"You feel a feeling of peace by the end of the session, and you feel acknowledged. Everybody wants to feel acknowledged, right? And you instantly feel better. You feel your stress levels just come down, and you’re just like, somehow there is this calming effect. It’s almost meditative and therapeutic.”

“I've had the occasion to feel so understood, and also to feel that I completely get somebody else's experience who lives such a different life from me. It's like all those differences sort of disappear.”

“I almost always find myself feeling very touched by witnessing people listening to each other carefully and reflecting and trying to understand each other, it's like, it's a very moving thing to watch. Yeah, it demonstrates a kind of care for each other and a care to want to understand each other that I don't see and I don't think most people experience in life much in regular conversations."

Rasha Kutty is the Founder and the Chief Facilitator at The Empathy University®. She holds master's degrees in Management and Psychology. She is a certified Instructional Designer, a certified Empathic Intervision facilitator and a certified Empathy Circles facilitator with 10+ years of training/facilitation experience.

Graham Berends is the Empathic Conversations Lead at The Empathy University®. He holds degrees in Management and Psychology. He is a trained and experienced listening circle facilitator with 12+ years of experience supporting those with addiction and their behavioural issues.