“The human brain and heart that are met primarily with empathy in the critical early years cannot and will not grow to choose a violent or selfish life.” Robin Grille, Parenting for a Peaceful World
Modern research shows that the capacity for empathy is directly related to the experience of empathy which a child receives, that the capacity for empathy can be grown and that more empathic people treat others and the earth with more care.
The Empathy Foundation will provide a platform from which to spread understanding of the importance of
empathy, as the key to creating a world that is environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling.
What are the goals of the Empathy Foundation?
The Empathy Foundation will act as a not for profit organization with the mission of spreading the understanding of the importance of empathy, and the ability to practice it, to the future of humankind on the planet. It acts as a not-for-profit educational and training organization which creates programs that communicate, motivate and train people in a wide range of settings to effectively practice and grow
their capacity for empathy.
These programs are designed to bring about understanding of the dysfunctional behaviour of people,
such as those reasons stemming from childhood experience, as well as how to progress into the future by transforming the way children are raised.
The Empathy Foundation will bring cultural change to all levels of human groups and organizations
by targeting a broad range of society from families to schools, workplaces, the arts, government and business. It will transform how people relate to each other in organizations of all kinds by fostering the practical expression of empathy.
People will be empowered and will help each other to learn and grow and be more collaborative, creative and effective.
What will the Empathy Foundation do?
There are two major aspects envisaged as the work of the Empathy Foundation – communication of the
empathy message broadly in society and creating empathy training programs to suit a wide range of sections of society.
The Empathy Foundation’s message will be communicated through many media and platforms using high level modern communication methods. For example, the first Empathy Foundation talk “Can Empathy Save the World?” at the Early Childhood Australia conference in 2008 introduced the project and attracted interest from experienced early childhood leaders.
The Empathy Foundation’s training programs will be designed to easily fit with current models in professional development and other training and self-development programs for private citizens, such as parent training programs. This training is uniquely contexted in the new historical understanding that the evolution of childrearing leads the evolution of society. It will present the evidence that human
conflict and dysfunctional behaviours originate from childhood emotional development and our new knowledge as a species of how to raise empathic children and the benefits. The training will give highly effective ways to release limiting emotions and go beyond our personal childhood conditioning. By
dropping limiting emotions people are enabled to relate with empathy towards each other, and so to foster collaboration and maximize the potential for growth, creativity and effectiveness.
What does the Empathy Foundation make possible?
That “empathy training” becomes a household word and a part of the education of every
parent and school child and member of the public from the police to administrative officers, from education to business and the arts. At every level it would be understood and accepted that empathy is essential to humanity developing in a just and sustainable way. Fostering and protecting empathy will be paramount in government policy at all levels. A truly transformative understanding will become widely adopted - that the future of humanity is determined by our ability to raise emotionally healthy, empathic children, to foster a healthier, more creative generation than has ever been seen on earth, who will become the source of the rapid changes that are needed for a sustainable and just future
for humanity.