Journal Entry: Stamatina Bourret-03/27/2024-PSAP Course Lesson 24

Journal Entry

Lesson 24
Cultivating Empathy

-I understand the concept of empathy as understanding the feelings of others and responding to those feelings with compassion.

-Empathy is important for personal development because you should always treat others how you want to be treated Understanding people have different views and perspectives and then trying to work through those views with them. Understanding the feelings they are having are important and trying o work through those views with other. If you can build this skill while incarcerated once you get out you will be able to use those same skills to deal with life in the real world.

– A time when empathy helped me understand someone’s perspective was when my son cam to visit me. He was bein mean to his sister and making her cry. Upon my initial reaction I wanted to get upset, but I did not, instead I tried to think about where he might be coming from and what he might be feeling. As, I thought about that I realized he may be hurting since I am here and does not really know how to understand that. I asked him if he wanted to talk to me alone to see how he was feeling, He did and we were able to touch on some difficult things he was feeling.

-Cultivating empathy can help prepare for building meaningful relationships and resolving conflicts after release because we you are able to understand how someone is responding may be related to how they are feeling or viewing things, you are then more likely to give grace for their reactions to situations. This will help in resolving conflict after release because you ca view those situations from the other personal perspective, as opposed to allowing yourself to be hurt by the situation.

– Strategies I can employ to enhance my empathy during my imprisonment are understanding the needs of people, accountability, compassion, adaptability, emotional regulation, perspective taking and respecting diversity.