Petrina Barson grew up as the youngest of five girls in a loving family, surrounded by compassion and kindness. Her early life set the foundations for her caring nature. She attended a church school, learning about Christian principles and compassion. The experience shaped her guiding light, even though she did not fully embrace all its teachings. Medicine was not an obvious path for Petrina. She found medical education challenging and often felt her natural compassion was unwelcome or overlooked during her training. A mother of four Petrina faced the sudden loss of her young daughter Maya to sepsis. She learned about the importance of accepting compassion from others and the value of self- compassion in healing. Petrina made compassion central in her work as a GP, valuing deep connections with patients and holding space for their stories, pain and healing throughout their lives. Petrina discovered compassion cultivation training at Stanford and became a certified Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) teacher. She founded the Centre for a Compassionate Society, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to building community around the universal human value of compassion. She became a practitioner of the Richards Trauma Process and found new ways to support healing. Petrina now combines clinical work, teaching and community action to foster a more compassionate society. She is also a poet and an activist for refugee rights. The thread that runs through all these domains of her life is her passion for compassion, and her deep conviction that we have more in common than divides us. https://centreforacompassionatesociety.net https://petrinabarson.net ***** We hope that you enjoyed this episode of Kintsugi Heroes. Please take care: if you have been triggered by listening to this episode we recommend you get in contact with someone who can help keep you safe and give you the support you need. This may be Lifeline, AA, a friend, a counsellor, or some other support group. If you’d like to share your story on Kintsugi Heroes, please get in touch by contacting us via the website here - https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/contact We hope you continue enjoying the heroes stories! Warmly, The Kintsugi Heroes team YouTube || Facebook || Instagram || LinkedIn || Website Theme Song: "Broken" by Colin Lillie

YouTube video by Madness

YouTube video by madnessfan

Institute of Physics director of science Louis Barson talks to SiliconRepublic.com about the UK’s quantum revolution and the value of a physics education.

Institute of Physics director of science Louis Barson talks to SiliconRepublic.com about the UK’s quantum revolution and the value of a physics education.