A 13-week program around mindfulness and compassion has proved to be a life-changer for Davis Academy middle school science teacher Larry Rogers. The cognitively-based compassion training (CBCT) offered by Emory University’s Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics provided approaches that altered the way Rogers relates to students, colleagues and family as well.
“You get burned out sometimes, but I’ve been able to manage my stress level much better, no matter what pops up,” he said. “I’ve learned how to work without empathetic burnout.”
Rogers and two dozen Davis faculty took part in the program last fall, and each has found ways to incorporate the lessons learned into their own classrooms and lives.
“For me, learning how to relate and interact with people, students, even my kids has been very beneficial,” said Rogers. “My biggest takeaway was learning how to work without that empathetic burnout. As teachers, we give of ourselves on a daily basis and sometimes don’t have anything left when we get home.”
Micah Lapidus, Davis Academy's school rabbi and director of Jewish and Hebrew studies, said the school connected with the Emory experts to explore ways of strengthening and sustaining the compassion that can be all-consuming.
“Schools are an important venue for integrating mindfulness into the curriculum; our students need it, the teachers need it and the parents appreciate it,” said Lapidus. “The entire learning community can have greater compassion and present-moment awareness. Whether it’s a moment in an athletic game, taking a test or getting up to give a speech, mindfulness helps create more space between the various stimuli that can be so triggering.”
The Davis faculty are using various mindfulness lessons in class, said Lapidus.
“One teacher might start class with breathing; another may emphasize managing your disappoints and frustrations; another may make it the topic of a class meeting,” he said.
Cognitively-based compassion training grew out of extensive research on meditation, said Tim Harrison, the Emory’s CBCT associate director.
“The science that has emerged around this topic in the last 20 years is incredible and we’ve been part of that dialogue,” he said. “Our program is a third mindfulness, a third self-compassion and a third compassion. Together they offer teachers the skills that keep them emotionally regulated and motivated to stay in the classroom and be part of their students’ lives. They give teachers the resilience to come back year after year.”
The program isn’t just about ideas and concepts, Harrison points out. “It’s skills training more than concept training. We do exercises in class such as practicing relating to a difficult student. It’s an active learning class that uses mindfulness as a basis to increase awareness of inner feelings and emotions.”
In addition to companies and schools, the CBCT program is offered to the public at various times during the year. The next public session is March 6 through 8.
Information is online at compassion.emory.edu.
Details about Davis Academy are online at davisacademy.org.
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Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
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