- Trainee therapists engaging in LKM may feel that the experience is emotionally intense, making it challenging for them to participate in the meditation. 
- Such emotional challenges may occur because LKM can trigger the participants' past attachment experiences with caregivers in their childhoods (e.g., neglect or abuse).

Lovingkindness Meditation for Trainee Therapists - Challenges

- Therapists in training may benefit, both personally and professionally, from the inclusion of an LKM course in their programs. 
- However, the practice should be done with caution, and the course should be optional.

Lovingkindness Meditation for Trainee Therapists - Implications

- Self-awareness
- Relationships with others
- Clinical work
- Everyday life

The Areas of Trainee Therapists' Lives that Lovingkindness Meditation Can Influence

-  It has been suggested that engaging in an LKM course can lead to increased awareness and compassion toward the self and others, which may enhance the trainees' ability to be more caring toward their clients. 
- However, it has also been suggested that some trainees may experience emotional challenges during an LKM intervention. 

Chapman University

 A previous study has investigated how LKM practice could change the way trainee therapists relate to themselves, others, and their clinical work.

Lovingkindness Meditation for Therapists in Training

Boellinghaus, I., Jones, F. W., & Hutton, J. (2013). Cultivating self-care and compassion in psychological therapists in training: The experience of practicing loving-kindness meditation. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 7(4), 267–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033092

Cultivating Self-Care and Compassion in Psychological Therapists in Training: The Experience of Practicing Loving-Kindness Meditation

Using Lovingkindness Meditation to Cultivate Self-Care and Compassion in Trainee Therapists

A significant number of psychological therapists in training experience distress and burnout, which may adversely influence their clinical work.

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