Introduction to Empthease; a community for empathy
Hi r/NVC,
I've been studying Nonviolent Communication for several years alongside meditation and self-transformation, and I've also been working in AI and teaching. Those four threads have been running in parallel for a while.
There were times, like after a fight with a partner, where I had unmet needs. I wanted to have giraffe ears for a few minutes. Timing mattered, and friends aren't always ready, willing, and able to be there. Therapy was prohibitively expensive and not available in that crucial, brief period. I started to imagine a solution, something like Uber for empathy: match people in real time when they need to be heard, paired with an extensive course that could train and vet practitioners over time.
I started sharing what I was building, and the feedback I kept getting was that people wanted community, not just one-off matches. So I pivoted toward circles and cohorts.
I call it EmpathEase. The current version offers on-demand empathy circles hourly, plus easy creation of recurring circles for the people you meet along the way.
A few things it does:
- **1:1 peer empathy.** You get matched with one other person for a focused empathy exchange over video.
- **Group empathy circles.** Small, structured circles. Join one on demand, or form a cohort that meets over time.
- **Structured NVC courses.** Bite-sized lessons with quizzes.
- **Giraffe Translator.** Paste something you said, or something someone said to you, and see it reframed in NVC.
- **An AI practice partner** for rehearsing a response before a hard conversation. It is a warm-up, not a substitute for human empathy, and I won't pretend otherwise.
I am not trying to replace workshops, books, or human practice groups. The goal is narrower: make daily practice and real connection more accessible.
I would love for this community to try it, and I welcome all feedback.