Celebrating World Empathy Week with a visit from Roots of Empathy founder

The Public Health Agency (PHA) was delighted to welcome Mary Gordon, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Roots of Empathy (ROE) Canada to Strandtown Primary School for a very special visit during World Empathy Week to see first-hand the programme being delivered to children across Northern Ireland.

Empathy is described as the ability to take on another person’s perspective, to understand, feel, share and respond to their experience. The Roots of Empathy programme reflects this perfectly.

Roots of Empathy is funded by the PHA and co-ordinated by local health trusts working closely with primary schools across Northern Ireland. Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based classroom programme that has shown significant effect in increasing pro-social behaviour and decreasing difficult behaviour among school children, while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy.

Over the past 14 years, 1,654 programmes have been delivered in primary and special education schools to 41,350 children across Northern Ireland.

Maurice Meehan, Head of Health and Social Wellbeing at the PHA said: “Roots of Empathy has been very successful in Northern Ireland. Queen’s University research has found that the programme has been effective in increasing pro-social behaviour in children and in reducing difficult behaviour.

“We are very grateful to Roots of Empathy Canada, trusts and schools themselves for their commitment to delivering the programme to the highest standard, and have been very impressed with the consistently high value placed on the programme by those schools involved.

“The focus on enabling emotional wellbeing for children within education supports the Department of Education’s ‘Emotional Health and Wellbeing in Education Framework’ and is an increasingly recognised priority across Programme for Government and all the more relevant as we support our children following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We look forward to meetings this week with the Department of Education, Education Authority and Department of Justice with Mary Gordon as a recognised innovator and world leading expert on Empathy and its importance in supporting improved outcomes for children and broader society.”

Clare Flynn, Advanced Health Improvement Practitioner at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT)’ said: "Belfast Trust’s Health Improvement Team are delighted to have this partnership with schools and the Public Health Agency, co-ordinating this innovative programme.

“The Roots of Empathy programme prioritises development of key emotional skills, which will provide children with a perceptive and caring basis on which to build positive relationships throughout life."

At the heart of the programme are a baby and volunteer parent from the local community, who visit the classroom on a monthly basis. The programme is delivered by a trained instructor over 27 classes throughout the year, and the baby comes for nine of those classes. The instructor coaches the students to observe the baby’s development once a month, and label the baby’s feelings and reactions, to take the perspective of the baby. Students learn the names for the baby’s feelings and from this experiential learning they discover their own feelings and discover the feelings of others.

By experiencing this and feeling empathy, they are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying. Teachers hosting the programme have reported improvements in children’s emotional wellbeing as they were given opportunities to express how they were feeling in discussion, through their art and through letters that they wrote to the Roots of Empathy baby.

Victoria Hutchinson, Principal at Strandtown Primary School, said: “Roots of Empathy has had a really positive impact on our whole school. The pupils have really engaged in this programme and enjoy taking part. We were delighted to welcome Mary Gordon, Chief Executive of Roots of Empathy, to our school, and look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the PHA and BHSCT to deliver the Roots of Empathy Programme in our school, for future generations to come.

A P5 student said: “Roots of Empathy teaches people to be kind to people even if we don't know them and we can make friends with them and be kind to your mums and dads and brothers and sisters and aunties and cousins and grandads and play with babies.”

Mary Gordon, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Roots of Empathy (ROE) Canada, said: “Roots of Empathy doesn’t just come to the classroom, it comes to the whole community. I couldn’t think of a more poignant and meaningful place to visit; the success ROE has had in Northern Ireland represents the key values and aims of this programme. During the workshops we see really amazing moments.”

For further information on the Roots of Empathy programme visit www.rootsofempathy.org