Empathy Episodes

Last December, I was on the London Underground when an ad from the Government of Ireland caught my attention: “The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme is open for applications.”I assumed it was something like a truth-and-reconciliation effort, reaching out to people abroad who had been harmed in the past. But when I began looking into what these institutions actually were—places where unmarried pregnant women were sent to give birth—I realised the story was far darker and far more comple...

In this episode, I spoke with Manal Hamdoun Ghandour who works for a Lebanese NGO that deals with issues of the past, reconciliation and trauma sensitive peacebuilding. She explained the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war; the amnesty law; how the families of the disappeared people reacted to it and reconciliation efforts through AI, all of which can be relevant after the regime change in Syria.

In this episode, I spoke with John Ford who has develop a self help app called “The Empathy Set”.  We discussed with him what  it means to be conflict competent; how an app can help people become conflict competent; whether the development of various apps can go beyond self help; and whether everyone can afford them or use them.

After the war in Bosnia was finished in 1995, the…

In this episode, my guest was Belinda Hopkins who is the director of Transforming Conflict. We discussed how a restorative approach through circles can help students build relationships and values at schools. This would hence help with conflicts at school whether with fellow students or teachers but also among members of the administration. Belinda is a provider of training and consultancy in the field of restorative approaches in schools, residential care and other youth settings.

My guest Jo Berry is Founder of ‘Building Bridges…

My guest Marina Cantacuzino is the Founder of The…