General

This weekend, I am taking a little break from all conference-related matters. For someone who eloped 21 years ago to avoid all the hoopla, I sure seem to enjoy organising a 200 person event every year! Phew, it’s a lot of work, but it’s also very exciting. I can’t wait for June 4th.

Meanwhile, for a little R&R, I am indulging in my other passion: reading new cookbooks. I bought my very first one at age 13, I remember it perfectly – we were browsing in a bookstore somewhere on the Jersey shore during a family vacation, and I saw “Laurel’s Kitchen” a vegetarian bible for those in the know. I had already been pouring over my mom’s extensive collection for years (anyone remember the “Foods of the World” Time Life Series?). I would also read cookbooks during my babysitting gigs. I had two regular jobs: one with a yuppie foodie family who had great snacks and even better Read more ›

Every day this week, we are sharing with you some highlights of the upcoming Compassion Fatigue Conference, June 4-5th, 2013.

June 4th: Mindfulness as a Practice of Self-Reflection and Connection with Valerie Spironello, MSW.

This session was one of last year’s most highly rated workshops!

Mindfulness gives us the opportunity to ‘drop’ into our life and begin to explore the stories we carry that impact on how we ‘show up’ in the world. In this session we will explore the concept of mindfulness and how it can help mitigate the impact of our work as helper’s while being present and fully engaged with those we serve. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in a restorative mindfulness meditation practice.

Click here for more information

June 5th: Creating Vision Boards for Creative Wellness

with Supria Karmakar

Back by popular demand, Supria Karmakar returns with a new expressive arts experience for anyone interested in mapping out their plan for wellness.  

The power of visualization is well documented. The imagination has the extraordinary capacity to shape reality. Visualization is the intentional and directed use of your imagination to shape your reality. In this workshop you will be learning how to create vision boards that can have a positive impact of all areas of your life. Each participant will create their own vision board for their own health & wellness, using the tools of collaging and intentionally directing the imagination to shape their reality.
Supria has been a social worker and community developer for 16 years. She has facilitated numerous community program meetings, events, conferences and workshops within the social service health sectors.

Click here for more information

June 5th – Closing Keynote

For Better and for Laughter:  How to Manage your Energy Capital with Andrée Jetté 

The medical body is becoming more and more aware of the virtues of laughter. In fact, the science of psycho-neuro-immunology, which is studying the effects of mental attitudes on the immune system is proving that it is weakened when people are under stress, depressed or are feeling lonely.

Do you sometimes finish your day drained of all energy? Do you feel a need to change your lifestyle, your location or your place of employment?  Do you feel like responsibilities are dragging you down? A solution is needed and may be found once you understand your personal energy capital. This presentation relates to the rapport we undertake with others, as well as with ourselves.

Andrée Jetté is a thirty-two year career teacher and speaker, in the field of “Stress Management Through Humour”.

Click here for more information

Every day this week, we are sharing with you some highlights of the upcoming Compassion Fatigue Conference June 4-5th, 2013.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES THAT WORK FOR HIGH STRESS TEAMS

Organizational Strategies – early intervention and risk assessment of secondary trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout in the workplace

with Dr Leslie Anne Ross, Children’s Institute, Los Angeles.

This workshop will highlight lessons learned in Community Mental Health and Child Welfare on implementing training, policy, and workforce development strategies to address prevention and intervention of secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and burnout. Results of a U.S. national survey conducted by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) on this issue will be discussed as well as highlights of a county wide initiative in Los Angeles, CA to create trauma-informed systems of care.  Click here for more information

Change Leadership – Helping People Overcome Barriers to Change

with Maryse Lepage, Certified Integral Coach, Prosci certified Change Manager, Ottawa.

Organizational health and a climate of engagement hinge on shaping positive and productive change experiences for employees. Strong leaders play a critical role during successful transitions; they demonstrate active and visible support, they open up communication channels, they help resolve resistance and remove barriers to change. In this workshop, participants will learn about five dimensions of change leadership, focus on a framework to identify barriers to change and practice with a tool designed to help in coaching individuals and teams through transitions. The workshop will be based on a training module developed in the scope of a leadership program at MD Physician Services where the development of change capabilities has been very effective in promoting change readiness across the organization and in contributing to a healthy organizational climate. Click here for more information

Don’t forget the “Refer a Friend Contest” which ends May 16th, 2013. Visit our conference website for details.

Every day this week, we are sharing with you some highlights of the upcoming Compassion Fatigue Conference June 4-5th. Today, we feature a “mini business bootcamp” and Soul Stations.

Running a Business from the Heart and the Hip: Balancing the joys and predicaments of being your own boss with Robin Cameron, M.Ed., CCC.

