In 2024, Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) had all its first-year students participate in Compassionate Dialogue training, a 90-minute introduction to the principles of active listening, empathy, compassion, and appreciating diverse perspectives. Students were then invited to continue engaging in compassionate dialogue through monthly sessions offered by the Office of Public Health Practice. The training will again be offered to incoming students in 2025. Antigone Antonakakis, MPH ’26, discusses the profound impact the Compassionate Dialogue program had on her first year at YSPH.
I walked into the Compassionate Dialogue training during my first week at YSPH, not knowing what to expect. Our facilitator welcomed us warmly and after 30 minutes of training, instructed us to spend the next hour simply listening to each other’s stories—with no interruptions, no judgment, just presence and compassion.
We were 10 incoming first-years, each bringing our own story and a willingness to show up authentically, listen with care, and share with vulnerability. Within our group was a commuter from two hours away, an avid runner, a research scientist, and a nurse eager to make a tangible impact. There was a student from across the world, and me, a recent college graduate and Health Care Management student passionate about supporting young adults with disabilities.
At first, we all seemed to instinctively filter our responses, premeditating a path toward common ground. But in doing so, we realized we were anticipating our own chance to respond, rather than truly listening. As we spoke about what motivated us to pursue public health, the flaws we’ve witnessed in the systems around us, and what we hoped to gain from our time at Yale, we started to hear how much we did have in common. What felt like a small moment became a quiet catalyst for how I would learn, connect, and lead during my first year at YSPH.
Over the past year, the 10 of us have continued to meet monthly with our original facilitators, Susan Nappi, Randi McCray, and Jason Martinez. While participation was optional, each of us chose to return to continue the conversations we started that first week. We have created a space to process public health crises unfolding around us both nationally and globally and to reflect on how to remain grounded as students and future professionals in the face of uncertainty, urgency, and emotional fatigue. Rooted in the ground rules we established at the start, these conversations helped me expand my understanding of compassion. It became about listening deeply, holding space for complexity, and approaching every story with care. There’s no pressure to solve anything, just to commit to showing up and sharing honestly.
Over time, I came to appreciate the quiet power of that space. Reflecting during our meetings helped me reconnect with my own “why,” a deeper reason that led me to public health in the first place. As the daughter of a refugee and the sister of someone with multiple disabilities, I have long carried a sense of purpose but rarely explored how those parts of my identity shape the work I hope to do. These conversations allowed me to connect those threads with greater clarity and intention.
This experience has become one of the highlights of my time at YSPH. It showed me that compassion isn’t just a soft skill. It is a critical leadership tool. Through both my dialogue and my studies, I have come to understand that as future public health professionals, we will be called to serve diverse communities and face systems that often lack humanity. Compassionate Dialogue has helped me understand the kind of leader I want to be: one who listens first, acts with care, and creates space for others to be seen and heard.
As someone pursuing a path in health administration, this mindset has deeply shaped how I show up in and out of the classroom. I find myself listening more intentionally, considering different perspectives before speaking, and asking questions that I seek to understand, not just to respond. More than that, these conversations helped me better understand my purpose, why this work matters to me, and what kind of leader I hope to become. The lessons I have learned in these monthly sessions have become intertwined with my academic journey, reinforcing the values I hope to carry into the real world.
Perhaps the greatest gift of all has been the community I found in my group. It is a small but mighty one that reminds me of why we are here—to learn, yes, but also to grow together. I am grateful for this experience and hope to see the Compassionate Dialogue program flourish for years to come.