Understanding White Supremacy Culture & Characteristics to Support Improved Outcomes for System Involved Youth

Mack Boyle

Training Description

This training will explore the foundational concept of white supremacy culture & its roots in colonization. Participants will examine the ways that white supremacy culture overtly & covertly teaches us that whiteness holds value & explore ways to interrupt it within efforts to support youth, young adults, & families who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement. By using the work of Tema Okun, participants will learn about each characteristic of white supremacy culture & identify the role that these characteristics play in their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement. Through journal reflection, discussion, & group activities, participants will develop multiple strategies & frameworks to interrupt & disrupt the ways we perpetuate white supremacy culture & inevitably support improved outcomes for youth & families who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

● Be able to explain the difference between white supremacy and white supremacy culture;

● Be able to identify 3 ways that they may be individually perpetuating white supremacy culture within their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

● Acquire 2 strategies that they can use to interrupt white supremacy culture and support improved outcomes youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

Agenda

10:00-10:15AM

● Training Agenda and Objectives

● Collective Agreements

● Grounding and centering practice so participants can get settled in the space

● Check-In Question: What characteristics or values would be in your ideal program/agency culture? How would that impact youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement?

10:15-10:30AM

● Participants will learn the definitions of white supremacy and white supremacy culture.

10:30-10:45AM

● Participants will explore the various characteristics of white supremacy culture and how they impact their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

● Participants will engage in a somatic practice to settle their bodies and practice body-based practices that they can also utilize with system-involved youth

10:45-11:00AM

● Participants will examine the white supremacy culture characteristic of fear. They will explore how fear impacts their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

● Participants will journal reflect on the rules and/or practices that their community around them (program, agency, neighborhood) implements that reinforces or encourages fear.

11:00-11:15AM

● Participants will examine the white supremacy culture characteristic of perfectionism. They will explore how perfectionism impacts their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

● Participants will journal and reflect on the rules and/or practices that their community around them (program, agency, neighborhood) implements that reinforces or encourages perfectionism.

11:15-11:30AM

● Participants will have break out room discussions around the white supremacy culture characteristics of fear and perfectionism, how it impacts their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement, and how they can practice alternatives in order to better support system involved youth and families.

11:30-11:45AM  BREAK (CE Hours will not be offered for this time)

11:45AM-12:00PM

● Participants will examine the white supremacy culture characteristic of individualism and sense of urgency. They will explore how individualism and sense of urgency impacts their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

● Participants will journal reflect on the rules and/or practices that their community around them (program, agency, neighborhood) implements that reinforces or encourages individualism and sense of urgency.

12:00-12:15PM

● Participants will have break out room discussions around the white supremacy culture characteristics of fear and perfectionism, how it impacts their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement, and how they can practice alternatives in order to better support system involved youth.

12:15-12:30PM

● Participants will engage in a creative practice to reflect on alternative practices to the white supremacy characteristics and how using those alternatives would better support system-involved youth.

12:30-12:45PM

● Participants will engage in a creative practice to reflect on alternative practices to the white supremacy characteristics and how using those alternatives would better support system-involved youth.

12:45-1:00PM

● Participants will share out the alternative practice that they want to utilize to disrupt white supremacy culture in their efforts to support youth who are system-involved or at high risk of system-involvement.

Meet Our Trainer

Mack is a white queer fat organizer, mental health worker, and facilitator working on capacity building related to racial justice, abolition, and body liberation. Their focus is to support white folks in transforming the ways we engage with race, building communities of trust and care, and developing somatic awareness to act more in alignment with values of social justice. Through their time working in mental health nonprofits, they have supported the implementation of equity centered policies, practices, discussion spaces, and working groups to support organizations in centering equity and justice. Based in Oakland, CA, on unceded Ohlone land, Mack was a mental health rehabilitation specialist within Oakland Unified School District. Through this lens they have developed and led training sessions for teachers, parents, and school communities on fostering community with attention to power dynamics, intersectionality, and creating affirming spaces for queer and trans youth. They facilitate and co-develop curriculum for white affinity spaces for folks looking to deepen and transform their racial analysis. They are currently working with higher education institutions such as Stanford, and UC Santa cruz, as well as non profits, public schools, and mental health programs, to support individuals and leaders in building tools and strategies to navigate conflict, engage in courageous conversations, and become agents for change within their specific context.

This course meets the qualifications for (2.75) BBS CE hours 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.