Certified for MainPRO CERT+ & Royal College Credits.
Take Our “Failing Better” Workshop
Failing Better uniquely combines the best of Self-Compassion and Medical Improv Teachings
After a very successful workshop at the International Conference for Physician Health (Halifax, 2024), we've had a lot of requests for more information. So, here is the information, but in a really boring text based form for now... far less exciting than the workshops themselves. Just so as to get it out there.
Learn to Fail Better and have a great time doing it!
There is extensive research that both self-compassion and improv theatre are associated with improved mindfulness, empathy and teamwork. While both are shown to assist with wellbeing on a personal level, they are particularly effective when experienced as a team.
Now, Dr. MacLeod is merging these two life changing, and surprisingly synergistic worlds into fabulously engaging and interactive workshops aimed at improving team dynamics, wellness and EDIA attitudes in healthcare.
Subject of a CBC documentary-short: Failing Better, these customized wellness and team building workshops were first featured in a CBC Radio documentary in 2012, as a keynote for NOSM University’s World Rural Health Conference. Listen to this documentary-short to feel the level of engagement and enjoyment shared by the workshop’s 800 participants.
Dr. MacLeod is a chronic pain specialist, certified medical improv director, mindful self-compassion teacher and associate professor atNOSM U. He uses his unique combination of skills to blend key evidence-based teachings in Medical Improv theatre and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) into exciting, spontaneous, fun and highly interactive events.
Medical Improv & Better Care: In 2004, Dr. Katie Watson first formally inserted improv theatre into the medical curricula at Norwestern University, (See her great work at Medical Improv), Since then improv theatre has been extensively studied and demonstrated to help medical students be better, more connected and compassionate clinicians; while simultaneously enhancing their confidence and ability to embrace the many unexpected things a life in healthcare can throw at us.
Mindful Self-Compassion & Significant Wellbeing: MSC too, has over two decades of research demonstrating its broad and significant association with improved quality of life, work satisfaction, resilience, relationship and emotional management. Participating in SC courses is associated with decreased burnout, depression, anxiety and self-criticism.
As described on this site, since 2021 Dr. MacLeod and his team, have taught the Royal College and CFPC accredited Self-compassion for healthcare communities course to over 600 hundred of clinical learners, clinicians and faculty demonstrating significant improvements in burnout, secondary stress, compassion satisfaction (moral injury) and self-compassion.
Failing Better Workshops are fully customizable to meet the needs of any group, whether it is:
- A small team (clinical, teaching, or administrative),
- A board of corporate leaders, or
- A large and complex interprofessional team.
Throughout the workshop, Dr. MacLeod will support your team members in being:
- Better communicators with improved listening and observational skills.
More mindful of who they are as people and their own personalities, how they interact with peers & patients, and an awareness of the energy they bring to their work and the world at large.
- More compassionate in their interactions and relationships,
- More spontaneous, intuitive and creative.
- More adaptive and receptive in the face of surprises and the unknown.
- More present in the moment to adapt quickly to situations.
Failing Better Workshops are:
- Best presented in person
- >75% interactive
- Ability- and trauma-sensitive
- Highly customizable to meet the needs and goals of your organization.
MSC North’s customizable menu of topics include:
Foundations for all workshops:
- Introducing Self-Compassion: key concepts, evidence for benefit in healthcare communities including interactive discussion to nail down engagement and buy in
- Introducing Medical Improv
- Interactive immersive experiences of community and connection to reinforce our message of common humanity.
Self-Compassion & Improv! Many Customizable Ways to Engage
Exercises to Learn & Improve:
- Empathy & self-compassion
- How to make rapid and effective human connections
- Our sense of common humanity: how to reduce professional isolation, imposter syndrome and shame.
- elf-confidence and help reduce the influence of our inner-critic, and the toxic perfectionism that drives burnout & medical error
- Innovation & spontaneity
- Communication & connection in teams
- Confidence and a willingness to be daring
- Leadership & Followership — a good leader, teammate, or clinicians knows when to follow and when to lead.
- Public speaking
