Surviving White Supremacy: Strategies for People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions

If you are a Person of Color working in a Predominantly White Institution (PWI), you may be experiencing the ongoing toxic effects of racial microaggressions and discrimination.

Do you find yourself feeling anxious the day before you are scheduled to return to work for the week? Do you have difficulty thinking and speaking when around white co-workers? Do you dread meetings? Do you feel shut down, alienated, overwhelmed or irritable?

Have you lacked promotions, bonuses and benefits, while white colleagues move forward in their careers with ease? Do you feel targeted and unsafe at work? Are you noticing ill health effects such as digestive problems, sleep disruptions, depression or anxiety? 

This workshop may be for you!

As an African-American woman who has worked in several PWIs throughout my career--and have personally experienced the harmful effects of racism--I would like to offer you skills and insights regarding ways to protect yourself in this environment. I have worked at all levels of an institution, including leadership, quality assurance, complaints & grievances, appeals and risk management, and have developed a series of strategies regarding ways of navigating PWIs to the best of our ability.

During the series, I will share information on the Interpersonal Neurobiology of racism and how it shows up as toxic patterns within PWIs.

I will also address the following topics:

code-switching, 

finding trusted supports, 

boundary-setting, 

strategic documentation, 

knowledge of policies, procedures and the laws that govern your work, 

use of data collection and budget knowledge, 

employee assistance programs, 

filing grievances, 

union representation, 

working with Human Resources, 

BOLI and other forms of legal action

I will provide information on burnout, PTSD and other psychological signs that it may be time to request medical leave or seek other employment.

*Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this workshop does not constitute legal advice. These will be general strategies and skills. We may not be able to address each individual's specific workplace situation during this workshop.

We will also use sand tray and figurines to symbolically explore our hostile workplace situations from a right-hemisphere perspective, and support one another in developing strategies to address them--using the left-hemisphere tools we learned in Part I.

Sand tray practice is an intuitive way of accessing the right hemisphere to provide a multidimensional image of our internal experience. It provides layers of meaning through use of symbolism, space, time, movement and feeling. Focusing on a workplace situation from this perspective can provide fresh insights and awareness to help bring about clarity, healing and decision-making.

Each participant will have an opportunity to create a sand tray, which we will discuss in pairs and larger group discussion.

Finally, I will provide a tutorial in data collection techniques and analysis to help navigate PWIs.  We will be focusing on using data from the following areas:

 Time and Productivity Trackers

Program Outcomes

Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Complaints and Grievances

Critical Incident Reports

Problem tracking

 Plan-Do-See Act Cycles of Quality Improvement

 Researching laws and Evidence-Based Practices

Participants will have the opportunity to brainstorm data collection processes for their unique workplace situations.