MAKING SPACE FOR CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER
Affinity groups and DEIJ training can be an essential part of creating environments where diversity is supported and valued.
Yet, without having experience with and knowledge about how to run affinity groups or a solid understanding of social justice concepts, it can feel daunting to get these conversations started.
Great news: we can help!
Our training modules offer organizational support for your current social justice objectives or to get you started in launching affinity groups.
What we offer:
TRAINING MODULES
understanding & supporting Affinity groups
LEVEL 1: Understanding Affinity Groups
Learn about the value of affinity groups and how to create affinity spaces that support anti-oppression goals. Begin exploring facilitation strategies that promote equitable and brave conversations while considering practical issues, questions, and challenges that can arise when running affinity groups.
LEVEL 2: Basic Facilitator Training
Be prepared to facilitate an affinity group. This module encourages reflection about the objectives of affinity group work as a framework to explore planning considerations, group discussion and reflection strategies, and facilitation techniques for navigating difficult conversations.
LEVEL 3: Advanced Facilitator Training
Continue to develop your skills as an affinity group facilitator. This module deepens an understanding of the connections between affinity groups and social justice while exploring opportunities and challenges with cross affinity conversations.
IMPLEMENTING AFFINITY GROUPS
Is your leadership team thinking about starting an affinity group program? Learn about the challenges and opportunities, common questions, and push-back that can arise when implementing affinity groups in your institution for the first time. Explore ways to build enthusiasm for affinity groups and promote participation. This module will support your team in identifying key steps for successful implementation of this type of equity and inclusion programming.
Reflecting for Change
OUR IDENTITIES
Explore identity in the context of anti-oppression. Reflect on who you are by considering facets of your identity, how you view yourself as part of identity groups, and how your intersectional identities shape your relationship to systems of privilege and oppression.
REFLECTING ON GENDER
Take a deep look at how concepts of gender identity and expression have shifted over time. Reflect on how you perceive and present your own gender and how this came to be. Gain a greater awareness of gender-diversity and how respecting expansive concepts of gender is essential to equity and inclusion.
CREATING EQUITABLE INSTITUTIONS
Understand how oppression operates in Canadian culture and institutions so that you can support transformational change by making your organization more equitable and inclusive. Develop confidence identifying, responding to, and eliminating oppressive attitudes, actions, and institutional practices.
EXAMINING YOUR PLACE IN THE WORLD
Reflect on the ways that current events that highlight discrimination and oppression impact you in relation to your own identity and experience. Think about the kinds of personal or professional conversations that arise in response and their impact. Consider what isn’t talked about at these times as you reflect on your responses and needs when it comes to unpacking what is happening in the world around us. This session can be offered as an affinity space or as a mixed group.
Building for Change
CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS
Build your equity toolkit by practicing how to have productive critical conversations that support anti-oppression and social justice goals. When events take place that get people talking, not everyone feels prepared to respond in supportive, sensitive, and informed ways to the questions and emotional responses that arise. Learn strategies to facilitate difficult discussions and embrace these vital learning opportunities.
REFLECTING ON TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION FOR SETTLER CANADIANS
Engage in reflective conversations about reconciliation as a settler Canadian by reflecting on your settler identities. Deepen your awareness about your roles and responsibilities in working against colonial systems so that we can collectively support Truth and Reconciliation and create a more just society.
ALLYSHIP & HOLDING EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE
Discover institutional and personal strategies that address the often unacknowledged costs of doing social justice work. Learn what it means to be an effective ally and why they are needed. Consider what practices institutions can implement to encourage all members of an organization to equitably share in the work of creating healthy workplaces, educational institutions, and societies.
HOST AN AFFINITY/ACCOUNTABILITY GROUP
Support members of your organization in doing the reflective identity work necessary to build a more inclusive organization. Talking Together for Change can facilitate your BIPOC affinity groups, 2SLGBTQIA+ affinity groups, and white accountability groups for staff or leadership teams who are looking for experienced facilitators who can encourage deep reflection and supportive critical conversations. Participants will reflect on their identities, anti-oppression, equity, and inclusion in a four session series of affinity group conversations.
"When I wonder about something, I do my homework to understand it.
When I find myself incapable, I trust those who are."