Christopher K. Germer

Christopher Germer, PhD is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010, which has been taught in 30 languages in over 60 countries. They co-authored three books on MSC: The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout, and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. He is also the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and a new book (Oct 2026)—Self-Compassion for Shame.

Dr. Germer is a founding faculty member of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Harvard Medical School at the Cambridge Health Alliance, and also the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He co-edited two influential volumes on therapy, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Currently, Chris spends most of his time lecturing and leading workshops around the world on mindfulness and self-compassion. and he maintains a small clinical practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.