Keys to Non-Violent Intervention: Empathy and Micropolitics as a Commitment to Change in Intervention with Children and Adolescents

Authors

This article arises from the interest in presenting the intervention model of Fundación Los Pisingos, built from a psychotherapeutic perspective in accompanying the various forms of violence and adverse events faced by thousands of children and adolescents in the Colombian context. This model is grounded in a human rights–based, ecological, systemic, generative, and intersectional approach, nourished by the empathic stance of the institution’s collaborators. Through this approach, the Foundation seeks to intervene, prevent, and mitigate the various violations of rights that affect this population.

It is important to highlight that the scenarios in which the various problems addressed converge are characterized by gender-based violence, socioeconomic difficulties, social vulnerability, family conflicts, among others, which form part of the dynamics of the beneficiary population.

In light of this, it is relevant to present how the therapeutic device of Fundación Los Pisingos can be consolidated as a form of non-violent intervention or action without harm, characterized by flexibility in responding to the needs of those who engage in its processes. This flexibility allows the model to connect with diversity, polyphony, and the contextual needs of the population, as well as those of the collaborators working across different areas. Seeking to promote good treatment and quality throughout the processes of change and care developed within the Foundation, this model is constructed from diverse experiences, knowledge, and constant interaction with the different perspectives of those involved in the intervention process. From this, we consider it pertinent to describe three dimensions that have enabled this approach in the various accompaniment processes carried out by Fundación Los Pisingos.

Therefore, it is important to briefly describe the context in which this dynamic is constructed. Since 1969, the Foundation has worked in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, focusing on generating empathy with the lived experiences of Colombian children and adolescents (C&A) in order to empower them in their own processes of reconstruction and agency. From this standpoint, they are identified as survivors, recognizing the autopoietic and performative strength of human beings—their capacity for reconstruction and re-signification as agents of their own lives—representing a pinnacle of human capacity to overcome adverse situations and reconfigure affective networks, thus fostering dignity and self-worth (Comins-Mingol, 2015).

This is made possible through the various programs offered by the Foundation, which have been strengthened over the years due to their impact in the Colombian context and international recognition. As a result, the Foundation has a broad portfolio of services aimed at guaranteeing the restoration of rights for users and beneficiaries who are part of the Pisingos family.

Likewise, this psychotherapeutic device is developed within the framework of the Specialized Psychological Support Program, which is registered with the governmental body responsible for safeguarding the best interests of children and adolescents, the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF). This institution refers children and adolescents under the age of 17 (hereinafter C&A) to receive the psychotherapeutic support necessary for the restoration of their rights. This position is supported by the Childhood and Adolescence Code (Law 1098 of 2006), whose purpose is to “contribute to the comprehensive development of children and adolescents in the national territory” and to “generate conditions of well-being, access to opportunities with equity, and participation of children and adolescents in the transformation of the country,” thus contributing to the visibility of their rights and the responsibility of the State and families in guaranteeing them. Specifically, Article 18 of the Political Constitution of Colombia emphasizes the right to personal integrity, seeking “protection against maltreatment and abuse of all kinds by parents, legal guardians, persons responsible for their care, and members of their family, school, and community groups.”

Approximately 800 children and adolescents between the ages of 0 and 17, along with their families, are served monthly. They are distributed among the care and coordination team, which consists of 19 psychotherapists, 6 administrative assistants, 3 area specialists (supervising psychotherapists), and one program coordinator. Together, they consolidate actions related to the accompaniment provided from the Foundation’s perspective, which is nourished by the aforementioned approaches as well as by the dimensions constituted within the team: empathy, enabling bonds, and the micropolitical commitment that forms part of disciplinary, professional, and personal practice.

The intervention model developed has enabled differentiated care based on the diversity of approaches that constitute psychology, understanding that accompaniment emerges from polyphony in interaction with human dilemmas rather than from a single paradigmatic configuration. For this reason, the model was built from the experiences of the Foundation’s psychology professionals, allowing for flexibility in interventions while recognizing the particularity of the various problems and the population’s demands for help.

