Empathic Communication - A Communication Tool with the Student in Focus

VIP Mental Health in Schools has previously offered courses in empathic communication for teachers and healthcare professionals. This is no longer part of our core business, but if there is room in the calendar, we can make it happen upon request. Please contact us if you are interested​.

What is Empathic Communication?​

Professional conversations in everyday work promote learning, coping, and good human encounters. Empathic Communication puts the person you are talking to at the center (for example, the student). Through training in Empathic Communication, you learn to become a professional conversational partner who can guide the recipient and strengthen their own conditions. Professional conversations are an important tool in meeting people who are struggling, or in motivational talks with students and employees.​​​

Course participants learn to put the person (i.e. students) they are talking to at the centre of the conversation. You will learn to sit back and listen to what your conversation partner has to say. Through four steps, you will guide the student into the state of emotional awareness so they may reflect on their own situation. This method is based on the idea that the student already knows many of the answers. Empathic Communication is developed by Lisbeth Holter Brudal, PhD, and is based on positive psychology.

On the website empatisk.no, there is more information about the method, as well as videos that demonstrate Empathic Communication in practice. One of these shows a conversation between a teacher and a st​​udent:

Watch films about the use of Empathic Communication at empatisk.no/filmer — Please note that the website is in norwegian​

​What is empathy? ​

What is the difference between sympathy and empathy? This is explained through humorous animations in the video below.

You can see a film about sympathy and empathy on YouTube

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​Other languages (Norwegian)​

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