Professor Paul Gilbert OBE is world-renowned for his work on depression, shame and self-criticism. He is head of the Mental Health Research Unit, University of Derby. He is the author of the bestselling The Compassionate Mind and Overcoming Depression.

Choden: Formally a monk for seven years within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Choden (aka Sean McGovern) completed a three year, three month retreat in 1997 and has been a practicing Buddhist since 1985. He is originally from South Africa where he trained as a lawyer and where he learned meditation under the guidance of Rob Nairn, an internationally renowned Buddhist teacher. He is now involved in developing secular mindfulness and compassion programmes drawing upon the wisdom and methods of the Buddhist tradition, as well as contemporary insights from psychology and neuroscience. He is an honorary fellow of the University of Aberdeen and teaches on their Postgraduate Study Programme in Mindfulness (MSc) that is the first of its kind to include compassion in its curriculum. He lives on the Isle of Arran.