online in a virtual group. If you need any help with this, please let us know. 

You will have the opportunity to share your experiences, share ideas and develop supportive relationships with others who are going through similar experiences.  

The group will be led by members of the Psychology Team from the Physical Health Speciality. We aim to have between 8 and 10 people at the group.