This was carried out through a humanized and respectful accompaniment of all collaborators, who seek to generate safe spaces rooted in affectivity. From admission to discharge of the family system within the Foundation, it is vital to promote a sense of safety and trust, as well as a sense of belonging to the institution, understanding the integrality of care.

For this reason, it is important to introduce the two elements or concepts that form a guiding thread for the reader, allowing for an analysis of non-violent intervention as consolidated in recent years by the actors involved in this process. This approach integrates an ethical, political, and pragmatic position based on the guiding principles of empathy for otherness and micropolitics, which enable intervention focuses grounded in the various cultural dynamics that shape therapists’ frames of reference and their actions in intervention.

Empathy: The Human Act of Understanding the Other

The notion of empathy as a category emerges from research processes with clients and communities and is supported by the humanities as a key element in the work of Fundación Los Pisingos. It reflects the possibility of believing in the development of human capacities, emphasizing constant recognition of the other. From a synthesized and well-articulated vision, we focus on empathy as the capacity to understand the emotions of others, experienced as a genuine condition in the care offered to those who seek support at Fundación Los Pisingos.

Based on this, the multiple fields in which the complex and constant “game” of human life in society unfolds are illustrated, highlighting the fundamental role of empathy. On the one hand, empathy preserves and transmits the Foundation’s advances, creating a historical memory whose essence is embedded in recognition of the other in their diversity. In this sense, empathy is understood as “the apprehension of others’ lived experiences” (Stein, 2008, p. 78).

Two perspectives are presented to understand empathy. One is a philosophical perspective from phenomenology, which understands empathy through alterity—the principle of alternating or changing one’s own perspective for that of the other. As Sánchez-Rincón (2020):

States, alterity is a concept developed by Emmanuel Levinas, who distances himself from violent ideas of domination and appropriation of the other, defending the idea of encountering the other without the intention of knowing or classifying them, as this would imply domination (p. 163).

Within this perspective, the linguistic dimension is closely related to alterity. According to Fernández (2015), language and openness toward alterity occupy a central role in Levinas’s explanation of modes of relationship with the other, to the extent that, in human beings, openness to this relationship is made possible by language. Language is always oriented toward alterity, turned toward it. As Fernández cites Samoná, “discourse is a bond that cannot be fully confined within the utterance, because it always already claims the Other-as-different, because it speaks to the Other-as-different” (Samoná, 2005, cited in Fernández, 2015, p. 432). For language to exist, there must be an I and a you who exchange words, who speak reciprocally, since the essence of language is “interpellation, the vocative” (Levinas, 1999, cited in Fernández, 2015, p. 432).

Thus, as a Foundation, empathy is defined as the confrontation with the experience of the other from within their own life—life in interaction, life in community. Life is lived intersubjectively and mediated by the experience of encountering the other. This reminds us that we are always interacting with others, from birth, through the socialization process we experience as children and adolescents, and into adulthood. Even after death, we remain in contact with the presence of the other who has departed (Fundación Los Pisingos, 2024).

From psychology, empathy is classically understood as the unconscious and automatic practice of responding to others’ emotions—that is, the ability to share others’ emotions. Empathy is an integral part of social competence (Björkqvist et al., 2000). Some authors, such as Lemerise and Arsenio (2000), cited by Maldonado and Barajas (2018), suggest that deficits in empathic skills and emotional regulation contribute to behavioral problems such as aggression. Research has shown that children with behavioral problems have difficulty identifying emotions in other children. For this reason, the Foundation and each of its participants seek to generate protective, empathic, non-violent environments to model and shape the behavior of each beneficiary, with the aim of enriching or consolidating the changes proposed in psychological intervention and generating behavioral and cognitive modifications that foster more empathic individuals who are aware of and capable of guaranteeing their own rights and duties—at individual, family, and broader systemic levels.

Finally, empathy is the gateway and welcome to others’ experiences and represents the great aspiration of modern societies based on justice: knowing how to live in community and, therefore, in society. From communal life, empathy is woven as an intrinsic condition and foundation for building just societies. For this reason, it is a skill that must be cultivated from childhood—sensitivity toward others and compassion for others’ pain. The children who attend Fundación Los Pisingos experience empathy through the care provided by participants and through play as a means of approaching and understanding what others feel. Neuropsychologists, educational psychologists, and clinical psychologists work with role-playing and other clinical strategies—without preference for a specific approach—so that children and adolescents, through embodied tasks, learn through play to integrate social life into their personal life space.

For these reasons, and recognizing that in most cases experience fosters empathy, the Foundation uses play, art, and literature with participating children to promote interaction with others that shapes experience, using communication as a valuable resource.

This commitment to empathy leads us to a place of enunciation where coherence is sought between intervention actions with beneficiaries and the treatment of others within institutional relationships. Accompanying those who intervene and allowing dialogue with their pain has been profoundly positive for praxis, recognizing the humanity that overlaps with the roles assigned by the Foundation and society to collaborators and staff working with the issue of violence against children and adolescents in Colombia. This empathic stance and its consolidation through micropolitics will be further explored in the following section.

The Micropolitical Commitment of Fundación Los Pisingos: An Act of Resistance for Childhood

Understanding the political commitment of Fundación Los Pisingos and its impact on consolidating non-violent intervention practices invites us to reflect on the organization as one that distinguishes itself by contributing to structural change and cognitive frameworks across different levels of organizational ecology. This distinction manifests through relatively specific objectives, specific devices, a clear division of labor, and structured roles that enable coordination of diverse activities within management procedures (Hoyle, 1986). This justifies the interest in describing our form of agency.

The organizational ecology extends from management and coordination to human resources, quality departments, and the therapeutic supervision and care team known as the psychotherapeutic team. This organization of human resources fosters positive dynamics among collaborators, aligning them with the Foundation’s objective of transforming practices of violence against Colombian children. Personnel selection spaces are therefore created based on these institutional values, promoting the inclusion of professionals with academic and cultural competencies aligned with this perspective.

Within the psychotherapeutic team, supervision is carried out by area specialists whose role resembles that of therapeutic supervisors in academic contexts. Their function is to help construct with the team unformulated experiences, unthought knowledge, or perceived sensations. This fosters knowledge construction, strategies, and tools within intervention teams, promoting a safe or transitional space that encourages psychotherapists to explore the subtle limits of their experience, strengthening enabling bonds and generating a supportive environment.

As a psychotherapeutic team, we understand micropolitics—an institutional practice centered on recognizing the multiplicity of voices and discourses of those who intervene—as enabling us to understand our role as psychotherapists and political subjects who impact social constructions and structures involved in care. These interventions are mediated by bureaucratic institutions that shape how intervention occurs, making it necessary to expand possibilities within professional practice and commitments to addressing violence against children and adolescents.

These positions are informed by an understanding of power relations embedded in the psychotherapeutic device, which cannot be separated from the relationships established with the actors involved in care. By consolidating resources for action without harm or non-violent intervention, practices of resistance are generated against institutional positions within the Colombian context.

This has allowed for positive impact on institutionalizing practices of other service providers, as well as on how they understand childhood suffering and rights restoration processes. In contexts marked by substance use, self-harming behaviors, behavioral and emotional problems, psychopathologies, and adverse events linked to violence, resisting labels imposed by institutional power has been central to our political stance.

This stance has enabled new agreements and dialogues with administrative authorities, such as family defenders and their psychosocial teams, as well as with other State entities. It invites reflection on knowledge, power, and subjectivation as suggested by Foucault (Ortiz, 2022) and explored by Colombian philosophers such as Edgar Garavito (1999), who pose questions about new forms of struggle, the role of intellectuals, and the meaning of being a subject today.

These principles allow us to reflect on our position as observers and interveners through the psychotherapeutic device, aiming to positively impact the mental health and well-being of children and their families. The principle of the excluded third situates us in resistance against forms of subjection that beneficiaries may experience due to identities imposed by power structures, enabling the deconstruction of pathologizing and deficit-based discourses that limit experiential possibilities during childhood.

This position supports the notion of “being outside” such experiences—acting from an external position that allows responsibility toward those accompanied, enabling action beyond institutional manuals and fostering experimental fields, new potentials, and new possibilities of perception and choice in intervention.

This micropolitical dimension aligns with contemporary psychotherapeutic approaches such as Open Dialogue (Seikkula, 2005), emphasizing the importance of internal training programs for professionals and democratic, active constructions grounded in sociopolitical responsibility.

Given Colombia’s history of violence, guaranteeing children’s rights remains a challenge that transcends politics and becomes a matter of life itself (Garavito, 1999). Institutional practices may inadvertently promote revictimization and harmful actions, ignoring diversity and vulnerability as central axes of non-violent intervention.

For this reason, some laws and rights frameworks may fall short when disconnected from the defense of life and humanity. The micropolitical commitment thus extends into daily life and relationships, fostering resistance to violence and strengthening enabling bonds that support growth, development, and resilience in individuals and family systems.

Conclusions and New Possibilities

After reviewing the structure and fundamental concepts of Fundación Los Pisingos’ intervention, it is clear that the psychotherapeutic device presented is a crucial element that enriches the non-violent social intervention model aimed at protecting children’s rights. Empathy is understood as the foundation of this intervention, enabling collaborators to connect with the experiences and needs of children, adolescents, families, and themselves, fostering an environment of understanding and support that promotes integral development.

The capacity to resonate with others’ experiences is essential for establishing meaningful relationships and guiding therapeutic processes toward respectful outcomes. Enabling relational bonds—based on affect and trust—constitute the foundation of psychotherapeutic work, facilitating collaboration and strengthening emotional and social well-being.

From a micropolitical perspective, power dynamics and daily interactions influence how practices are structured and decisions are made for the benefit of children. This commitment promotes participation, dialogue, inclusion, and the questioning of violence and injustice within and beyond the Foundation.

In conclusion, empathy and micropolitics define an ethical and comprehensive approach that seeks to ensure respect, dignity, and well-being for children and adolescents. By integrating these concepts, Fundación Los Pisingos positions itself as a reference in promoting a culture of peace and non-violence, contributing to a more just and inclusive society.

Future possibilities include quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research scenarios to enrich cultural, institutional, professional, and academic understanding, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration and global knowledge exchange. Developing evaluation instruments to assess changes experienced by children through empathetic and micropolitical interventions would further support new perspectives that challenge biomedical narratives and foster interdisciplinary dialogue in addressing violence.

This article compiles the work consolidated by Fundación Los Pisingos in psychotherapeutic intervention within the Colombian context and rights restoration processes for children and adolescents, from an ecological, systemic, relational, intersectional, and generative perspective. This structured psychotherapeutic device is implemented by psychology professionals trained in cognitive, systemic, and psychodynamic approaches, guided by principles of empathy, micropolitical perspectives, and resistance to institutionalizing practices, fostering enabling bonds and coherence across personal, disciplinary, and professional dimensions, with the aim of impacting the country’s macropolitical structures.

