Treatments & Services

The mission of the Empathy and Relational Science Program is to enhance empathy and interpersonal relationships in healthcare.

Empathy
Empathy & Relational Science Program

We offer revolutionary, evidence-based empathy training that optimizes the patient experience to promote respectful, compassionate, and effective communication at all levels of healthcare. Our training and consultations are grounded in the neurobiology and physiology of human interaction and emotion and are informed by relational sciences.

The program includes individual and group training and confidential consultations across specialties and healthcare teams. We also welcome interdisciplinary research collaboration opportunities.

Contact information

How to contact us:
Please send us an email to receive more information about our program.
Dr. Helen Riess
Meet Our Staff
Our staff combines years of experience with the latest research and techniques to provide tools to enhance the patient experience
Consultation Services
Individual and team consultations are offered for clinicians within and outside the Partners Healthcare System who seek assessment and optimization of their patient-clinician interactions.
Research Activities
Ongoing research includes the development and pilot testing of a sophisticated empathy training program for healthcare professionals to improve patient outcomes

Learn more about this program:

  • History of Our Program
    Decades of academic and pedagogical experience in optimizing the patient-physician relationship have contributed to the development of our program
  • Our Training Activities
    Our training program uses research-based techniques to help healthcare providers.