Hyphen-21 is a small UK charity which aims to support and advocate for the empathic skills which enable positive and healing connection between people.
The hyphen of the charity’s title is just a connecting line between words. In real life, what takes place on that precarious line of empathic connection is both a mystery and a wonder. But in their mystery and wonder, the empathic skills are also central and essential to a civilised human society and – surely – to our survival.
The charity originated in mental health social work and counselling. But its principles apply to any good practice in community care, all of which requires empathic skills. The UK care services are still shaped by post-Thatcherite commercial models and by externally measured ‘targets,’ even while influenced more and more by abstracted images behind glass screens and by computer categories of all sizes and kinds, and by AI Centres of still emerging powers ; yet always and at centre we are faced with the question of how best to encourage, conserve and keep faith with the essential skills of empathic connection, skills of ‘genuiness, warmth and accurate empathy’ (see the work of American psychotherapist Carl Rogers).
Hyphen-21’s most prominent initiative to date is called ‘Poems for the wall.’ (Its first title was ‘Poems for the Waiting Room’). This initiative has received funding from various sources over the years, including the Arts Council, the NHS and the John Lewis Partnership. Here is a brief description.
‘Poems for the wall’ now has it own separate website which can be found here. Around 300 poems are available there, for downloading and public display in waiting room, class room, or library, free of charge. They include a significant number of bilingual poems, with 50 different languages represented.
Other projects with which the charity has been associated can be found in the ‘Hyphen Projects’ section on this site (see the headings above).
Hyphen-21 is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. It was set up in 1994.
Rogan Wolf, Founding Director of Hyphen-21
https://roganwolf.com