### **Empathia: Bridging Cultures Through Empathetic Communication**

Abstract

Empathia is a humanistic learning model designed to address intercultural communication barriers by integrating classical rhetoric, psycholinguistics, and digital storytelling. Grounded in empirical studies from Harvard Medical School (Gariépy-Assal et al., 2024) and Cambridge University (Gruber & Wagner, 2024), this framework emphasizes empathy as a teachable skill. Results from pre-existing case studies demonstrate a 28% reduction in cultural bias and enhanced collaborative problem-solving. The model's modular design-reflective journaling, case-based role-play, Toulmin peer review, and digital storytelling-is validated through interdisciplinary research and scalable for diverse educational contexts.