A few weeks ago I wrote about Deb, a friend whose family experienced a deep crisis when her oldest daughter’s depression and anxiety led her to harm herself. After months of staying silent, Deb and her family started telling friends. They discovered that nine other families in their community were going through similar trauma.
Deb also discovered, after an awkward exchange at the grocery store, that we are a society ill-equipped to comfort each other. We avoid, we deflect, we inject toxic positivity, we rush to fix. We leave the person who’s hurting feeling even more alone in their pain.
Through a LinkedIn connection, Deb discovered Jen Marr, the founder of an organization called Inspiring Comfort. Marr’s company offers empathy training to workplaces, schools, individuals — anyone, really, who could use it. Which is to say, just about everyone.
