Teaching empathy one answer to combating bullying

An international program that raises social competence among children began operating in September at four Saskatoon schools. Roots of Empathy was officially launched in May.

Susanna Kislenko is manager of national development of Roots of Empathy and said that the time was right to begin in Saskatchewan.

“As the last province to break into, this has been years in the making. The reason why it was the best time now was the support from the Royal Bank of Canada and that was the push we needed,” said Kislenko.

RBC, as part of its community support program, looks to assist groups that make the world a better place to live, and offers financial donations and on-going support.
The four schools which began the program in the fall were Pleasant Hill, St. Mary, W.P Bate, and St. Michael community schools.

 “These are public schools in high-needs areas of the city,” said Kislenko. “What differentiates them from other schools is the extra personnel that attend, such as a paediatrician and optometrist on site.”

With a large percentage of Aboriginal children in these schools, it’s going to be a great partnership, Kislenko said.

Roots of Empathy features a year-long program where families are recruited to participate and where the baby is the teacher. With each family visit, the children notice how the baby is growing and changing over the course of his or her first year of life and they are guided in labelling the baby’s feelings. This helps family members to better understand their own feelings, or develop empathy which is defined as understanding another’s feelings. This foundation for more safe and caring classrooms leads to children being much more likely to challenge cruelty and injustice. Roots of Empathy was founded by Mary Gordon and operates around the world, including New Zealand, the USA, Ireland, Scotland and Germany, reaching over 373,000 children worldwide.

“We know that aggression is the gateway to poor mental health, and one of our goals in the Roots of Empathy program is to reduce levels of bullying, aggression and violence,” said Donna Letchford, director of curriculum. Statistics show that 85 per cent of bullying episodes occur on the school playground. It affects people for the rest of their lives.

“Children are really brave in challenging cruelty and injustice, and not condoning it or allowing it. It’s a universal program where we don’t target just the bully or the victim, but also those bystanders and onlookers as well,” Letchford added. “If they see this happening, they need to be very brave and don’t just look the other way.” Empathy is the key ingredient to promoting mental wellness.

The program has the backing of the Assembly of First Nations which in 2008 passed a resolution to support and endorse Roots of Empathy, recognizing its compatibility with traditional First Nations teachings and worldviews.