Compassionate Listening Training

The UCoL Social Justice and Outreach Team is thrilled to invite you into a practice of active, deep listening. Even amidst challenging and emotionally charged topics and conversations, these tools can be utilized to better listen to one another and find common understanding.

We will be offering Compassionate Listening Training on Tuesday afternoons, from 2pm-4pm, over five weeks, beginning on April 25. The training will be provided by Rev. Cathy Merchant, a certified Compassionate Listening facilitator, on Zoom, so it is accessible from anywhere online!

Compassionate Listening is a heart-based conflict resolution method that helps people connect with others and work through interpersonal conflict in a soul-opening way. In this series, we will learn and engage with the Five Core Practices of Compassionate Listening alongside core teachings from five different faith traditions. This will be an interactive workshop, so please come prepared to both listen and share authentically. Each week, we will cover a different aspect of Compassionate Listening in conjunction with a different faith tradition. The schedule will be as follows:

1. Indigenous -> Being with the Self in Presence
2. Judaism -> Working with Triggers
3. Buddhism -> From Drama to the Empowerment Triangle
4. Christianity -> Three-Part Listening
5. Sikhism -> Deepening Inquiry

Read more about Compassionate Listening...

Please email the church office to register for this learning opportunity.

Rev. Cathy Merchant is the Interfaith Leader of the Living Interfaith Sanctuary and the Minister of Community Life at Canadian Memorial United Church, both in Vancouver. She is an ordained Interfaith minister and has been teaching Compassionate Listening in North America and in Israel and Palestine since 2009.