Being in a rehearsal room and reading, talking about these characters; and talking about why they may behave like that. And never judging, because if you judge a character you’re f**ked. The whole thing collapses.” Mar is eol go maith, ní hionann éisteacht agus éisteacht; agus chun tuiscint dhomhain a bhaint amach ar a bhfuil á rá ag duine linn, chomh maith le cumarsáid rathúil, is gá teagmháil iomlán a dhéanamh leis an duine eile, lena riachtanais agus lena chur chuige ar leith. The book is also littered with errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation, which let it down hugely. eBooks Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland are created for different motives. The obvious explanation would be to promote it and generate profits. And while this is a wonderful technique to earn a living creating eBooks Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland, you will discover other approaches also As a manager and a coach I have delivered messages to young talented athletes which has, at the very least, disrupted their dreams – that they may have progressed as far as they can go in their chosen sport at this time; a question mark for some, a full stop for others. I have often been as devastated in delivering that verdict and they have been in receiving it... But empathy gives you the confidence to communicate the truth to them that disappointment in one area of life need not diminish the self; that personhood is resilient and strong if nurtured well and supported consistently.” Rory O’Neill, AKA Panti Bliss

Review of Research and Practice for Youth Engagement in Agricultural Education and Training Systems The results shows the programme is increasing “pro-social behaviour”, or the willingness to do good, and boosting young people’s level of “cognitive empathy” (they were better able to understand other people’s perspectives) and affective empathy (they were more willing to share the emotions/feelings of others). We are conscious that this Christmas will be particularly hard for many: those who of us lost loved ones during Covid, our new Ukrainian community celebrating their first Christmas away from their homeland, the staggering number of children and families now homeless and many other groups in dire need.As part of this initiative, Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland, has been published to support the project. It's a book of over 80 essays, prose and poetry reflections on empathy from both famous and everyday citizens and reminds us that acts of kindness and compassion, no matter how big or small, have massive impact. Food binds us together and is essential for life, both physical and social. The recent inability to touch, or hug, or to share bread together due to Covid-19 has highlighted, with an ever brighter intensity, the importance of these human connections. Interactions once tactile and exuberant are now fraught and fragile.” Tolü Makay, singer, actor and mental health advocate Working with an absolutely fantastic team here, we’ve developed Activating Social Empathy, which is a programme for secondary schools. We also have a community version, which we have developed in collaboration with Foróige, who work with a lot of disadvantaged youth and other young people.

Dá bhrí sin, tugann ionbhá le tuiscint ní amháin meastacháin réasúnta cruinn a dhéanamh faoi na rudaí a mhothaíonn daoine eile, ach freisin dearcadh cuiditheach a ghlacadh i leith na réaltachta síceolaíochta sin a fheicimid i measc daoine eile, ag lorg pointí ceangail idir ár gcuid féin agus tuairimí na ndaoine sin. That’s sympathy, not empathy,” Dolan counters. “The empathy education response would have been to actually sit down and educate people around why are you allowing guns in the first place? In the main, the more empathy education you have, the better civic society will be.” We need an empathy revolution,” says Murphy. “We’d like to get people talking about it, to get it into the vernacular, for it become a topic of conversation, and for people to become interested in it.” Current research at the UNESCO Child and Family Centre at the University of Galway and UNESCO HQ Paris is focusing on gaining new knowledge on the nature of empathy and its use as a pedagogical tool for schools and community youth work organisations, the latter in collaboration with Foróige. Working between the US and UK, he says he has seen first-hand how polarising political debate has become. “It does feel to me that England is in a little bit of a crisis of self-identity. I think everyone would recognise that. And I was in America recently. You can see the polarisation there and how f**king dangerous the situation seems...I was excited to read this one and really had high expectations. It's an important premise and a concept I will remain fully behind. I applaud Cillian Murphy for putting it together. We now know empathy and social connectedness promote greater life satisfaction and self-confidence among adolescents, as well as greater resilience to mental health problems. It is also a deterrent to engagement in anti-social acts and as an enabler to humanity. We also know from neuroscience that empathy is not a "fixed given" at birth nor is it "static", but can actually be grown or activated in the brain particularly during adolescence – so you can learn to empathise during the teen years and at any stage of your life course. First students learn about what empathy is and why it is important. Students then spend a few weeks practising their empathy skills. Next, they spend time discussing barriers to empathy and brainstorming on how to overcome them. Finally, the programme culminates with students putting empathy into action in a project of their own choosing. Evidence overwhelmingly affirms that the development of empathy is essential to healthy, social and emotional functioning. Across a range of disciplines, research has conclusively shown that the presence of empathy is related to positive academic, social, psychological, and personal developmental outcomes. Where levels of empathy are compromised, studies have found an increased propensity to engage in anti-social behaviour, such as bullying, aggression and offending behaviour.

Other evidence suggests that lower social empathy appears to be associated with higher levels of interpersonal and psychological difficulties. The good news is that empathy and compassion is a practice (we don’t have to be perfect) that can be learned at any stage in life and a common denominator for humanity, and it is there for us all. It is really all about not just walking in the others shoes and trying ‘to feel what they feel’ but seeking to understand and connect. So we would argue that for the good and future of Irish society a social empathy revolution is needed and can start with the education of, with, by, and for youth. That’s where I discovered drama. We did a drama module with Pat Kiernan from Corcadorca. That year for me was hugely formative. We took a pause [between exam years] which was brilliant. I think transition year — both my boys just went through it — is fantastic. It shouldn’t be like, junior cycle, senior cycle, third level, straight into exams again. I think that’s insane,” he says. Opinion: 'evidence overwhelmingly affirms that the development of empathy is essential to healthy, social and emotional functioning' Higher Education and Community Development: A Multi-Stakeholder View on the Correlates of Project Participation and Design Preferences With the rapidly changing world and ever-surprising challenges we now face, perhaps we should consider a further personal 'epiphany' in relation to what really matters in our lives and our relationships. We suggest that empathy awareness, education and development is core to this proposed epiphany, at both an individual and collective level.It may sound radical, but countries such as Denmark have been doing it for years, he says. “Klassens time” is a mandatory part of the school curriculum where children can seek advice from peers, learn empathy, conflict resolution and strengthen their relationships and sense of community. It has found that children who grow up to become confident, emotionally intelligent adults are more likely to raise happier kids themselves. Coincidence or not, Denmark is consistently ranked highly as one of the happiest places to live.