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Compassion-Focused Therapy | CFT Course

May 28
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

A cinematic landscape representing Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). A solitary woman sits peacefully on a rocky overlook at golden hour, facing a vast sunlit valley with winding rivers and distant mountains. Soft streams of glowing light flow through the landscape around her, symbolizing compassion, soothing, and emotional regulation moving through the mind and body. A luminous heart shape formed by light rises subtly in the horizon, representing warmth, safeness, and compassionate connection without becoming symbolic cliché. The image blends emotional depth with grounded realism through bright natural daylight, soft atmospheric diffusion, rich textures, and an expansive editorial-style composition that conveys inner transformation, calm strength, and hope.

Help us reach the people who may need this most by sharing this free course with friends, family, colleagues, online communities, social media or on your own website.

🎧  Audio – Listen on the go -- (coming soon)


🧡Welcome to the Free Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) Course for Everyday People

Compassion Focused Therapy was created by British clinical psychologist Paul Gilbert, who developed it through the 1990s and 2000s and founded the Compassionate Mind Foundation in 2006 to carry the work worldwide. It was born from a striking observation: people can build perfectly logical, balanced thoughts and still feel awful, especially people carrying deep shame and a harsh inner critic. Gilbert's answer wove together evolutionary psychology, attachment science, Buddhist mind training, and modern neuroscience into a therapy built on one central insight: compassion is not a mood you wait for, it is a skill you can train, and training it measurably changes how a mind treats itself. Today CFT is practiced across the world, backed by a steadily growing research base.

This course teaches pure CFT, with no other modalities blended in. It's written in plain, emotionally relatable language anyone can follow, whether you work in the field or have never set foot in a therapy room. It isn't clinical training for therapists; it's CFT you can put to use in your own life. Each module offers clear teaching, real-life examples, and the practical tools, techniques, and strategies CFT is known for, and every lesson ends with a simple practice so you can begin using the skill right away.


This course is self-paced, with no tests, exams, or homework. Feel free to go through it in order, or jump around to whatever interests you most.


Course outline

Click any module below to begin.


The Basics


How Compassion Works



The Core Practices


Shame and Self-Criticism



Putting Compassion into Action



Living It



Related Courses



We Hope You Enjoyed The Course

Help us reach the people who may need this most by sharing this free course with friends, family, colleagues, online communities, social media or on your own website.



Disclaimer:

Everything IFS Academy is an independent educational platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IFS Institute. While we strive for accuracy, errors can occur, and users are encouraged to cross-reference critical information. These courses, lessons, skills, and practices are offered for educational and self-reflection purposes only. They do not constitute therapy, mental health treatment, clinical training, or crisis support, and they should not be used as a substitute for professional mental health care.


Crisis Support: 🚨

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, feel unsafe, feel at risk of harming yourself or someone else, or feel too overwhelmed to safely use self-directed practices, please pause this material and reach out for immediate support. Contact a licensed mental health professional, call or text 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or use your local emergency or crisis resources.

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