Welcome to  e-learning hub, which has been developed to facilitate your development in terms of compassionate leadership and becoming a caring and compassionate practitioner.

The materials explore the meaning of being caring, in terms of displaying kindness and concern for others, the practice of caring for others who need support in terms of both practice and leadership, and the meaning and practice of compassionate leadership. 

There are lots of resources here that will facilitate personal reflection on these complex issues, but there are also exercises that help you to consider strategies for developing your personal resilience and strategies for recovery; work-life balance and health and wellbeing. Completing these can help to address stress, burnout and compassion fatigue in the workplace. We have also added some materials and exercises to consider some of the challenges of working in health and social care, such as dealing with loss, death and dying. These sensitive and emotive subjects are often overlooked or avoided in training and in practice,  so we hope you find these materials reflective and supportive.

The website has four main sections, these are:

1. Becoming a caring and compassionate practitioner
2. Becoming a resilient practitioner
3. Compassionate leadership
4. Developing skills for employability

Please use the links above to navigate around the site. You will see that each section has several subsections for you to engage with.

To get the best out of the resources you will find it most beneficial to begin with the ‘becoming a caring and compassionate practitioner’ section, then the ‘resilient practitioner’  followed by ‘compassionate leadership’. However, each section can be dipped into and used as you wish.

The final section, ‘skills for employability’  is available to Cardiff University members only; the rest of the site is free for everyone to access and use. We ask only that you cite the resource in your use.

We hope you enjoy your engagement with the materials and journey through the site.

You will find the HEIW (Health Education and Improvement Wales) Gwella Leadership Portal hub for Wales a really useful companion resource to this website and you are encouraged to visit and use the materials there to develop your skills further. Its has  a wealth of resources and links on compassionate leadership as well as other aspects of leadership and practical skills for working in health and social care.

*Please note that during the Covid crisis we added additional resources to the site specifically to assist staff and students working in health and social care. We have left these on the site as a resource for all as follows:

Practical techniques, resources and links to relevant documents to support all who are dealing with death, dying and loss in these challenging times. The link to this page is here.

Specific links information and for self-help:

These resources by Professor Teena Clouston offer practical techniques for positive thinking and mindfulness.   There are a selection of  mindfulness and relaxation sessions here. You will also find the webpage a useful resource for addressing changing mindsets and using time meaningfully.

These free resources from Jessica Kingsley are specific chapters chosen from a range of self-care books and will be useful for all carers and health and social care practitioners. Our thanks to Jessica Kingsley publishers for releasing these as a free resource for all in these challenging times.

We hope you find these useful. Thank you.