A call to action: Re-activating the latent human factor for achieving the UN SDGs-cultivating courageous partnerships and compassionate human systems.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101135751 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2044-8341 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14760835 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Psychol Psychother Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2011- : West Sussex, England : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: Leicester, UK : British Psychological Society, c2002-

Empathy* ; Sustainable Development*; Humans ; Psychotherapy/methods ; Courage

The raison d'être for psychotherapy ¹ is to address individual suffering and distress. The sustainable development goals address suffering and distress on a global scale in the context of threats to the survival of our communities and planet.
Objective: We propose scaling up therapeutic principles for collective impact and nurturing therapist commitment beyond the therapy room, to activate and sustain compassion-in-action at the community system level.
Design: The SDGs represent the strength of collective human concern and action coming together. At the half-way point, we are falling dangerously short of our targets, requiring an urgent response. The tenet of this paper is that the weakest link in our journey is not technical capability or finances, or even the impact of multiple intersecting crises, but our ability to collaborate for sustained action-it is the human factor-hence, we need a psychologically informed response.
Method: Notably, least 'visible' is SDG17, the umbrella goal designated means of implementation, through partnership. Partnership has been treated as a transactional element of SDG projects, rather than the vital heartbeat connecting daily actions to the 2030 vision. Partnership is about investing in relationships and a commitment to working together with a common purpose-the bailiwick of psychological therapists.
Results: We propose an architecture to support the development of courageous partnerships and compassionate systems.
Conclusion: Compassion uniquely potentiates global action on wicked problems.
(© 2024 The Authors. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The British Psychological Society.)

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United States TWCF TWCF; United States TWCF TWCF

Keywords: SDGs; compassion; partnership; psychology

Date Created: 20240403 Date Completed: 20240816 Latest Revision: 20240816

20240816

10.1111/papt.12526

38568011