Telehealth Certification Institute

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Mindful Self-Compassion Fundamental Concepts and Skills

Enroll in the Online Self-Study and complete the training on your own schedule.
6 CE hours available for behavioral health clinicians completing the Online Self-Study.

Unfortunately, being hard on yourself to achieve desirable outcomes appears to be more common than practicing self-kindness, especially in times of high stress and failure. This is often true for those who serve in the fields of helping professions, including health and mental health providers.

Developed by Christopher K. Germer, Ph.D. and Kristin Neff, Ph.D. the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion, providing a powerful tool for building resilience.

Research has shown that self-compassion greatly enhances emotional well-being. It boosts happiness, reduces anxiety and depression, and can even help maintain healthy lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise. Being both mindful and compassionate leads to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives.

This MSC Fundamental Concept and Skills course led by Vira Salzburn, MSC Trained Teacher, will discuss the key points from the MSC program and will include meditations, experiential practices, and journaling exercises that could be helpful for anyone wishing to learn self-compassion for themselves as well as bring it to their clients. The goal is for participants to directly experience self-compassion and learn practices that evoke self-compassion in daily life.

Select each tab above to view specific details about this course

Unfortunately, being hard on yourself to achieve desirable outcomes appears to be more common than practicing self-kindness, especially in times of high stress and failure. This is often true for those who serve in the fields of helping professions, including health and mental health providers.

Developed by Christopher K. Germer, Ph.D. and Kristin Neff, Ph.D. the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program combines the skills of mindfulness and self-compassion, providing a powerful tool for building resilience.

Research has shown that self-compassion greatly enhances emotional well-being. It boosts happiness, reduces anxiety and depression, and can even help maintain healthy lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise. Being both mindful and compassionate leads to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives.

This MSC Fundamental Concept and Skills course led by Vira Salzburn, MSC Trained Teacher, will discuss the key points from the MSC program and will include meditations, experiential practices, and journaling exercises that could be helpful for anyone wishing to learn self-compassion for themselves as well as bring it to their clients. The goal is for participants to directly experience self-compassion and learn practices that evoke self-compassion in daily life.

This course was recorded on March 2 & 9, 2023

Upon completion of this training, professionals will be able to do the following:

  • Describe mindful self-compassion and its elements

  • Explain the benefits of self-compassion

  • Integrate mindfulness and self-compassion into daily life

  • Use self-compassion to handle difficult emotions with greater ease

Vira Salzburn, M.S.

Vira Salzburn is the Program Director for Safety and Resilience programs at Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council. She earned a Master of Science degree in Management, Organizational Behavior & Leadership from Troy University and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Humanities from Auburn University at Montgomery. Vira is currently studying human behavior at Harvard University.

Vira is a Mindful Self-Compassion Trained Teacher, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Master Trainer, and Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness and Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Instructor. She is a Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® Teacher, and is also trained in the Search Inside Yourself program of Google Leadership Institute, Trauma Informed Coaching, and Compassionate Leadership, the program of the Task Force for Global Health.

Vira is the developer of the community-based upstream suicide prevention approach that uses evidence-based Mindful-Self Compassion programming. She is a public speaker on suicide prevention, resilience, mindfulness, and self-compassion, and has been selected for the 2022 Savannah TEDx.

As a Ukrainian-American, Vira recognizes the importance of overcoming cultural barriers and connecting with others for making a meaningful difference on personal, organizational, and community levels. Since moving to the U.S. in 2007, Vira has had the privilege of volunteering as an interpreter and a liaison between Ukrainian orphaned children and American adoptive families, which has greatly impacted her perception of compassion and servanthood and helped her better understand the true meaning behind the idea of “changing the world one life at a time”.

You can find Vira here.

Credit Hours: 

This course provides 6 credit hours

Counselors: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0048. Approval renewal date: 1/31/2026

Marriage and Family Therapists: Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if this course would be accepted by your licensing board.

Social Workers: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2021 – 05/02/2024. Social workers completing this course receive 6 clinical continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0435. Approval renewal date: 2/28/2026

Addiction Professionals: Telehealth Certification Institute is an approved provider of continuing education by NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals, provider #193104, effective 04/03/2023. Full attendance is required; no partial credit will be awarded for partial attendance.

Psychologists: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0128. Effective 8/31/2021 – 8/31/2024 

Art Therapists: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists #CAT-0093. 7/21/2021 – 7/31/2024

Other Professionals: This course qualifies for 360 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course.

To receive your certificate of completion you must complete the course in its entirety.

Online courses are completed by registering, logging in, navigating to your course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), completing all of the modules, completing and passing the post-test, and completing the course evaluation. Participants have 6 months from registration to access and complete online self-study courses.

Live Webinar courses are completed by registering, logging in to this website, navigating to your course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), attending the full course via webinar, and completing the post-test and course evaluation online.

Psychologists and other professionals seeking CE credit through our approval with the American Psychological Association are asked, but not required, to complete the course evaluation before obtaining their certificate of completion, however passing a post-test for online self-study courses and live webinars, and submitting one's attendance for live on-site and live webinars is required.

You can receive your certificate of completion by logging onto this website, navigating to the course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), scroll to the bottom of your course, and click on your certificate to either download it or print it.

Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.

Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities

Click here to view our Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.

Cancellation Policy

Refunds are offered within the first 30 days for courses which have not been completed.  There is a 10% service fee for refunds.

Grievance Policy

Click here to view our Grievance Policy.

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.


This program was recorded March 2 & 9, 2023

You have six months to access online courses from the time of purchase.

Vira Salzburn headshot

Vira Salzburn, MS

Vira Salzburn, M.S.

Vira Salzburn is the Program Director for Safety and Resilience programs at Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council. She earned a Master of Science degree in Management, Organizational Behavior & Leadership from Troy University and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Humanities from Auburn University at Montgomery. Vira is currently studying human behavior at Harvard University.

Vira is a Mindful Self-Compassion Trained Teacher, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Master Trainer, and Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness and Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Instructor. She is a Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® Teacher, and is also trained in the Search Inside Yourself program of Google Leadership Institute, Trauma Informed Coaching, and Compassionate Leadership, the program of the Task Force for Global Health.

Vira is the developer of the community-based upstream suicide prevention approach that uses evidence-based Mindful-Self Compassion programming. She is a public speaker on suicide prevention, resilience, mindfulness, and self-compassion, and has been selected for the 2022 Savannah TEDx.

As a Ukrainian-American, Vira recognizes the importance of overcoming cultural barriers and connecting with others for making a meaningful difference on personal, organizational, and community levels. Since moving to the U.S. in 2007, Vira has had the privilege of volunteering as an interpreter and a liaison between Ukrainian orphaned children and American adoptive families, which has greatly impacted her perception of compassion and servanthood and helped her better understand the true meaning behind the idea of “changing the world one life at a time”.

You can find Vira here.