EmpathyLab celebrates increased outreach in 2022 Empathy Day campaign

EmpathyLab has revealed it reached more than 400,000 children in its 2022 Empathy Day campaign, an increase of 24% on 2021’s figures.

The annual event focuses on using books to build an understanding of the importance and practice of empathy.

The number of schools involved this year increased by 10% to 1,862 with a 144% increase in participation among Welsh schools. The campaign also saw growth in library involvement, rising to 168 services from just 19 in 2017. 

Participation was up 35% across Scotland. Across Twitter, #EmpathyDay trended at number two for five hours, and a new roster of partners, including the BBC, Pixl, Cloudaloud, Hay Festival, the Week Junior and Bookshop.org engaged the public with the concept. 

Empathy lab founder Miranda McKearney said: “We’ve been struck by people sharing how massively relevant they feel Empathy Day is at a time of great need – when society feels scarily divided; a time of war, of trying to recover from a pandemic that has affected our children badly, and a time of great anxiety about poverty.”

This November sees the introduction of Empathy Action Month, a new month-long initiative for schools, libraries and families to focus on putting empathy into action.

The campaign is being led by authors Phil Earle, Patrice Lawrence, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Ben Davis and Kate Milner. Videos will be released every Tuesday, featuring authors reflecting on the empathy in their books and their own Empathy Resolutions.

Lawrence commented: “The world needs to be a kinder place and empathy is our root to kindness. We can be quick to judge people, so this Empathy Action Month I’d like to encourage everyone to take a step back, to try to understand why people behave in a particular way.”