An informal talk with a serial entrepreneur who believes that with a little bit of creativity you can be the best supervisor you’ve ever had and avoid becoming a tyrannical mess!  Bring your questions and real life examples, or show up with fears and reservations, heckle, take notes, come as you are to this fun and relaxed business bootcamp.

My clients face a deluge of unrelenting stress. We take the best of coaching and counselling and with a little humour thrown in, work to lessen the hard stuff and make room for more fun and inspiration

Robin Cameron is a therapeutic coach who works with helping professionals and students who desire more freedom and room to be creative in their work lives. She can be found at www.lifeinspired.ca

Join us on June 4th to hear Robin’s presentation along with several others such as:

Soul Stations (A little first aid for the soul) with Christa Dales Donnelly

After 30 years working in social services agencies, both in Developmental Services and Ontario Works, Christa Dales Donnelly has experienced Compassion Fatigue and all the fallout from it. Christa developed her business  “Compassion For You”  in order to provide awareness and support for agencies, professionals and families that are involved with the rewarding, heart wrenching, frustrating, life affirming and soul sucking endeavour of providing human services. At the conference, Christa will engage you in fun, interactive and thoughtful activities while affording you the opportunity to learn and share ideas that help us cope when our “give a damn” is busted.

and

Taking Control Back from Stress: Key strategies from a top level personal trainer with Renee Whitney

When your health becomes your last priority you can become drained, physically uncomfortable and stuck. Take care of your physical well being first and not only do you transform your body but you feel more ALIVE!!  Your relationships, work and life in general all become easier and more enjoyable. Most people know this & want this, but sometimes find it hard to stay on track when “life happens.” This is why I created FOCUS Personal Fitness Studio. I believe that everyone can benefit from proper guidance, support, and motivation. Our role at Focus is to provide these tools in a welcoming environment where individuals can discover their own personal reasons for wanting to live a healthier, happier life.

Stay tuned as we feature more great offerings from this year’s Compassion Fatigue Conference all week!

Don’t forget that there is still time to enter your name in the”Refer a Friend Contest”

Refer a Friend Contest: Ends May 16th 2013.

Refer a friend and enter your name in a draw to win a $200 refund off your registration! To enter this contest: 1) You must be a registered participant by May 10th, 2013 2) Your friend must enter your name in the “refer a friend contest” box on the registration page anytime before May 17th. We will draw a name on May 17th, 2013. Good luck!

 Click here for more information on the June 4-5th Conference

Every day this week, we are sharing with you some highlights of the upcoming Compassion Fatigue Conference June 4-5th. Today, it’s all about organizational health

What would you do if you were given carte blanche to design and implement a compassion fatigue initiative in your workplace? 

Read more ›

Hi! how do you like the website redesign? It was time to rejig a whole bunch of things on the site which took nearly a year of work (mostly involving my poor web designer waiting for me to get back to him – Sorry James…) but here we are at last. If you see anything funky on the site, please drop us a line so we can fix the glitch, but it should be mostly ready to roll.

The Compassion Fatigue Conference is less than a month away! In the coming days, I will share information about some of our speakers to give you a sense of what to look forward to at this year’s conference.  Also, don’t forget that the Refer a Friend Contest ends soon.

Today, I would like to introduce you to our first keynote speaker, Dr Kristin Neff. Kristin is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Culture at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kristin Neff is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion over a decade ago. In addition to writing numerous academic articles & book chapters on the topic, she is author of the book “Self-Compassion,” released in 2011.

Click here to watch Kristin’s Ted Talk

Kristin is also featured in the bestselling book and award-winning documentary The Horse Boy which chronicles her family’s journey to Mongolia where they trekked on horseback to find healing for her autistic son. Click here to view a clip from the movie. 

Kristin’s work has received extensive media coverage, including the New York Times, MSNBC, National Public Radio, Reader’s Digest, and Psychology Today. She offers workshops on self-compassion worldwide, and has developed an eight-week program to help people learn to be more self-compassionate in daily life. Information on self-compassion – including videos, guided meditations, exercises, research articles, and a way to test your own self-compassion level – is available at  www.self-compassion.org.

Tomorrow, we will share with you information on another speaker coming to this wonderful two day event!

Click here for more information on the conference

Refer a friend to the Compassion Fatigue Conference June 4-5, 2013 and your name will be entered in a draw to win a $200 refund off your registration!

Refer a Friend Contest: Ends May 16th 2013.

Contest rules: 1) To be eligible, you must be a registered participant by May 10th, 2013  2) Your friend must enter your name in the “refer a friend contest” box on the registration page and they must register anytime before May 17th. If you refer more than one friend, your name can be entered more than once!

