FOCUS – Fostering Our Compassion, Understanding and Self-Care

Abstract

This online learning resource is a gateway to Fostering Our Compassion, Understanding, and Self-Care (FOCUS). The Internet is filled with so many resources on mindfulness practices that it can sometimes be overwhelming and confusing to navigate. FOCUS is simply an introduction to the mindfulness world by providing students, staff, and faculty (and all individuals) with opportunities to learn about and practice mindfulness. Documented benefits of developing a mindfulness practice include but are not limited to: stress reduction, enhanced self-care, and increased well-being (Paulson, Davidson, and Kabat-Zinn, 2013). FOCUS is filled with ideas, resources, practices, and research regarding why and how mindfulness practice can help us in our daily living, including developing more compassion for ourselves and others. This stand-alone, self-paced, learning opportunity can be embedded into the core curricula of postsecondary institutions to help generate a campus-wide culture of wellbeing, and enhance students’ ability to be resilient across both their academic and professional life. FOCUS can be incorporated with and relevant to a wide range of learning contexts (i.e. potentially applicable to any discipline, and usable in fully online and blended learning contexts), providing learners and educators across disciplines with tools in mindfulness and self-care. FOCUS is intended to be self-paced and learners might want to complete a little bit each day, taking time to reflect and practice, while some might wish to complete the module in one sitting—it is up to the individual. Going through FOCUS is simple! Just follow the prompts, click on buttons, view videos, breathe, contemplate, try some of the activities, and progress through the activities at your own pace. Fostering compassion, understanding and self-care is a personal journey, and FOCUS is a tool to help along the way.