Cultivating Empathy

By incorporating and modeling empathy, youth workers can add value to their programs and promote skill building for youth. In this session, participants will practice strategies for supporting empathy building, including active listening skills. Participants will also explore best practices for supporting empathy building in youth programming and plan next steps for incorporating these concepts into their work with young people.  

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the Weikart framework for SEL, and where Cultivating Empathy fits within the SEL Methods.
• Explain the value that incorporating, and modeling empathy brings to their youth and programming.
• Recognize the ways social identities and implicit bias impact interactions with their youth and programming.
• Practice active listening skills that model empathy as well as encourage youth to name and express emotions.
• Identify best practices for supporting empathy building in youth programming.
• Plan next steps for incorporating concepts learned about empathy.