Compassion and its power to transform is the theme of our twelfth annual conference, which takes place in Brighton on 15 May 2026.
The Sussex Mindfulness Centre’s conference will explore compassion and its ability to create change from the personal to the global.
We’ll consider how compassion can help to transform: our own difficult experiences; tricky relationships (with family, friends and colleagues); challenging workplaces (especially in healthcare) and crises in wider society and globally (such as conflict, political/social divides, climate change).
The Sussex Mindfulness Centre’s conference will take place on 15 May 2026, at the Friend’s Meeting House in Brighton.
Distinguished speakers
Our distinguished keynote speakers include Professor Paul Gilbert, Alison Evans and Pamela Duckerin.
Professor Paul Gilbert
The title of Paul’s talk is:
The nature and process of compassion: From the personal to the global
This talk will outline the evolutionary and biopsychosocial approach to compassion and how it can be applied. Paul, the founder of Compassion-Focused Therapy, will explore the two aspects of compassion: the psychology of being sensitive to suffering and working out appropriate behaviours to address it.
Compassion has many different textures depending on context and whether it is directed to one’s personal sources of suffering or those created more globally, the latter requiring community and political action.
Professor Paul Gilbert developed the psychological approach that integrates principles from evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive-behavioural therapy to help people develop self-compassion and reduce shame and self-criticism.
Paul Gilbert, FBPsS, PhD, OBE is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby and honorary visiting Prof at the University of Queensland. Until his retirement from the NHS in 2016 he was Consultant Clinical Psychologist for over 40 years. He has researched evolutionary approaches to psychopathology with a special focus on mood, shame and self-criticism in various mental health difficulties for which Compassion Focused Therapy was developed. In 2006 he established the Compassionate Mind Foundation as an international charity with the mission statement: To promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion.
Paul was awarded an OBE for services to mental health, and established and is the Director of the Centre for Compassion Research and Training at Derby University UK.
Alison Evans and Pamela Duckerin
The title of Alison and Pamela’s talk is:
Embodied dialogue as an aid to cultivating mindfulness, compassion and wisdom within relationships
Bringing mindfulness and compassion into the relational field can strengthen connections and cultivate a safe, creative space for reflecting on the challenges we face. This keynote will highlight how our mindfulness-based supervision framework can act as a map to bringing this orientation into our dialogues.
Alison Evans and Pamela Duckerin are co-authors of the newly published book on mindfulness supervision Mindfulness-Based Supervision and Mentoring: Using an embodied dialogue to support learning and reflection. They have been facilitating mindfulness-based supervision training together since 2019 through the Mindfulness Network.
Alison has led the development of mindfulness-based supervision for over 12 years, within the Mindfulness Network and other organisations. Supervision has been a core part of her work, encompassing supervising, training others to supervise, reflecting, researching, and writing about it.
Pamela is part of the supervision team within the Mindfulness Network and offers supervision to mindfulness practitioners worldwide. She has worked in the field of mental health for 41 years and alongside direct clinical work, clinical supervision has been a significant part of her work.
Conference workshops
We have an impressive set of workshops led by people experienced in their fields and including all the keynote speakers. And this year we will be running the workshops two times during the conference so it will be even more engaging. Please see all the workshops here.
Accessibility and inclusion
We are committed to making our annual conference inclusive and accessible to all participants, so that you can participate, engage and feel welcome. You can find more information about the venue as well as neuro-inclusivity and accessibility here.
Tickets on sale
The early bird tickets sold very quickly. We’re sorry if you missed out on these. There are just a few full-price and concessionary tickets left.
If you are unemployed or on a low income facing financial hardship, you can request a concessionary ticket by emailing spft.smc@nhs.net. Please note we have a very limited number of concessionary tickets and we’re keen they go to people who would otherwise be unable to attend.