For 2021, the ACMHE conference will focus on how contemplative practices can support and sustain learning communities that resource and enhance resilience, connection, and healthy reemergence back into a more equitable and inclusive society. Acknowledging the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the inequities and disparities created by systemic oppression, we are now faced with an even greater urgency to collectively move the societal needle of engaging with one another and the environment from health-compromising to health-enhancing, from unsustainable to sustainable, from unjust to just. This movement will be facilitated by a more compassionate understanding of the loss and grief we have experienced as individuals and communities, illumination of the resilience and wisdom that we have drawn upon, and the application of the diverse learning, healing, and transformative strategies that have emerged.

Therefore, the goals of the 2021 ACMHE conference are to explore the importance of the following areas of focus:

• radical self and community care,
• acknowledging and sitting with our experiences of loss and grief,
• emphasizing the criticality of fostering a foundation of compassion between historically disparate communities, and
• learning how to be more intentional about demonstrating these goals across all aspects of education.