CCARE at Stanford University

What is the Applied Compassion Training?

ACT is an 11-month global ONLINE training and certificate program offered through the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University.

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The ultimate aim of ACT is to prepare people who feel an urgency to bring compassionate action into their occupations, professions, communities, institutions, and into their own personal development. 

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What are the requirements of the Training? 

Please visit our program requirements page HERE 

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What is the cost of ACT?

$9495. Payment plans are available.

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Can my organization, company or institution pay for my participation in ACT?

 Yes! ACT participants successfully request funding from their organization, company, or institution to pay for their participation, or receive reimbursement. To support you in making this request, we’ve developed a packet designed for decision-makers. This packet includes a sample letter that has been used to successfully request organizational funding DOWNLOAD HERE 

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What is the cancellation policy?

A full refund (minus a $275 processing fee) may only be issued if your cancellation request is received by December 1st, 2023. No refunds will be made for cancellations received after December 1st, 2023. All refund requests must be sent HERE 

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Are there grants available?

Limited grant funding is available at this time. Please email: actprogram@stanford.edu to learn more. We hope to have more grants available for future ACT programs. If you are in a position to donate funds towards a grant, please contact actprogram@stanford.edu. Your generosity is most appreciated and will go towards helping someone who doesn't have the financial resources available to attend.

 

Who is eligible to attend ACT? 

ACT is designed for people who are ready, willing and able to commit to the study, practice and application of compassion on a daily basis.  Especially people that are interested in applying compassion in a real-world public facing setting.  This could be anyone who wants to integrate experiential access to compassion into their professional and personal lives and to develop compassion-based solutions, classes, programs, offerings, and workshops, etc.

 

What can I do with a Certificate in Applied Compassion? 

Upon successful completion of the Applied Compassion Training, you will receive a certificate of completion from CCARE at Stanford University. As a graduate, you may use any or all of the following titles: Educator, Facilitator, Consultant, and Ambassador of Applied Compassion.

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With the ACT certificate of completion, you will be equipped with the credibility, evidence-based resources and practices as well as the skillset to:

 

• Integrate applied compassion into your occupation, profession, community and  professional or personal life. 

 

• Facilitate meetings and team discussions, teach classes and workshops and create experiences that advance the development of applied compassion for groups of people with whom you interface, as appropriate to your interests and background. 

 

• Offer educational and awareness-raising programs and give talks about applied compassion for the general public in your area of interest, expertise or advocacy.

 

• Consult with organizations on how to better facilitate applied compassion and evidence-based practices to create structures that support compassion within an organization’s culture and leadership development models. 

 

• Promote applied compassion within your own organization, helping key leaders to recognize the benefits of evidence-based compassion practices within the workplace. 

 

• Design your own applied compassion-based solutions for individuals, groups, communities or institutions.

 

How is the Applied Compassion Training unique? 

Many excellent professional training programs necessarily concentrate on the content and protocol that the student is learning to teach. In the ACT program, the focus broadens beyond content to include other key dimensions of Applied Compassion. You can learn more about those HERE

 

What type of people participate in the Applied Compassion Training? 

The Applied Compassion Training is a global program comprised of people from all over the world. The program is open to participants from  government, medicine, therapy, academia, students, business, technology, non profit organizations, NGOs, end of life/hospice, caretakers, school teachers, lawyers, coaches, consultants, law enforcement and first responders, the criminal justice system, religious institutions, entertainment, film makers, music and art to name a few. ACT participants come from around the world and are people who want to model and intentionally bring compassion into the multiplicity of worlds in which they find themselves. You can learn more about our ACT graduates HERE

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I am not working or retired.  Can I still participate?

Yes! You'll probably want to give some extra thought as to how you can apply this training in a real-world setting.  People that are not working could bring their Applied Compassion Capstone Project into a community of which they are a part, a volunteer cause,  a board of directors that they serve on, a church or community center,  or could initiate a project within their own neighborhood.

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What is the ACT Applied Compassion Capstone project? 

An essential part of this training is an Applied Compassion Capstone Project that each participant will create, deliver, and report back on during the course of the Applied Compassion Training. Participants begin designing these projects right from the start of the training and are required to deliver their Capstone Projects in a real-world setting by September 2024, and then submit their Final Capstone Presentation/Report by October 2024. 

Each trainee will design and implement their ACT Capstone project with the goal of bringing compassionate action into the world within the context of their occupations, professions, and/or personal lives. The Capstone Project will involve a step-by-step process and be supported with ongoing mentoring.

 

An example of an ACT Capstone project might be to develop a workshop or other offering that integrates compassionate principles and practices to address specific and unique issues around burnout, in the environments in which the individual participant lives and works.

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Is the ACT Capstone project a requirement for completion? 

Yes.

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Does the Applied Compassion Training train you to teach CCT, MBSR, MSC, CBT, MBCT, etc? 

No. The Applied Compassion Training (ACT) is not a program to train or certify participants to teach a specific protocol. This certificate program is intended for people who will create and deliver their own 'compassion solution' in a setting of their choice. Since the beginning of ACT, there have been hundreds of unique projects which feature and integrate applied compassionate approaches to general and specific issues associated with various occupations, professions, and/or personal development. The ACT program provides each participant with the  principles, attitudes, skills and resources necessary to design their own compassion-based offerings, talks and programs based on best principles and practices. Certified graduates will function in the role of an Educator, Facilitator, Consultant, and Ambassador of Applied Compassion.

 

What is the average time commitment for a student undertaking this training?

Participant attendance is required at all three (3 day) virtual immersive retreats scheduled in January, July and November. Throughout the 11 months, there will be three monthly online Zoom sessions (approximately 6 hours per month). Participants should also expect to spend an additional 5-10 hours each month working on their individual Capstone Project, as well as in discussions with their Mentoring group, Capstone team, and their individual ACT mentor.

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How do I know if I'm ready for this program?

If you feel ready to bring compassion into your setting and are able to meet the program requirements, then you're well on your way to being ready.

 

In addition to the above requirements, we strongly invite you to consider if you're committed and able to undergo a profound process of inner transformation at this time. The road to becoming an Ambassador of Compassion is a combination of external (action-oriented) work as well as internal (personal growth) work. We encourage each program participant to embrace an attitude of humility, especially with regards to one's own personal growth. There's always more to discover and learn about ourselves, and the capacity to cultivate compassion is ongoing. We invite you to discern if it's the right time for you to embark on a deeper level of your own transformational journey.

 

If you are someone with a deep desire and commitment to your own growth, as well as someone who is called to be an agent of change and action in the world, then this program is for you.

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What are the techniques and sources you draw from during the ACT Program?

This training draws on a variety of principles and practices from diverse wisdom traditions, science/research-based sources, and from direct personal experience. Each student is encouraged to discover the principles and practices of compassion that are most meaningful to their own personal and professional background and relevant to the development of their unique Capstone Project.

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My question still hasn't been answered, what do I do?

We have found that most answers can be found in this program requirements section. If you've read through this entire section thoroughly and still have question, please contact actprogram@stanford.edu