Faculty and Staff Assistance Program Events

Lunchtime Mindful Moments Presents: Cultivating Mindful Self-Compassion with Loving-Kindness

Friday, February 27 from noon-1 p.m. - Zoom registration

Join us for another installment of our Mindful Moment webinars, focusing on cultivating your own mindful self-compassion practice. Self-compassion is a well-researched branch of mindfulness practice that helps us access the benefits of our own caregiving skills. Many of us are highly practiced in the art of providing care to others (at work and at home), including: trainee mentorship, child-rearing, patient care, parental support, and so much more.

This month's one-hour lunchtime webinar is dedicated to helping you redirect your caregiving skills back towards yourself through a brief review of mindful self-compassion research and an extended guided Loving Kindness (or Metta) Meditation.

Whether you are new to mindfulness or an experienced practitioner, we welcome anyone looking for a free one-hour respite focused completely on caring for you.

Presenter Bio: Jessica Allanson, PhD, MA, is a licensed clinical psychologist with the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program at UCSF and runs the FSAP Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program.

Prior to her position at FSAP, she specialized in mental health and substance abuse services for nearly a decade in institutions around the SF Bay Area, including working as a counselor, insurance advocate, and program director in both residential and outpatient settings. Dr. Allanson has chosen to specialize in recovery from substance use and workplace burnout in primarily high-intensity/high-achieving populations, incorporating empirically validated behavioral interventions as well as industrial/organizational psychology strategies into her work.

She has maintained a personal mindfulness practice for most of her life and has dedicated a portion of her career to teaching others about the mental health benefits of practicing mindfulness, including in her position here at FSAP. Dr. Allanson believes in the power of compassionate education and hopes to use her passion for teaching to support and empower those willing to learn.

FSAP's virtual Mindfulness-Based Self-Compassion Program is now open for the current Spring 2026 cycle. Join FSAP clinicians for a virtual eight-week mindfulness course to help:

• Reduce anxiety and stress
• Increase mental resilience and distress tolerance
• Decrease self-defeating thought patterns
• Increase experiences of happiness and productivity

Information Session: Tuesday, March 17, 2026; 12:00-1:00 p.m. - Webinar link (Passcode: 1234)

*Please note: Attending the Tuesday March 17th Information Session is a prerequisite for joining the course. The Spring 2026 course will be held Tuesdays, 3-4pm for 8 weeks (3/31, 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, and 5/19).

Questions? Please email: [email protected]