Background Information and Informed Consent
Hollyhock 2024
Welcome!
For your safety and wellbeing, we’d like to make sure that this program is a good fit for you at this time. Although participants take primary responsibility for their own safety and well-being in an MSC Intensive, we would also like to be sure that this program will meet your needs. In order to assist you and the teachers in making this determination, please take some time to read the following statement and answer the following questions.
Please note: The information you provide will only be reviewed by the teachers, and possibly by a participant-support person for the course; it will not be seen by administrative staff at the retreat centre, or anyone else. And we will contact you only if we have questions.
MSC is taught in a variety of formats, and an Intensive can sometimes be a more emotionally challenging format. An Intensive is five days of full immersion in self-compassion; participants are assimilating the material more quickly than in the eight-week format, and may not have as much access to their usual social supports as they have at home. The depth of the training also means that difficult emotions are more likely to surface. At the same time, the deep dive into self-compassion that happens at an Intensive is a unique opportunity to experience its transformative potential.
To create an optimal learning experience, Intensives are only taught by experienced MSC Teachers, and at least one of the teachers must be a Certified Teacher, which is the highest level of training. (Both Megan and Martin are Certified Teachers.) All participants will be encouraged to engage in the Intensive to the extent that they feel comfortable, and not more. However, participants should consider in advance whether they are ready for this kind of learning experience, or if a different MSC format might be preferable at this point in time. If you are unsure, please indicate below that you would like one of the teachers to contact you for further discussion. In some cases, it may be best to work with a licensed healthcare practitioner before engaging with the MSC program in its intensive format. And if you are currently seeing a therapist, we recommend discussing with your therapist whether the timing is right for you to take this program.
Please note that only the questions marked with an asterisk are required.