Why Our San Antonio Community Service Members Need Self-Compassion First

This event is a workshop about rethinking compassion and the best way we serve our communities. I am a lawyer and have worked in public service at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid for my legal career and I am a board member for EmpowerHouse and Sana Roots, so I intimately understand the experience of people who work to serve their communities. San Antonio is a place with a lot of need and a lot of amazing work going on in the community, and so it may seem counter intuitive to many people to start with self-compassion first. A lot of us who are the people who are often in the role of serving our communities whether in public service jobs, community organizations, or within our communities, care for everyone except for ourselves. But research shows that self-compassion is actually what allows us to have real compassion for others, and it also helps us have more impact because we are also taking care of ourselves. This will be a workshop which will allow attendees to self reflect on the norms of the public service and community organization fields and will have take aways they can implement in their lives and communities afterwards. All for a better San Antonio.