Healthy IU’s Work + Life series, Intergroup Dialogue: Having Difficult Conversations about Race and Other Identities is a four week series that, “provides a unique forum to explore issues related to social identities.” You may have seen this series on the Healthy IU website or advertised in your email inbox. I did, and it caught my attention. I enrolled in the series and wanted to briefly share my experience with OVPUE staff to bring awareness to this opportunity across the department.
Some (semi-personal) background: 2020’s summer of protests against police brutality catapulted me into a level of anger I had not felt, probably ever. That it took me until 2020 to feel compelled to truly change my own behaviors (and understand that I’m also part of the problem), of course, is an example of my privilege.
Since then, I’ve committed myself to becoming actively anti-racist and, in that, I’m always learning how to better support Black Americans, Asian American & Pacific Islanders (AAPI), Indigenous people, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQIA community. I have been wanting a space to learn more, ask questions, talk about things on my mind, and understand how to navigate difficult conversations. Healthy IU’s training series did just that.
About the training: Intergroup Dialogue asked me to question my identity as a white woman, including some of my internal biases and triggers, and taught me to actively listen with compassion rather than listen to respond.
The series left me with a set of tools to create a space for dialogue between myself and others. It also helped me understand that I will make mistakes (that’s ok!), I will get it wrong sometimes (nobody is perfect!), and that my white guilt is completely useless because it helps exactly nobody (thoughts and prayers, anyone?). Speaking up, using my power and privilege, donating money to organizations I support — taking action, those things are useful.
The time commitment was manageable. Each session was two hours long and it lasted four weeks. There were some readings and activities to prepare ahead of time, but none took much time.
Each meeting began with a full group discussion and exercise, followed by smaller conversations in break out rooms, and ended with the full group continuing to discuss that week’s topic, drawing from the small group chats to deepen the discussion. The hosts were warm, engaging, showed vulnerability, and worked hard to make sure participants knew they were speaking in a safe, non-judgmental space. This training gave me the space to process concepts, ideas, and my own privilege in ways I had not before.
In conclusion: If you would like to expand your own understanding of social identities, internal biases, and how to create a space for dialogue, I highly recommend this series. If you are interested in attending this series through OVPUE, please reach out and let me know (Donatela@iu.edu). The moderators offer this training for departments and if there is a large enough group, we may be able to bring them in for a department wide opportunity.
Alternatively, you can register for the series on the Healthy IU website. At the time of writing this post, the Healthy IU website has not been updated to include future sessions.
Thanks for sharing this resource, Anna.