References

Björkqvist, K., Osterman, K. y Kaukiainen, A. (2000). Social intelligence − empathy = aggression? Aggression Violent Behavior, 5, 191–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359- 1789(98)00029-9.
Fernández, O. (2015). Levinas y alteridad: cinco planos. BROCAR, 39, 423-443. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326350224_Levinas_y_la_alteridad_cinco_planos
Fundación Los Pisingos. (2024). Infancias, miradas e historias. Bogotá: Grupo de investigación: Protección de la niñez, procesos de aprendizaje y prevención de violencias.
Garavito, E. (1999). ¿En qué se reconoce una micropolítica? Sociología: Revista De La Facultad De Sociología De Unaula, (22), 101–117. Recuperado de https://publicaciones.unaula.edu.co/index.php/sociologiaUNAULA/article/view/886
Hoyle, E. (1986). The politics of school management. Londres: Hodder and Stoughton.
Hoyle, E. (1996). Organization Theory in Education: Some issues. En Actas del IV Congreso Interuniversitario de Organización Escolar, Tarragona (pp. 25-43).
Lemerise, E. A., y Arsenio, W. F. (2000). An integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing. Child Development, 71, 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00124.
Maldonado, R., y Barajas, C. (2018). Teoría de la mente y empatía. Escritos de Psicología, 11(1), 10-24. 10.5231/psy.writ.2018.0105 ISSN 1989-3809.
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and Family Therapy. Harvard University Press.
Sánchez Rincón, N (2020) Alteridad y vocación: una puesta para mejorar los procesos de enseñanza en la Primera Infancia. Universidad de Caldas. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1341/134166565008/
Seikkula, J., y Olson, M. E. (2005). El diálogo abierto como procedimiento de trabajo en la psicosis aguda: su “poética” y “micropolítica”. Revista de Psicoterapia, 16(63-64), 135-155.
Stein, E. (2008). Zum Problem der Einfühlung, esga 5. Herder.
Ortiz, J. (2022). La subjetivación en el último Foucault: un modo de reconocer y minimizar efectos de dominación, Claridades. DOI 10.24310/Claridadescrf.v15i1.13687
Comins-Mingol, Irene. (2015). De víctimas a sobrevivientes: la fuerza poiética y resiliente del cuidar. Convergencia, 22(67), 35-54. Recuperado en 21 de enero de 2025, de http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1405- 14352015000100002&lng=es&tlng=es.
Björkqvist, K., Osterman, K. y Kaukiainen, A. (2000). Social intelligence − empathy = aggression? Aggression Violent Behavior, 5, 191–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359- 1789(98)00029-9.
Comins-Mingol, Irene. (2015). De víctimas a sobrevivientes: la fuerza poiética y resiliente del cuidar. Convergencia, 22(67), 35-54. Recuperado en 21 de enero de 2025, de http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1405- 14352015000100002&lng=es&tlng=es.
Fernández, O. (2015). Levinas y alteridad: cinco planos. BROCAR, 39, 423-443. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326350224_Levinas_y_la_alteridad_cinco_planos
Fundación Los Pisingos. (2024). Infancias, miradas e historias. Bogotá: Grupo de investigación: Protección de la niñez, procesos de aprendizaje y prevención de violencias.
Garavito, E. (1999). ¿En qué se reconoce una micropolítica? Sociología: Revista De La Facultad De Sociología De Unaula, (22), 101–117. Recuperado de https://publicaciones.unaula.edu.co/index.php/sociologiaUNAULA/article/view/886
Hoyle, E. (1986). The politics of school management. Londres: Hodder and Stoughton. Hoyle, E. (1996). Organization Theory in Education: Some issues. En Actas del IV Congreso Interuniversitario de Organización Escolar, Tarragona (pp. 25-43).
Lemerise, E. A., y Arsenio, W. F. (2000). An integrated model of emotion processes and cognition in social information processing. Child Development, 71, 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00124.
Maldonado, R., y Barajas, C. (2018). Teoría de la mente y empatía. Escritos de Psicología, 11(1), 10-24. 10.5231/psy.writ.2018.0105 ISSN 1989-3809.
Minuchin, S. (1974). Families and Family Therapy. Harvard University Press.
Ortiz, J. (2022). La subjetivación en el último Foucault: un modo de reconocer y minimizar efectos de dominación, Claridades. DOI 10.24310/Claridadescrf.v15i1.13687
Sánchez Rincón, N (2020) Alteridad y vocación: una puesta para mejorar los procesos de enseñanza en la Primera Infancia. Universidad de Caldas. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/1341/134166565008/
Seikkula, J., y Olson, M. E. (2005). El diálogo abierto como procedimiento de trabajo en la psicosis aguda: su “poética” y “micropolítica”. Revista de Psicoterapia, 16(63-64), 135-155.
Stein, E. (2008). Zum Problem der Einfühlung, esga 5. Herder.