New Unity has partnered with the National Coalition-Building Institute (NCBI) to offer a two-day workshop in recognising and averting unconscious bias, unfair prejudice and unreasonable discrimination.
NCBI supports true equality in personal, social and work relationships, and is inclusive towards all identities: gender, race, age, faith/belief, income, learning ability, mental/physical wellbeing, lifestyle and sexuality. It's an international charity, founded in the USA in 1984 and active in the UK since 1986.
The workshop will be led by Royston John, CEO of NCBI London. It will:
Enable participants to share experiences of difference, and learn from them.
Empower them to identify unfair prejudice and unreasonable discrimination.
Offer them effective strategies peacefully to challenge and resolve all forms of ill-treatment.
Specifically, we will:
Celebrate similarities and differences of identity.
Recognise the misinformation we learn about various groups.
Identify internalised oppression and how it impacts on some groups.
Claim pride in group identity.
Learn about culture sharing.
Explore tools for dealing effectively with oppressive comments and behaviour.
Work in small groups to practice two of these tools: Speak Outs and Changing Attitudes.
Explore the ongoing implications for the New Unity community.
Participants typically comment that the training boosts their self-confidence in their identities; reduces fears of difference; raises enthusiasm for diversity; and opens their ears and heart to listen without pre-judgment.
Testimonials:
An enjoyable, valuable, informative day. Very refreshing.
In most workshops about diversity I keep my mouth shut for fear of not being PC. Today, I could not stop talking – it was very liberating.
It was good being able to openly celebrate difference and working with diverse groups to challenge injustice.
The workshop has helped me greatly giving me the tools to deal with the things that I didn’t and wouldn’t deal with.
I learnt to celebrate identity and be proud and was delighted to see how many people were committed to challenging homophobia.
I learnt the potential of techniques to empower people to challenge prejudice and that my challenging of oppression can be much less defensive.
The venue is a beautiful historic Meeting House on Newington Green, N16. For over 300 years, this building has fostered radical thinking and social justice. In particular, it was regularly visited by Mary Wollstonecraft, the so-called 'mother' of feminism. The building is now owned and run by New-Unity.org, a non-religious church that Believes in Good.
New Unity members: £40
Non-members: £80
To book your ticket, please click here.
If you can't afford the ticket price and would like to apply for a bursary, please contact Rev Andy (revandy@new-unity.org). If you can only attend on the Saturday, then we may be able to arrange this. Again, please contact revandy@new-unity.org. (We’re afraid that it won’t be possible for anyone to attend only on the Sunday.)
