From Awareness to Action: Creating Bridges Across Differences (6wks)

For many people, attempting to connect with others across differences can feel akin to walking through a minefield.

Even one’s best attempts may inadvertently trigger an unexpected explosion, especially when dealing with situations such as:

• Striving to understand someone’s culture or behavior when it’s vastly different from your own;
• Getting scared whenever you think of telling a supervisor you disagree;
• Sharing the pain and discomfort around old, deep disagreements you’ve previously been silent about within your primary relationship; or
• Wondering how to respond when you hear how happy the group you just joined is to have a young / black / male / gay / Latina (insert triggering descriptor) person now in the group.

Or, one might accidentally step into a situation akin to the painful yet intensely valuable learning experience Roxy writes about here. She says it took her a while to learn that she had to first give herself permission to shine… Yet she states with some awe how she’s being richly served by the clarity she now holds around the difference between intensity and aggression, and that — with her newfound determination to have her own back — she can both support herself and help others shine.

Helping others shine is exactly what Roxy will be doing during this course.

She’ll be exploring a variety of concepts and practices that can help you navigate situations that might be confusing, challenging, or even shocking. And she’ll be delving into key differentiations, such as equity and equality.

You’ll come away with a renewed sense of clarity around a number of theories that may help explain specifically why the areas of power, advantage, and rank tend to be so difficult to work with. You’ll also be able to enjoy ample space for practice in applying these conceptual principles to your own real-life situations through giving feedback to others and opportunities to engage in real dialogue.

Dates & Times