Luminary: Judith Thompson

Luminary: Judith Thompson

Judith Thompson, Ph.D., is the co-host of the Quest for Global Healing channel. Thompson has been engaged in projects promoting social healing for over twenty years, working primarily with survivors of war and political violence. As part of her doctoral research for the Union Institute, she convened a three day dialogue hosted by the BRC which brought together 25 people from all over the world to explore the question, "How does compassion arise in the process of social healing?"

In 1984, Thompson co-founded Children of War, Inc., an international youth leadership organization that supported the vision and leadership of young activists from 22 war-torn countries. The organization won six awards, including the Reebok Human Rights Award, and was chaired by Archbishop Tutu. She has helped to develop community social healing programs in Israel/Palestine and Cambodia and has worked with indigenous elders from North, Central and South America who are seeking to support worldwide social and ecological healing through their traditional ceremonies. Ms Thompson is a recipient of the Bunting Peace Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard and the International Peace Prize of the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation. She is co-producing a film, entitled From Victims to Visionaries, about those victims of violence who chose not to take revenge and what motivates that choice.

Thompson is a longtime board member of the Center for Psychology and Social Change affiliated with Cambridge Hospital, co-chairs the Spirit and Human Rights initiative funded by the Fetzer Institute, and is on the Advisory Board of One by One, Inc., an organization dedicated to bringing second-generation Holocaust survivors together for dialogue and healing. Ms. Thompson was recipient of the Bunting Peace Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies and the International Peace Prize of the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation.