Self-care for healthcare
Treating yourself with the same care as you treat your patients
Self-care for Healthcare
Treating yourself with the same care as you treat your patients
Caring for Others Starts with Caring for Yourself
Healthcare professionals give so much of themselves to others, often forgetting their own needs. At Self-Compassion Academy, we understand the unique challenges you face. Discover how self-compassion can help you nurture your own well-being, strengthen your resilience, and bring your best self to both your work and life.
What do we offer?
Mindful Self-Compassion Courses for everyone
We offer a variety of formats in-person and online. Like: 8 week courses, 4 week core-skill courses and a 6 week short course. We also offer courses for specific target-groups like healthcare professionals and the LHBTQI+ community.
MSC Teacher Training
For those passionate about sharing the power of self-compassion with others, we provide MSC Teacher Trainings. Our teacher trainings are offered by senior teacher trainers. We pride ourselves in a personal approach and will support you during every step of the teacher training.
Deepen your MSC practice or teachings
We encourage and support you in deepening your personal MSC practice. Through our courses and ongoing resources, we provide the tools and guidance to help you explore the depths of self-compassion. Embrace the transformative power of deepening your practice and witness its profound impact on yourself and those you teach.
Although you’re trained to care for others daily, medical education doesn’t teach you how to care for yourself. It doesn’t cover how to deal with pain, sorrow, fear, or the traumatic experiences you encounter. On the contrary, the message is to stay strong, shield yourself from emotions, and push through, no matter what.
Self-compassion teaches you to be gentle with yourself, manage difficult emotions and challenging relationships more effectively, recognize your own needs, and set healthy boundaries. It encourages making choices that bring joy and fulfillment and to celebrate life.
Self-compassion isn’t just helpful for doctors feeling stressed or burned out; it’s valuable for every doctor. The profession is inherently demanding because you are dealing with pain and suffering every day. On top of that comes the external pressure from ongoing changes in healthcare. Self-compassion supports you in dealing with these realities in a healthier way.
Support us
Young physicians who are at the beginning of a demanding career, deserve the tools to take good care of themselves as well.
Help us make the Mind You Self-Compassion Course accessible to medical interns, residents, and junior doctors.
Your donation invests in their well-being and the future of healthcare. Together, we strengthen the power of self-compassion in medicine! Thank you in advance for your contribution!
Support us
What is self-compassion?
Self-compassion can be described as treating yourself with care and kindness, just as you would treat a close friend. In our personal lives, self-compassion has been a tremendous support (also in writing this book!), and we see its positive effects on doctors every day in our practice.
Important to know is that the impact of self-compassion on doctors’ well-being is scientifically proven. It’s especially effective in managing the external and internal factors that cause stress for physicians.
Just as some people are naturally energetic or calm, extroverted or introverted, some are naturally self-compassionate, while others are more self-critical. The good news is that self-compassion is a skill anyone can learn. As a doctor, you’re often highly responsible and self-critical by nature. You’re deeply committed and dedicated to caring for others. You’ve studied and worked hard for years, often putting your own needs aside to help others heal.
But how are you doing? To care for others, you first need to care for yourself. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Or, as the in-flight instruction goes: you must put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.
Why does that matter?
Because it has great consequences. The doctor experiences less enjoyment, less energy, or even becomes ill.
This impact reaches their loved ones too—doctors are often absent, bringing work home, and may become more easily frustrated.
And, of course, it effects the patients as well. Overworked doctors have less focus, are more prone to mistakes, and risk losing the personal connection that’s so essential in care.
While we touch on the external factors—such as organizational pressures and the demands of the work environment—that contribute to stress and burnout, this book is not about fixing those external issues.
We focus on the person behind the doctor. How, in such a demanding field, can you maintain your balance? How can you keep finding joy in your work? How do you preserve your energy for life outside of work? How can you remain the best doctor you can be, giving patients the compassionate care that drew you to this profession in the first place?
Our book: Heart for the Doctor- Working with Self-Compassion
Doctors love their profession. Seventy to eighty percent of physicians report being satisfied or very satisfied with their careers. The personal contact with patients and the opportunity to offer support and guidance are especially energizing. Having a positive impact on someone’s life—truly making a difference—brings immense fulfillment.
And yet…
Newspapers and medical journals are filled with troubling stories about doctors facing overwhelming workload and burnout. We see this firsthand in our work with doctors. We often meet physicians with young families who struggle to find balance, doctors wrestling with increasing workloads and unnecessary bureaucratic demands, residents working hard to meet expectations and make the right choices, and senior doctors finding it more challenging to manage on-call shifts.
These challenges inspired us to write Heart for the Doctor – Working with Self-Compassion. This book is a practical and heartfelt resource designed to help physicians navigate the demands of their profession with greater resilience and self-compassion.
Drawing on years of teaching mindfulness and self-compassion to healthcare professionals, we offer tools, insights, and real-life examples to support doctors in finding balance and fulfillment in their careers. Whether you’re a resident, a physician balancing work and family, or a seasoned professional facing new challenges, this book provides a path toward sustainable well-being—because caring for others starts with caring for yourself.
Reviews
"The authors capture the unique culture of medicine and how the profession affects a physician’s body, mind, and spirt. An excellent resource for any physician looking to improve their caring for their patients and themselves."
Cultivating self-compassion not only enhances our personal well-being but also positively impacts on the ability to deliver the best possible care to our patients. I can highly recommend Heart for the doctor; working with self-compassion which combines evidence-based foundation with practical exercises, specifically tailored for doctors.”
"The biggest challenge we face in the future of healthcare is the health of our healthcare professionals. If they are in good shape, they can provide the best possible care to their patients. This book identifies the most important condition for this: the genuine, heartfelt attention to your own needs that is the essence of self-compassion.”
"Both authors have a wealth of relevant experience and have produced a book that should be required reading for every doctor!”
Bringing mindfulness and self-compassion
to healthcare
Mila de Koning
Marga Gooren
About us
Since 2013, we—Marga Gooren and Mila de Koning—have joined forces to bring mindfulness and self-compassion to the healthcare world. Over the years, we’ve trained countless doctors through workshops and programs, helping them find balance and resilience in their demanding roles.
Our collaboration goes beyond healthcare professionals. With our book Hart voor de dokter: Met zelfcompassie aan het werk (soon to be available in English), we’ve reached a broader audience, inspiring many to integrate self-compassion into their lives.
Our shared mission is to create a ripple effect—empowering caregivers to care for themselves so they can continue their vital work with energy, clarity, and compassion. Together, we’ve built Selfcare for Healthcare as a space where healthcare professionals can reconnect with themselves and their passion for care.
