Greetings CCT™ Teacher Community,

I hope this finds all of you and yours keeping safe and healthy.

It has been just over eight weeks since I had the good fortune to join Compassion Institute as Executive Director. As I expected, my short journey has been nothing short of inspiring. Like all of you, I find the tools and practice of compassion to be a reservoir of strength. Being part of an organization with compassion at the heart of its mission is deeply energizing.

I am honored to have the opportunity to work with a luminary such as Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., whose groundbreaking work and long, dedicated effort has helped elevate respect for compassion across the globe. I am privileged to work with a supportive Board of Directors. And it has been tremendously inspiring to get to know and work with CI’s gifted staff, all of whom bring so much to the work that Compassion Institute is doing.

I have been busy connecting with many of Compassion Institute’s key partners and generous funders whose belief in our work has proven very moving for me. I have also greatly enjoyed connecting with members of CI’s Founding Faculty, some of you in the CCT™ Teacher Community, and the broader community of CCT™ students. I am looking forward to further opportunities to connect more with all of you virtually and, when safety provides, in person.

As many of you are aware, CCT™ Teacher Training was put on pause as CI refined its mission to include explicit work with keystone professions and situations. I am happy to announce that Compassion Institute will resume Teacher Training in 2022. This will be done alongside bringing CCT™ and Compassion Advocacy to our work with keystone professions. We plan to announce a timeline for the resumption of Teacher Training in the coming months.

I know that the months prior to my arrival saw CI reflect and refine its mission and that this may have caused feelings of uncertainty amongst CI’s community of CCT™ Teachers. It is my sincere intent and vision to assure the Teacher Community and CCT™ students that you are all treasured parts of our community, mission and work. I will be putting myself in direct contact with you all in order to express my vision and support for your work.

In a recent webinar hosted by The Awake Network and Compassion Institute, Thupten Jinpa spoke eloquently about the power of compassion to bring purpose and meaning to our lives. As someone who has tried my best to rely on compassion as a daily practice for nearly 30 years, I can attest that it has buoyed and guided me through the twists and turns of my own life. I am so very honored to be of service, and to do my best in conjoining my own enthusiastic belief in the power of compassion with the work of Compassion Institute.

Warm regards,

Stephen Butler
Executive Director, Compassion Institute