The aim of the Centre for a Compassionate Society is to create community around compassion. It originates program materials in the areas of compassion education and training, meditation, and social activism, as well as cultural activities such as the Equinox Talks.

Structure and People

The Centre is an incorporated association. Its committee of management consists of

Director – Dr Petrina Barson

Dr Petrina Barson is a certified teacher of the Compassion Institute’s ‘Compassion Cultivation Training’, which she teaches to health care workers and the general community. She is also a mother, a doctor, a poet and an activist on issues of refugee rights. The thread that runs through all these domains is her passion for compassion, and her deep conviction that we have more in common than divides us. She understands compassion to be an innate human capacity that can be cultivated; and as a doorway to spirituality open to everyone.

Social Media – Mehrin Almassi

Website – Gordon Thompson

Gordon is a writer, and the Publisher at Clouds of Magellan Press.

The Centre for a Compassionate Society was founded by the Community Church of St Mark in 2019. The Centre is governed by the same policies designed to create safety for all – see this information page for further details.

Advisory Board

David Tacey

David Tacey is an Australian public intellectual, writer and interdisciplinary scholar. He is Emeritus Professor of Literature at La Trobe University in Melbourne and Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Canberra.

Debbie Ling

Debbie is a compassion researcher and educator at Monash University completing her PhD on compassion in 2019. She led the development of the award-winning Monash “Compassion training for healthcare workers” online course. Debbie is the Charter for Compassion International Healthcare Sector lead and also sits on the Australian Compassion Council.

Marcus O’Donnell

Marcus O’Donnell is an academic, artist and writer with an interest in contemplative pedagogies and the intersection of art and activism. He is Provost at Navitas Careers and Industry where he leads teaching and learning innovation. 

Twitter and instagram: marcusod

Jane Ormonde

Jane works as a Carer counsellor and as a practitioner of an ancient practice known as spiritual companioning. She completed a Masters in Spirituality in 2018, with a focus on Australian spirituality of the land and how human beings can connect deeply to the whole of life. She enjoys contemplative, stillness and heart-based based practices and is a mother and a new grandmother. Jane has a strong interest in First Nations cultures and loves to explore connection with the natural world and how people relate to one another and other beings with kindness and compassion. Key influences include Miriam Rose Ungunmerr, Mary Oliver, Richard Rohr and Matt Licata.

Vadim Ragozin

Vadim Ragozin is a learning and programs designer, facilitator and community builder, meditator, deep thinker, artist. www.vadimr.org

Contact

Please email: compassionatesociety@yahoo.com, or click on the Join Our Mailing List button to receive our newsletter.