Cultivating Self-Compassion in Social Work Education: Development and Implementation of Student-Oriented Self-Compassion Training

Social work students are being trained to become future helping professionals who use the self as a primary tool to support and care for individuals in need. However, current social work curricula often lack structured content that teaches students how to care for themselves, practice self-love, and cultivate self-compassion. Despite the emotionally demanding nature of the profession, where practitioners frequently encounter the distress of service users while managing heavy administrative responsibilities, insufficient attention is given to preparing students to care for their own well-being.Without adequate awareness of the importance of self-compassion and practical skills for treating themselves with kindness, social workers lack the physical and psychological resources necessary to support others and to contain the negative emotions encountered in practice. Therefore, it is essential to enhance social work students’ awareness of self-compassion and to cultivate self-compassionate practices during their university training, prior to professional registration. Such early intervention plays a critical role in stress management and burnout prevention, thereby promoting sustainable and effective professional practice.This project consists of four interconnected components:1. Formation of a Student–Professional Think Tank: A think tank will be established comprising 10 social work Year 4 students who have completed all required fieldwork practicums, two fieldwork practicum coordinators, the Co-I who is the awardee of the Teaching Excellence Award 2025 and is dedicated to social work teaching and learning, and the PI with over 10 years of frontline and managerial experience in social work. The PI has also authored and published a self-compassion self-help booklet for caregivers(available at: https://sws.caritas.org.hk/carer/download/愛自己的30天.pdf). Members of the think tank will engage in structured dialogue to share and critically reflect on their perspectives regarding self-compassion stress and psychological well-being among social workers.2. Development of a Student-Oriented, Digital Self-compassion Training Package: Informed by insights generated through the think tank’s collaborative process, a student-oriented, digital self-compassion training package will be developed. This package will consist of a series of structured self-compassion exercises.3. Curriculum Integration: The PI will integrate the digital self-compassion training package into SS3284: Introduction to Fieldwork Learning II, a core course offered in Semester A of Year 3 to prepare students for their first fieldwork practicum in Semester B. The PI will introduce the concept of self-compassion, its theoretical and empirical linkages to burnout prevention, and the components of the digital package to all enrolled students (approximately 45 students). Throughout the 13-week course, students will engage in the practice of the self-compassion exercises. The digital package will be provided to the students for permanent use, encouraging the integration of self-compassion into their long-term professional practice. This sustained engagement aims to enhance self-compassion awareness and skills, supporting emotional resilience and professional development in preparation for practicum and future practice.4. Evaluation: A mixed-methods evaluation will be conducted, incorporating quantitative pre- and post-test measures alongside qualitative focus group interviews. This approach aims to assess changes in students’ self-compassion awareness and psychological well-being, and to explore the extent to which the training has achieved the intended learning outcomes.