Dr. Sue Rickers, an assistant professor in the social work program at Bemidji State University, will deliver an Honors Council Lecture on social workers and the phenomenon of self-compassion.

Her Feb. 7 lecture, entitled “The Experience of Self-Compassion in Social Workers,” will take place at 7 p.m. in Hagg Sauer Hall, room 112, on the Bemidji State University campus. Honors Council Lectures are open to the public free of charge.

The lecture will explain the concept of self-compassion and examine a study on self-compassion among social workers who have completed a program on developing mindfulness, called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Rickers will show how this new research impacts practicing social workers and how important self-compassion can be for them, as social workers are often faced with particularly challenging and stressful work situations that can negatively impact their emotional well-being.

Rickers is interested in the implications of self-compassion for social work practice and education, and the implications of self-compassion for all people living in a challenging world. She describes self-compassion as an attitude or approach to how individuals handle their own times of challenges and failures.

Rickers has more than ten years of experience as a practicing social worker, including medical and school social work in rural communities. Other areas of interest include the intersection of Tibetan medicine and social work. She has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, a master’s degree in social work and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council. The council is the advisory group to the honors program comprised of 12 faculty members from each of the University’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms.

For more information about the Honors Council Lecture Series, contact the Bemidji State University honors program, (218) 755-3984.