We will draw one name on May 17th. Good luck! Click here for more information on the Compassion Fatigue Conference, June 4-5, 2013 in Kingston, On.

My copy of GP’s new cookbook.Yours for only $19.99 at your local big warehouse store

I sure hope Gwyneth Paltrow has a thick skin, because she has been rather roughly treated in the media lately by some journalists critiquing her new cookbook “It’s All Good: Delicious Easy recipes that will make you look good and feel great.” I’m not sure what the hostility is all about – Oprah, Nigella Lawson, and many other celebrities have published cookbooks and lifestyle manuals in the past without being told they are “too blond, too oscar winner, too married to a rock star” (or something to that effect, that’s my vague recollection of a headline in the G&M recently).  Me, quite frankly, I don’t care who writes the book – if it’s a cookbook, it’s already got my attention, if it’s a lifestyle book that promotes healthy eating and plant-based nutrition and not weight loss, now you’ve really got my attention, whether or not you’re married to the hottest rock star around.

The recipes I tested this week were simple and delicious – my kids liked all of them. The emphasis is on plant-based, gluten and dairy free eating, but there are some meat recipes in there as well. Sure, if reading about someone who is thousands of times richer and more famous than you makes you angry, then don’t buy this book, but I found it an enjoyable read and the book is currently our main source of inspiration for healthy plant-based cooking. It’s all good.

Are you coming to the Compassion Fatigue Conference in Kingston June 4-5th? If so, now is the time to reserve your seat and your hotel room.

Why it’s important to book your room asap: The Ambassador Conference hotel is hosting a large Shriners’ meeting at the same time as our conference (no, this is not a joke, they really are! ) so they will have 400 shriners staying at the hotel. Currently, they are protecting a block of rooms for our conference participants, but after May 3rd, these rooms will be released and no longer reserved. The 400 Shriners might just grab those rooms and you will be out of luck.

So if you are planning on coming to the conference, book your room as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

How to book a room: ***Important – You will only be able to book a room by contacting the Ambassador Resort directly. The entire hotel is blocked for this conference and for another event. Therefore, please do not be surprised if you cannot book a room via sites like hotels.com or expedia. They will tell you there is no room, but there is! It’s just being saved for us. Special conference rate available only until May 3, 2013. Quote “COMPASSION JUN 2013? to become eligible for special rate. Visit the Ambassador Conference Resort online or call 1-800-267-7880.

We hope to see you there!

Click here for more information about the conference

Today, I am delighted to bring you a feature interview with Dr Judith Davidson who is a Kingston-based clinical psychologist and the author of the newly released “Sink into Sleep: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Reversing Insomnia.”

Q: Judith, congratulations on your new book! Can you tell us a bit about your work as a Kingston-based psychologist?

Thank you!  Since 2007, I have been the psychologist with the Kingston Family Health Team.  This Team comprises several family physicians and other health professionals who serve 30,000 patients in the Kingston area. At the Health Team, I assess and treat primarily anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Most of what I do is group treatment programs, using cognitive behavioural therapy.

Q: Can you tell us about your new book? 

Certainly!  I am excited that it is out.  I wrote Sink into Sleep for people who have insomnia (trouble sleeping that lasts 1 month or more). This condition impairs people’s functioning, well being and mood. It can also lead to depression.

My background is in sleep research, and for several years I’ve known that the best treatment for insomnia is something called “CBT-I”. CBT-I is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. This treatment is NOT accessible to the people who need it. So I wrote the book to get the technique out there, to put the knowledge into action.

CBT-I is a set of interventions specifically for insomnia. In a nutshell, it involves first discovering what type of insomnia you have, then basing your bedtime and rise time on that — in order to get your sleep very solid. You then adjust your bedtime over 2-3 weeks until you have solid sleep that is sufficiently long. It also includes techniques for dealing with racing thoughts.

I tried to translate the techniques that we use in the clinic to the book so that people can do the program themselves.  It does involve logging your sleep and some simple calculations, but with some patience, it is a highly effective program. People start sleeping well and then know how to maintain their good sleep for the long term.

The book also contains chapters on men’s sleep, women’s sleep, sleep when you are anxious or depressed, sleep and medical conditions, and the pros and cons of sleep medication.

The book website is Sinkintosleep.com.  It has information and some special electronic forms to supplement the book.

I hope it helps lots of people!

Q: What would you suggest to someone who is reading this interview who has been struggling with insomnia and doesn’t know where to start? 

Pick up a copy of Sink into Sleep!

Q: Thank you Judith! I see that the book is now available at Chapters, Indigo and Amazon. So if you are struggling with insomnia or know someone who needs help with their sleep, take a look at this great new resource.