Academy for Community Behavioral Health: Compassionate Conversations

The Academy for Community Behavioral Health partner with social service providers to build more equitable and effective behavioral health care in New York City.The Academy strengthens the capacity of social service providers to provide trauma-informed services, normalize compassionate conversations about behavioral health, use relevant skills, including to prevent, identify, respond to, and care for mental health challenges and emotional pain.

What does it mean to “meet people where they are?” Many of us want to support people with behavior change, meaning we want to support them with decisions, actions, and habits that will reduce negative outcomes and improve their quality of life. This course will focus on how we support people who are considering or working toward behavior changes. We will focus on our intentions as service providers and develop skills to bring active listening into conversations with community members.

We will explore the link between self-compassion and holding space for compassion. We will also consider how we can embody the spirit of Motivational Interviewing (MI) by bringing acceptance, compassion, collaboration and evocation into our work. We will practice and strengthen skills for active listening.