ABOUT KINDFUL
THE SCIENCE OF COMPASSION DESERVES BETTER
Kindful exists because the research on human connection is too important to be flattened into self-help. We take the science seriously, we take contemplative practice seriously, and we take the difficulty of being human seriously. That combination is what makes this work useful.
THE GAP
WHY KINDFUL EXISTS
Rigorous science on one side. Oversimplified wellness messaging on the other. Very little in between that honours both the research and the felt experience of what it means to be a person trying to connect.
Kindful occupies that space. We bring clinical depth, research literacy, and contemplative wisdom to people and organisations who are ready for more than platitudes.
THE APPROACH
WHAT WE MEAN BY “SCIENCE-BASED”
We don't use "evidence-based" as decoration. When we cite a finding, we've read the paper. When we note a limitation, we mean it. The science is an asset — we use it precisely, not decoratively.
Our work draws on compassion science, the three-system model, self-compassion research, contemplative traditions, and the kind of clinical experience that comes from working with real people in real difficulty.
HOW WE WORK
PRINCIPLES
Lead with observation, use research as the interpretive frame. Complicate ideas the wellness space has flattened. Name what the evidence shows — including its limits. Treat every audience as intelligent enough to handle the full picture.
Refuse to pretend that compassion is easy or costless. That honesty is what makes the work trustworthy.
THE FOUNDER
meet amy
Kindful was founded by Dr Amy Finlay-Jones — clinical psychologist, researcher, and editor of the Handbook of Self-Compassion.
FOUNDER
DR AMY FINLAY-JONES
Clinical psychologist. Associate professor. Editor of the Handbook of Self-Compassion. Certified teacher of Compassion Cultivation Training and Mindful Self-Compassion. Founder of Kindful.
Amy has spent over fifteen years researching, practising, and teaching the science of compassion and human connection. Her work draws on clinical psychology, contemplative traditions, and the kind of lived experience that doesn't fit neatly into a bio.
CREDENTIALS
PHD
Clinical Psychology
15+
Years in Compassion Research
EDITOR
Handbook of Self-Compassionate
CCT
Certified Teacher
msc
Certified Teacher
ASSOC PROF
University Position
THE LONGER STORY
HOW I GOT HERE
Amy founded Kindful in 2015 because she kept seeing a gap: rigorous science on one side, oversimplified wellness messaging on the other, and very little that honoured both the research and the felt experience of what it means to be a person trying to connect.
Her teaching draws on personal contemplative practice, social justice activism, and lived experience of chronic illness. She brings the same quality of attention to a keynote audience of five hundred that she brings to a single client sitting across from her — which is to say, she takes the whole person seriously.
She is involved in active research on the effects of compassion training, and her published work spans self-compassion measurement, compassion-focused interventions, and the intersection of contemplative practice and clinical psychology.
SPEAK
BOOK AMY TO SPEAK
Conference keynotes, panel contributions, and invited talks. The science of compassion delivered with clinical depth, genuine warmth, and a refusal to flatten complexity.
ANZACBT, university audiences, corporate events, public lectures.
meet amy
For speaking enquiries, workshop bookings, or anything else.