'Compassion is Growing in Bağcılar' Project

Altınbaş University Psychology Department initiated the project "Growing Compassion in Bağcılar" to teach children in Bağcılar how to be compassionate towards themselves, others, animals, plants and the environment.

In the project supported by Bağcılar Municipality, 70 students between the ages of 12 and 13 are taught the concept of compassion through various activities, homework and games as well as theoretical information in trainings that will last for 7 weeks.

After the theoretical work, visits to places such as animal shelters and botanical gardens will be organized to reinforce children's feelings of compassion. In the last week of the training, the children will send stationery to students in need, especially in the earthquake region. Within the scope of the project, the awareness of the children who receive compassion training will also be examined according to psychological scales.

Altınbaş University Psychology Department Faculty Member Dr. Esra Gül Koçyiğit, who conducts the "Compassion is Growing in Bağcılar" project, said that the theoretical structure of compassion is mostly discussed in the training, the first 4 weeks of which are planned to be in-class.

Koçyiğit stated that in this part of the training, topics such as "who can be merciful to?" and "what can be done in this process?" were completed with group work by doing activities such as drama activities, games and coloring that children can enjoy.

Noting that after the theoretical training, the children will move on to practical and field studies, Koçyiğit said, "The children expressed that they felt very good when they behaved compassionately, that they felt trust, that they were respected by someone else, and that their hearts were stirring. There really is such a side to compassion."

Expressing that compassion has a psychologically positive aspect, Koçyiğit said, "We can think of compassion as a protective factor. There are studies showing that people with high compassion capacity have lower rates of depression and anxiety, and that compassion reduces emotions such as anger, fear, jealousy and envy."

Noting that compassion calms people, Koçyiğit said, "Let's say you are in an angry moment and when the feeling of compassion comes into play at that moment, the person calms down. Because the happiness hormones called endorphins and serotonin, which make us feel good, start to be secreted in our body. In this way, people actually feel better."

Esra Gül Koçyiğit noted that school is one of the places where compassion, which reduces anger and aggression, will benefit, and said, "We actually have a great gem in dealing with feelings such as bullying and cruelty in the form of peer bullying, in terms of those relationship styles. And that is compassion. We need to include compassion in the education curriculum in schools."

Students also shared their feelings about the trainings:

Hüseyin Kalkan: "During the trainings, I learned what compassion is, how to be compassionate to animals, plants and others. The lessons are very fun. We draw pictures. Our teacher says he will also take us on a trip. I liked the tree activity the most."

Muhammet Faruk Göktaş: "In the lessons, we learn to be compassionate to plants, inanimate beings, people and everything. The topic of compassion for animals attracted my attention the most."

Hatice Kübra Köylü: "I have a lot of fun in the lessons. I learned how to have compassion for myself. I learned that I should see people who make me happy."

Gülcan Demircan: "From now on, when I see people who do not show mercy, I will warn them to be merciful."