We know these are difficult times for everyone, especially those of you who are serving patients. We hope you will enjoy the videos from our 10-week webinar series featuring mental health and emotional wellness experts showing how health care providers can reduce personal stress during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as coping with other disasters. In addition to these hour-long webinars, we have made a series of mini-videos on related topics.
We will host another monthly webinar series in the winter, most likely on the first Thursday of the month at noon. In the meantime, we welcome your ideas for speakers and topics. Please email them to [email protected]. You can hear about more well-being events via @Dr_Epel on Twitter.
This webinar series is co-sponsored by the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, UCSF Office of Alumni Relations, Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, Mindsight Institute, and the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation.
Download: Insights From Webinar Participants
Resources
Week 1 (Ekman/Epel/Siegel)
- Cultivating Emotional Balance in Groundless Times
- UCSF Department of Psychiatry’s COVID-19 Mental Health Resources (see "Emotional Well-Being" section for breathing exercises)
Week 3 (Halifax/Doerhn)
- Helpful Tips for Providers on Working With Moral Distress and Moral Residue
- Cultivating Presence in Our Encounter With Suffering (includes the meditation on strength statements at the end)
- "Standing on the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet" by Joan Halifax
- Varela International Symposium: Exploring the Great Landscape of Awareness – Insights From Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, and Buddhism (free, May 29–31)
- The online contemplative support circles described by Jennifer Doerhn are based on healing circles.
Week 4 (Siegel)
- The Wheel, the Pandemic and Resilience: Dan Siegel's model of the mind and how one can enter a deep relaxing experience of awareness of the mind using the Wheel of Awareness
- "The Power of Showing Up: How Parental Presence Shapes Who Our Kids Become and How Their Brains Get Wired" by Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
Week 6 (Hof/Mason)
- About Wim Hof
- The Wim Hof Method (free mini class)
- Pilot study on the Wim Hof Method examining inflammatory response to endotoxin
- UCSF News: Can short-term stress make the body and mind more resilient? A new study is testing that theory
Week 7 (Jinpa/Ekman/Reddy)
- "A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives" by Thupten Jinpa, PhD
- Interview: "Thupten Jinpa on Fearless Compassion"
- Mind & Life Podcast: "Thupten Jinpa – Cultivating Compassion"
Week 8 (van der Kolk/Bullard/Ziedonis)
- Mindfulness Practices for Clinicians
- "Coming To Your Senses" video series on somatic strategies
- Trauma Research Foundation virtual conference: Psychological Trauma in the Age of Coronavirus (May 28–30)
- "The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma" by Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Week 9 (Perel/Weiss)
- New York Times opinion article: "We're All Grieving. This Is How We Get Through It." by Esther Perel, MA
- Relationships Under Lockdown: Resources from Esther Perel for Couples, Individuals, and Families Coping With the Realities of Life During COVID-19
- Clip from Esther Perel’s “Sessions” dialogue with Elissa Epel on how to have emotional boundaries when needed, emotional closeness, and avoiding zoom fatigue
Week 10 (Blackburn/Ekman/Epel/Kornfield/Siegel)
- The Lindau Guidelines, a Hippocratic oath for research by Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD
- Talks on steadiness, compassion, and reducing anxiety by Jack Kornfield, PhD
- Free weekly talks on science and coping by Daniel Siegel, MD
- The Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions (AME) Center features lectures and retreats with Elissa Epel, PhD
