At the Institute for Family, we want to promote connection between colleagues, organizations, families, and communities. Empathy-Mapping can act as a helpful strategy and activity to understand the perspectives and emotions of the families you serve. We encourage you and your team to take some time over the next month to incorporate this activity into professional development, team building, or personal reflection.
The objective of this activity is to understand the perspectives and emotions of the families you work with so you can ensure you are providing services that are empathetically informed. Moudatsou et al., explains how:
“Empathy is the ability to understand and share other people’s feelings. It is a core concept as, according to the psychodynamic, behavioral, and person-centered approaches...”
When connections can be established more seamlessly, you’re more likely to feel a greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in your caring role. Skills for Health emphasizes that empathy is a key component of effective communication. For professionals in helping roles, empathy enables quick formation of connections and trust. Responsive Classroom adds that empathetic approaches can lead to genuine partnerships, removing some of the barriers to receptiveness to interventions. In other words, empathy is an integral component to establishing effective strategies for the families we serve.
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An activity teams can do to transform thinking and encourage empathetic approaches is by creating Empathy Charts, also known as an Empathy Map. This short video does a great job explaining the power of an Empathy Chart. An Empathy Chart/Map is a visual tool used to take an innovative approach to thinking about people’s specific needs, allowing you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to increase understanding. Often used as a marketing tool, it can also be adapted to take on a broader role for helping professionals.
Try this activity with your team and tag the Institute for Family on LinkedIn and Facebook! We can't wait to see how you’re stepping up to become more empathetic professionals.
If you have any questions or comments about the content in this Lightbulb Moment article, please get in touch with our Research Lead, Madeline Attianese, at mattianese@chsnc.org.
