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James Ehrlich, Director of Compassionate Sustainability at Stanford CCARE, developed an innovative program with his colleague Alexandra Albinus and the ReGen U design team where middle and high school students at the world-renowned Misk Schools were introduced to the concept of Design Empathy.

Starting last June and continuing until November 2024, a select group of Misk Schools students have been participating in a CCARE-led course on experiential Design Empathy, which is the first step in achieving proven successful teams: by deeply listening, being mindful, and accepting all input as constructive toward shared objectives. The topic is imagining, designing, and simulating a compassionate and resilient ‘smart’ town plan, all based on regenerative and circular principles. As part of CCARE’s participation, Founder and Director Dr. James Doty provided guided morning mindful meditation practices for the students via pre-recorded videos relevant to each day’s program.

Three distinct work areas were set up: one for brainstorming ideas, another for designing a diorama with foam-cut models, and a third where they used laptops to transform their designs into digital realms. One team challenge was to build a physical house (shoebox size), based on passive home design criteria, placing the model homes outside for 48 hours to test climate assumptions with embedded sensors.

Assigned to small teams of 4-5 students, boys and girls were given the objective to creatively iterate toward a unified master plan they all agreed to focus on for the final presentation. Through the lens of compassionate sustainability, students were provided local climate content and context to inform resiliency and natural capacity resources into their design thinking. Another workshop challenge presented was how best to keep their town infrastructure running in case of district utility interruptions.

Digital designing with the students is continuing via Zoom from September 2024 until students present at the Cityscape conference in Riyadh on 14-November 2024. The final presentation will integrate students’ Sketch-up™ software models converted to the Unreal game engine™ and Twin Motion™ for high-fidelity animations, and then programmed within the VillageOS™ software for the students to drive demonstrations of their town designs within an interactive simulation.

Dr. Steffen Sommer, Director of Misk Schools, is profoundly impressed with the program thus far, stating, “It’s quite amazing to see how in the first five days of hands-on activities the students were able to progress so quickly in their understanding of the design tasks and tools at hand. This is such a unique opportunity for Misk students, and we are all quite excited to see them present their final project in November at Cityscape in Riyadh.”

Dr. Doty shares the enthusiasm to continue this impactful program with Misk Schools, “We are in deep gratitude to Dr. Sommer, Vice Principal Hillal Kara-Ali, and all the teachers and staff at Misk Schools, as well as these exceptional Misk Schools students who continue to explore what compassionate, resilient and regenerative design means for the benefit of people and planet.”

CCARE also established a working collaboration with the Carnegie Mellon University spin-off ReadyAi in framing opportunities with AI, Machine Learning, and robotics to inspire students to imagine innovative and autonomous solutions for improving quality of life. CCARE and ReadyAi are also engaged in providing a longitudinal white paper to further enhance and develop programs with Misk Schools in tracking measurable positive outcomes from these summer-to-autumn courses, with the hope to return for many more class years ahead.

With deep appreciation, I wish to express my gratitude to Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) for its unwavering commitment to cultivating a more compassionate world and for the profound impact it has had on the lives of countless individuals, myself included. My training with CCARE was pivotal in shaping my Capstone Project into a compassionate resource guide that has recently been published by Routledge. As an Ambassador of Applied Compassion through CCARE, I am deeply committed to compassionately addressing secondary traumatic stress and promoting wellbeing.

I first learned about secondary traumatic stress as a dance movement therapist and have experienced its effects firsthand. Today, I am grateful that my personal journey, combined with my academic research on trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion, has led me to a position where I have been able to create a relevant resource guide for organizational leaders and professionals in trauma-related fields. I often reflect on how valuable a resource guide like this would have been for me, and my hope is that both organizational leaders and professionals will find it insightful and beneficial in their important work.

Through my Capstone Project at CCARE, I developed Compassion-Based Practices for Secondary Traumatic Stress. This comprehensive resource guide merges state-of-the-art theoretical insights with practical, compassion-centered practices, highlighting the essential principle of caring for caregivers. Tailored for organizational leaders and helping professionals from diverse fields of practice working with survivors of trauma, it offers a compassionate framework for addressing secondary traumatic stress—recognized as traumatic stress originating from indirect trauma exposure.

Compassion-Based Practices for Secondary Traumatic Stress is distinguished by its in-depth, research-supported, and hands-on approach, inclusion of East-Asian philosophical principles, and harmonization of self- and other-oriented compassion. Following the extensive literature review, a wide selection of individual and group contemplative and creative arts-based practices is presented. Moreover, beautiful hand-drawn watercolor illustrations and haiku poetry are interwoven throughout, providing both aesthetic enrichment and contemplative pauses.

Importantly, the resource guide incorporates an invitational approach and inclusive, trauma-informed language, aiming to establish a safe and welcoming environment for learning, reflection, and engagement. It serves as both a starting point and an ongoing resource that organizational leaders and helping professionals can revisit and tailor according to their needs, preferences, and circumstances. The guide is valuable not only for those currently experiencing secondary traumatic stress but also for those seeking to proactively replenish the compassion they extend to both themselves and others as a protective measure.

Thank you again to CCARE’s leadership and participants for creating such a unique learning environment, where I had the opportunity to explore the intersection of compassion and secondary traumatic stress through a profound writing journey. Compassion-Based Practices for Secondary Traumatic Stress represents the culmination of my ongoing efforts and has even inspired me to enhance my knowledge further. Since graduating from the training at CCARE, I have embarked on a second PhD at Tel Aviv University’s Department of East-Asian Studies where I am focusing on compassion and secondary traumatic stress from a Buddhist perspective, based on Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra.

May whatever merits gained by the creation of this resource guide be dedicated to all those who have experienced trauma, to the compassionate caregivers caring for them, and to a more compassionate world for us all.