This slide presentation was delivered to the youth staff of Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center (PCRC) on March 9 as part of their participation in the Compassionate Conversations Coaching Project led by Lynn Johnson for Redwood City 2020 and Community Network for Youth Development.

2.  Find a partner, a pen, and a piece of
paper
 Draw a portrait of your partner without
looking down at your paper
 Keep going! Don’t worry. In this activity,
mistakes are okay!
 When you’re done, look down and see
what surprise awaits you.

3.  How did you feel
doing that activity?
 How was it for you
to not be able to
look down?
 What feelings came
up for you?
 What do these
feelings have to do
with a
Compassionate
Community?

4.  Intercultural Connections in Redwood City
2010-11
› More space for conversations
› More tools to lead conversations
 October 2011Convening
› Playback Theater
› A Conversation Café
 Compassionate Conversations
› Sharing these tools throughout Redwood
City

5.  To bring together the Youth Development
team and Community Facilitators in a creative
teambuilding experience and celebrate each
others’ work
 To make space to vent, share challenges with
each other
 To be introduced to key theory in the area of
youth development and community building
through the lens of compassion
 To practice integrating this theory into the day-
to-day work with youth

6.  An introduction Compassionate
Conversations Requests and the 7 Elements
of a Compassionate Community
 Practice in the Areas of Empathy and
Peaceful & Powerful Interactions
 Discussion around how to support, maintain,
encourage a Compassionate Community
of professionals at PCRC
 Play, creative learning, and interactive
discussion infused throughout

7.  Play-work |Our “textbook”
http://compassionateconversations.tumblr.com
Password: compassion
 Session 2: All About the Youth
› A Review of youth development and its
connection to building Compassionate
Communities
› Sharing back experiences from the month of
Play-Work
› Practice facilitating difficult conversations with
youth while keeping compassion at the center

8.  Icebreaker: Blind Drawing
 Introductions: Setting the Stage
 Interactive Presentation: The 7 Elements
of a Compassionate Community
 Activity: Empathy & Honor
 Short Break
 Activity: Peaceful & Powerful Interactions
 Closing

9.  Be Here
 Say Yes!
 Assume the Best
 Seek
Opportunity in
the Discomfort

10.  What are your general reactions to the
video?
 What do you notice about how people
participate as part of a community?
 With your partner, come up with your 7
Elements of a Compassionate
Community

11. An interdependent
group of people
connected by
passion, proximity, or
both and care
deeply for the well- “There is great strength in the
being of each other closeness of the connections we
build through interdependence, and
this is ultimately the strength of a
community. A community of
completely independent people is a
not a community at all.”
- Mary Gordon, Founder, Roots of
Empathy

12. Gratitude
Peaceful &
Empathy Powerful Honor Altruism
Interactions
Art Play

13.  Celebrating our
own gifts
 Celebrating the gifts
in each other
 The key practice of
Hope
 Example Practices:
› Gratitude Journals
The Superpower › Celebrations
that can transform Cards
any situation.

14.  Get quiet & present
 Listen to and Share
our Stories
 Identify & Accept all
Feelings
 Example Practices:
› Journalism/Interviews
The ability to recognize,
understand, and relate to › Playback Theater
the humanity in each › Emotion Coaching
other.

15.  Boundaries not Barriers
 Courage to stand up
for self and others
 Telling the Truth
 Practice & Do-Overs
 Forgiveness
 Example Practices:
› Community
Conversations
› Martial Arts/Chi Gung
Finding Opportunity in the › Theater of the Oppressed
uncomfortable moments › Kidpower
to grow together. › Restorative Justice

16.  Honoring
elders/history
 Choosing right
action
 Integrity
 Example Practices:
› Keeping promises
To respect what is and › Think before you speak
show up for it fully. › Showing up and
following through

17.  Generosity
 Loyalty
 Sacrifice
 Example Practices:
› Pay it forward
› Volunteerism/ Service
Learning
Giving your time, money &
stuff to those who can use › Donating money/
it. “tithing”

18.  Problem Solving
 Engaging,
Generating Ideas &
Putting those ideas
together
 Taking Risks
 Example Practices:
› Trying to Fail
Creating something new › Making Art, Music,
that has value in your life, Theater, Poetry, etc.
your community, & › Brainstorming
beyond.

19.  Creative Play
 Physical Activity
 Games
 Example Practices:
› Play, play and play
some more.
Our right as living beings
to enjoy ourselves and
each other. The ultimate What do you do to
mechanism to explore play?
human interaction.

20.  Where do your 7 elements and my 7
elements intersect?
 What would you add or change?
 What new thoughts do you have
about Compassionate Communities?
 What are your reflections about PCRC
as a Compassionate working
Community?

21.  Example of effective
Compassionate
Community
practices…or not
 Youth, colleagues or
both
 Beginning, Middle,
End
 Focus on Feelings

22.  Improvisational
art form of story
sharing
 Master
“Empathizers”
 Forms that can
be practiced

23.  Augusto Boal
 Games and
activities for full
civic &
community
participation
 Forms that can
be practiced

24. Create a group
image that shows the
power of courage as
a key element of a
Compassionate
Community.

25.  Play-work |Our “textbook”
http://compassionateconversations.tumblr.com
Password: compassion
 Weekly Reminder Emails
 Trying 3 activities with Youth from today and/or
the blog
 Posting reflections, questions, stories to the blog
 Schedule a check-in call with Lynn (optional)

29.  We celebrate what
we liked and learned
 Gratitude is a
superpower and a
building block of
compassion
 Reflection and
gratitude brings us
Celebration Cards available for
closer together just $12.