Hamman Professional Wellness: Magee Ethics | The Ethics of Compassion

Does compassion have limits? At its Latin roots, compassion -- com-passio -- means to suffer-with. The Dalai Lama tells us that our happiness, as well as the happiness of others, flows from the practice of compassion. As we practice, we learn -- and learning necessarily involves discovering what doesn't work. Practicing compassion inevitably involves encountering its necessary nuances and unintended effects. If compassion is empathy for another's suffering that evokes the intention to alleviate it, what happens when the actions we take do not help? When they actually cause harm? Can an unbounded empathy leave little room for our own feelings, and cause unintended damage to ourselves? While new Christian theological arguments about empathy itself being toxic and evil are obscene, we need to pay attention to the complexities of experiencing and exercising compassion. In this workshop, we will explore how compassion drives the practice and ethical codes of mental health and other healing professions, and we will articulate principles to guide us in practicing our compassionate work sustainably and ethically.