Intro to Compassionate Listening: Healing Our World from the Inside Out, Facilitated by Sharon Gubbay Helfer

Intro to Compassionate Listening: Healing Our World from the Inside Out

Facilitated by: Sharon Gubbay Helfer

Assisted by: Marie Carlson

Six Fridays, September 25 - October 30, 2026

(September 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30)

8 – 10 am PT / 11 am – 1 pm ET / 5 – 7 pm CET

Compassion is not a luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability; it is essential for human survival.

~ Dalai Lama

As we continue to witness the suffering caused by deepening divisions and polarizations, one thing becomes clear. It is a change of heart and not "winning" arguments over "the other side" that will bring us peace – personally and in our families and communities. The powerful tools of Compassionate Listening help transform the energy of conflict into opportunities for understanding, intimacy at home, healthy relationships, productive teamwork, and positive action. The practices you will learn offer a roadmap to what sages from all ages and cultures have taught: cultivating the wisdom of the heart is the key to real peace "from the inside out."

The skills of Compassionate Listening will empower you to become a stronger peacemaker. You will cultivate deep listening to your own higher wisdom and become better attuned to others, so you can begin to shift challenging communication and relationships into compassionate interaction.

This experiential workshop focuses on the core practices developed by The Compassionate Listening Project:

• Cultivating and Holding Compassion for Oneself and Others

• Developing the Fair Witness, without Judgment or Blame

• Maintaining Balance in the Heat of Conflict, with Respect for Self and Others

• Listening with the Heart

• Speaking from the Heart, with Language that Reflects a Healing Intention

Cost

$390 - Standard Ticket (This ticket covers your participation in the Intro to Compassionate Listening and helps sustain our programs.)

$450 - Community Builder Ticket (This ticket includes your participation while also contributing to our scholarship fund and the growth of Compassionate Listening.)

The cost for this workshop series is tiered according to a pay-as-you-are-able structure. This enables us to offer workshops in a financially sustainable way while creating accessibility for those without financial means to attend, as well as opportunities for generosity for those who would like to support others' attendance.

We are committed to accessibility and sincerely wish for all who wish to attend our workshops to be able to do so, regardless of financial means. If the ticket price is not affordable for you, please submit a scholarship request. We sincerely want everyone who wishes to attend to have the opportunity.

Our scholarship program is made possible by generous contributions from our community. If you have the means, please consider choosing the Community Builder ticket or making an additional donation to support others in attending.

If you have any questions, please contact us at staff@compassionatelistening.org. Looking forward to meeting you in the circle!

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations made 7 days or more in advance of the event date will receive a 100% refund. 

Facilitator

Dr. Sharon Gubbay Helfer is an oral historian, a writer, an artist, and a teacher of listening and life skills. Ever since earning a PhD in Jewish Studies in 2006, Sharon has passionately pursued an understanding of difficult dialogues both in research and in practice. As a certified facilitator with the Compassionate Listening Project and with the Compassionate Integrity Training curriculum, she has offered online and in-person Workshops and Circles to participants in the US, Canada, Europe and Israel. Her research has included creating an oral history of Jewish-Catholic dialogue in Québec. She also worked on the major Oral History Centre project “Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by Wars, Genocides and Other Human Rights Violations” (Concordia), where her work included creating a Palestinian Canadian Life Stories pilot project. At Concordia she also created the oral history project: Life Stories of Seven Montreal Rabbis. Her current writing project, supported by a Research/Creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, is a biography of her mother Aline Gubbay’s mentor, portrait photographer and war photographer Germaine Kanova. Sharon has also been a passionate student of flamenco dance for many years.

"My class with Sharon was really enjoyable.  I believe I walked away from the class with some new skills and improved existing skills when it comes to being a better listener.  I find that I have more patience and my observations have been a little more fine tuned.  The class was well worth my time and I want to thank you for making it available."- Jean Cavender