Featured Courses

The range of courses offered in the Featured Courses section of the Charter Education Institute stem from assisting individuals, teams and organizations around the world on understanding the mind and heart of a compassionate community and explore processes that create paths to design sustainable action plans to meet local, national and international challenges.  In addition, just as many of us engage in different circles of culture and society, so does the Charter for Compassion.  The Charter supports work in twelve sectors: art, business, education, environment, healthcare, interfaith (religion and spirituality), peace, science and research, social justice, social services, restorative justice, and women and girls.  Consequently, course work is being desired and implemented in each of these sectors.  

Vist this page periodically to see current listing of courses which usually change monthly or bi-monthly.

NEW!
Emotional Intelligence for a Compassionate World

Start date: February 3, 2020
Duration: 6 weeks
Cost: $60
Registration: Now Open!

Maybe you’ve thought about how empowering it could be to join with others who are willing to take action for a more compassionate world.

And maybe you’ve recognized that building Emotional Intelligence skills could be helpful to you in your relationships as well as in building a more compassionate community where you live.

Emotional Intelligence skills and competencies can become the fertile ground for a more compassionate world. The skills that contribute to Emotional Intelligence can lead to the development of empathy and compassion--in individuals, in families, in the workplace, in communities, and among the interconnected societies of people throughout the world.

During this course, you will discover your own Emotional Intelligence strengths, learn ways to add to your Emotional Intelligence competencies, and consider practical ways to apply your skills to build a more compassionate world. Click here to learn more about the course and register.

NEW!
Compassionate Children: How to Cultivate Compassion for a Flawed Parent by Loving Yourself

Start date: February 24, 2020
Duration: 4 weeks
Cost: $30
Registration Opens: February 3, 2020

We all come from diverse cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities. We were also raised in various families of origin. Some grew up with two parents, some one, others lived with grandparents or other relatives. There are many who had stepparents (bonus parents), adoptive parents and even foster parents. With all the differences in our upbringings, those who are interested in this course have one thing in common. Your parental figures were not the ones you would have chosen for yourselves. You may have survived abuse, rejection, abandonment or neglect. You may still blame them or carry your own guilt and shame to this day. But that can change now. This course offers a way to cultivate compassion for you as well as your flawed parent. Understand how to love yourself regardless of the relationship you have or had with them. Learn how to reclaim your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. Whether or not your parents ever change who they are, you can live your life in peace knowing you did your part. Click here to read more about the course.

NEW!
Death and Dying: Grief and Climate Change

Start date: March 16, 2020
Duration: 4 weeks (includes two one-hour interactive sessions online. Each, available in two different times slots for participants in different parts of the world.)
Cost: $30
Registration: Coming Soon!

How do we mourn the loss of wild animal species or widespread destruction of natural environs? What is the connection between humans and wild nature that is broken? What is the source of our grief and where can we find comfort? When we lose a member of the human family, we enact rituals of mourning: loving placement of the body into the earth, flowers placed on graves, and gathering to remember. These are accepted, seen as normal, healthy, and a way to heal. But there are no accepted human rituals for mourning the loss of wild animals and environs. How can we understand and share the meaning of loss when society views the deceased as having no familial relation to us?

Participants in this course will explore issues surrounding the death of species and habitats, including our own. We will find ways to grieve and to hope. The course runs for 4 weeks and will include two one-hour interactive sessions online. Each live session will be available in two different times slots for participants in different parts of the world. More information on the course and registration information available soon!

Back by Popular Demand!
Poetry for Inspiration and Wellbeing

Start Date: April 20, 2020
Facilitator: John Smelcer
Cost: $30.00
Registration: Starting soon!

A chance to learn about writing poetry from the one of the longest-serving poetry editors of a national magazine in American history. Come join us for this popular course in April which is National Poetry Month!

Poetry has the power to inspire. Poetry can give witness to social injustices or show us how to live mindfully and compassionately. Poetry is therapeutic. For those who are hurting, poetry has the power to heal. Many people begin writing poetry as part of a healing process. By writing about what has injured our spirit in the past and about how we feel about ourselves presently, we can diminish suffering and begin to rediscover joy. This course will explore how writing poetry can inspire not only us, but others, how it can increase well-being, and how it can be used to teach tolerance, understanding, and compassion, including compassion for the earth and all living things. Click here to learn more about the course.  Registration information will be available soon!

Compassionate Integrity Training - January 2020

Start Date: Cohort 1 - January 15, 2020
                      Cohort 2 - January 16, 2020
Duration: 10 weeks
Registration: Open

Have you ever wondered how you could cultivate the compassion called for in the Charter or help others cultivate that compassion? Compassionate Integrity Training (CIT) is a great place to start!

CIT is a resiliency-informed program that cultivates human values as skills, so we can thrive as individuals, and a society, within a healthy environment.  By learning skills to calm our bodies and mind, becoming more emotionally aware, learning to practice compassion for ourselves and others, as well as engaging with compassion in complex systems, we can build towards compassionate integrity: the ability to live one’s life in accordance with one’s values with a recognition of common humanity, our basic orientation to kindness and reciprocity. Click here to learn more about the course and register.

Working Together Towards Harmony: Using Our Shared Humanity to Bridge Divides

Start date: January 6, 2020
Duration: 4 weeks
Cost: $30
Registration: Open!

Back by popular demand. Start the New Year with a commitment to social harmony. In the past two years, this course has attracted over five hundred participants from more than thirty countries. We are proud to offer it again.

The 4-week course brings together ideas from interfaith activists, Nobel peace prize laureates, modern psychologists, and ancient Indian seekers to create a unique recipe for working towards harmony. By the end of the course, participants should have created a list of concrete steps they can take to create more personal and social harmony.

In addition, participants will have access to like-minded participants from around the world, and Rev. Bergmann, who will answer questions and comments on a daily basis. Click here to learn more about the course and register

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