The Power of Compassion in Clinical Legal Education

1. Compassion in Clinical Legal Education Recognising clinics as sites for realising compassion Dr Anthony Hopkins Director, Law School Clinical and Internship Courses Senior Lecturer & Barrister ANU Law School anthony.hopkins@anu.edu.au

2. Compassion ‘sensitivity to suffering in ourselves and others with a deep motivation and commitment to alleviate and prevent it’ Dalai Lama

3. The Central Question/Challenge ‘How can we take heart again so that we can give heart to others?’ Susan L. Brooks, 2018, citing Palmer (1998)

4. Compassion: Two Interdependent Psychologies ‘the psychology that enables us to be motivated to engage with suffering, to stay with it and understand its causes in a non-judgemental way; … and a second psychology that enables us skilfully to work towards the alleviation and prevention of suffering and its causes.’ Gilbert and Choden, 2014

5. Where Compassion Begins: An Affective State ‘is the feeling that arises in witnessing another’s suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help …’ Goetzet al, 2010 ‘Perhaps with the experience of caring. Caring happens in the body and in the moment: a quick squirt of oxytocin, a firing of mirror neurons, the sudden perception of a link between the so-called self and the so-called other.’ Harris, 2012

6. Compassion: more than an affective state ‘Compassion must be more than a visceral experience that arises in the face of suffering of those with whom we identify’ Hopkins and Bartels, forthcoming

7. Compassion is more than empathy ‘is not simply a feeling for the pain of others – it also contains within it a strong motivation to act.’ Goldstein, 2002

8. Compassion is more than empathy Neuroscientific investigation of the difference between empathy and compassion Kimlecki & Singer et al, 2012, 2013

9. Compassion is more than empathy: An invitation to experiment Aninteroceptive investigation of the difference between empathy and compassion Jeff Warren, 10% Happier App

10. Mindfulness and Compassion

11. Compassion as a ‘way of being’ compassion as a way of being, with attentional, affective and perspective domains that can be cultivated, rather than a “fleeting emotional-motivational state”. Bornemannand Singer, 2013

12. The potential of compassion: ‘We learn out to look deeply into suffering, to hold pain, to sit with death, and we learn how to sit with paradox, like the capacity of suffering to make room for great love.’ Harris, 2015

13. Beginning with Self Compassion ‘sensitivity to suffering in ourselves and others with a deep motivation and commitment to alleviate and prevent it’ Dalai Lama ‘To give compassion to others but not the self, in fact, is seen as drawing an artificial distinctions between self and others that misrepresent our essential interconnectedness. From this point of view self-compassion is simply compassion directed inward’ Neff & Pommier, 2012 Physician’s Pledge includes the following:-

14. Implications for Clinical Legal Education: Recognising compassion as foundational has the potential to: • support the case for Clinical Legal Education as site to re-enliven and re-ennoble law • enhance student capacity to be with suffering and act skillfully to alleviate it • enhance student capacity to be with suffering even when cannot alleviate it • Reduce the risks associated with burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma • Increase sense of wellbeing and peace! JOY - Compassion Feels Good!

15. Interested……Read More Hopkins A and Bartels L, ‘Paying attention to the person: Compassion, equality and therapeutic jurisprudence’ in N Stobbs, L Bartels and M Vols (eds), The methodology and practice of therapeutic jurisprudence, Carolina Academic Press. Forthcoming. Hueston, J. & Hutchins, M. (2018). The power of compassion in the court: Healing on both sides of the bench. Court Review, 54, pp. 96-100.http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/publications/courtrv/cr54-2/CR54-2Hueston.pdf Interested……Try compassion (loving kindness) meditation • Phone Apps (10% happier, Calm, Smiling Mind, Insight Timer) • Meditation Courses (Mindful Self-Compassion, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) • Meditation Retreats.

16. Bornemann, N., & Singer, T. (2013). The ReSource Model of Compassion. In T. Singer & M. Boltz, eds., Compassion Bridging Practice and Science. Munich: Max Planck Society, pp. 179-191. Brooks,S. L ‘Fostering Wholehearted Lawyers: Practical Guidance for Supporting Law Students’ Professional Identity Formation’ (2018) 14:2 University of St. Thomas Law Journal 412, Dalai Lama. (1995). The Power of Compassion, India: Harper Collins. Gilbert, P., & Choden, P. (2014). Mindful Compassion: How the Science of Compassion Can Help You Understand Your Emotions, Live in the Present and Connect Deeply with Others, Oakland: New Harbinger Publications. Goetz, J. Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010). Compassion: an evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3),pp. 351-374. Goldstein, J. (2002). One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, San Francisco: HarperCollins. Harris, A. (2012). Compassion and critique. Columbia Journal of Race and Law, 1(3), pp.326-352. Harris, A. (2015). Compassion and critique. Law and the Curated Body Conference. York University, 27 March 2015. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWsMz8T2PVk>. Klimecki, O., & Singer, T. (2012). Empathic Distress Fatigue Rather than Compassion Fatigue? Integrating Findings from Empathy Research in Psychology and Social Neuroscience. In B. Oakley, A. Knafo, G. Madhavan & D.S. Wilson, eds., Pathological Altruism. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 368-383. Klimecki, O., Leiberg, S., Lamm, C., & Singer, T. (2013). Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect after compassion training. Cerebral Cortex, 23(7), pp.1552-1561. Klimecki, O., Leiberg, S., Ricard, M., & Singer, T. (2014). Differential pattern of functional brain plasticity after compassion and empathy training. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(6), pp 873-879. Klimecki, O., Ricard, M., & Singer, T. (2013). Empathy versus Compassion: Lessons from 1st and 3rd Person Methods. In T. Singer & M. Boltz, eds., Compassion: Bridging Practice and Science. Munich: Max Planck Society, pp. 272-287. Neff, K. (2011). Self-Compassion, New York: HarperCollins. References.