Taking Action for Equity: Finding the Love in REVOLution to Improve Outcomes for System Involved Youth

Natalie Thoreson

Training Description

What might change look like if we love one another? How might that change what we do and how we respond when others face harm? Why do we take action? How do our actions or lack of action affect the outcomes of system involved youth? When our hearts enter the spaces that our bodies and minds currently occupy, we begin to move and engage with people, places, and spaces differently. This is the beginning of change.

In this interactive workshop we will center love. We will then examine how our socialization within systems of oppression may hold us back from equity and liberation. We will discuss barriers to action, as well as share some of the ways we have been socialized to conspire with of oppression rather than challenge it in the name of equity and social justice. If we are brave and vulnerable enough to care about, and maybe even love the people with whom we interact, we have the opportunity to build community and enact true liberatory change so that together we can improve outcomes for system involved youth and families.

Learning Objectives

1. Deepen their understanding of the impacts of oppression, especially on system involved youth and families.

2. Learn the cycle of oppression to identify the differences between discrimination and social power.

3. Identify how stereotypes are established, learned, and reinforced, as well as ways to challenge them in our thinking in order to support improved outcomes for system involved youth.

4. Develop skills to compassionately and loviningly engage interpersonal communications aimed at social justice and interrupting oppression.

Agenda 

9:00 – 9:15am  Settle in, sign in

9:15 – 9:30am  Land acknowledgement

9:30 – 9:50am  Group agreements

9:50 – 10:20am  Icebreakers

10:20 – 10:35am  Group introductions

10:35 – 10:50am  Break (CEUs will not be offered for this time)

10:50 – 11:30am  Early memories

11:30 – 12:00pm  Videos and small group process

12:00 – 1:00pm  Lunch (CEUs will not be offered for this time)

1:00 – 1:30pm  Oppression-related terms

1:30 – 2:30pm  Videos and small group process

2:30 – 2:45pm Break (CEUs will not be offered for this time)

2:45 – 3:30pm  Cycle of oppression

3:30 – 4:45pm  Action planning

4:45 – 5:00pm  Closure and Course Evaluations

Meet Our Trainer

Natalie has been facilitating anti-oppression workshops for over 20 years, founding inVision Consulting in 2006 with the mission of focusing positive social change into clear Vision, in our daily lives, and collective experiences. Their techniques foster meaningful communication, critical examination of institutional culture, and concrete action plans for creating a truly inclusive environment. She is committed to building communities in which people’s differences are valued and seen as assets to the overall group. This work is not about making people feel guilty, bad about themselves, or singled out. Nor is it about dancing around challenging issues, band-aid fixes, and “Can’t we all just get along?” Rather, hebelieves meaningful change happens when people lean into discomfort, are allowed to feel angry or confused, listen to one another with empathy, and collaborate in moving forward.

Natalie organically nurtures a sense of community with finely honed skills, shaping safe, welcoming, creative, and productive spaces based on understanding, respect, and authentic support. In his hands, sensitive topics that often leave participants feeling raw and wounded, become accessible and actionable. She provides tools to allow participants to think critically about their own backgrounds and biases, while simultaneously dissecting concepts like oppression, prejudice, and stereotyping. Theirconsistently open, trusting, and fun educational environments are based on first-hand experiences as a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-gendered, queer individual living in the margins of identity. Natalie believes that creating safe space for all is the heart of true revolutionary change.

This course meets the qualifications for (6.5) BBS CEUs for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.