5. Speaking and Listening More Deeply.

Susan Christy  Project

Overview: This Module builds on the Empathy Circle Facilitator Training. The intention is to teach how to speak and listen more deeply in the Empathy Circle and in daily interactions.

2.5 hour Deeper Workshop Outline - Table and times

• AI Workshop Description

• Module 5: Project Google Doc - a google folder for this project files.

  • • Module 5. Empathy Circle: Listening Deeper - Training Outline v6

    • Module 5: The Power of Listening - Susan Christy
      
      

• Meetings

  • • 2026-04-20 Susan
      Edwin and Susan discussed developing a training curriculum focused on deep listening and speaking skills for empathy circles. They agreed to create a 3-hour workshop that would help participants move beyond word-for-word repetition toward capturing the essence of what speakers are saying. Susan offered to create an outline for the training, which would include exercises and demonstrations of effective listening techniques. T

    • 2026-04-27 Susan
      Susan and Edwin discussed developing a training curriculum for empathic listening, with Susan expressing her desire to create a more comprehensive training that focuses on the inner lives of both speakers and listeners. Susan shared her concerns about current empathy circles lacking depth and expressed her intention to develop exercises that help participants connect to their felt experiences and speak from a deeper place. Edwin presented the project infrastructure he's created, including a Google Doc workspace and organizational structure for the curriculum development.

    • 2026-05-21 Susan
      This meeting focused on developing an empathy circle curriculum and improving the quality of empathic listening practices. Susan and Edwin discussed issues with current empathy circle implementations where participants tend to repeat single sentences rather than sharing full ideas, which doesn't capture the deeper essence of empathic understanding. They agreed that the curriculum needs better explanation of paraphrasing techniques and felt sense awareness, drawing from experts like William Miller and Gendlin's focusing work. 

    • 2026-06-30 Susan
      Edwin and Susan discussed developing a 2.5-hour workshop on deepening listening skills for empathy circle practitioners. They explored how to move beyond simple paraphrasing to capture the felt sense and essence of what speakers share, drawing on approaches from Rogers, focusing, and other experiential methods. The conversation covered workshop structure, including using video examples, small group practice sessions, and modeling deeper listening techniques. They discussed potential challenges around working with existing empathy circle trainers like Bill and Daniel while respecting their established methods. Susan agreed to create a draft outline incorporating their discussion points and timing considerations, with plans to meet again after Susan returns from travel on the 17th.

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Website.

To Do:

1. Create a Course outline

2. Do a test course

3. 
   

Plan - a 5 hours course. 

• Day 1: 2.5 hours

• Day 5: 2.5 hours

1. Desired outcomes

   1. 1. people get better at listening more deeply

      2. people feel heard and start talking.

      3. reflecting the speakers meaning and essence

      4. encourage the speaker to go deeper.

      5. support the Speaker in being heard to their satisfaction. 

2. Have some exercises

3. listening so that the speaker goes more deeply

Ideas for Course

1. 1. Give Home work

      1. 1. review Carl Rogers videos