“To continue to safeguard the rights of our children and the young, we ensure a culture of non-violence that educates for and cultivates peacemaking, advocacy and respect for the God given dignity of human persons and of God’s creation.” — DENA Action Item: Service With the Poor Through Education
LISTENING CIRCLES
Restorative Practices Conversations and Training Sessions
As part of the ongoing work of the DENA Racial Justice Coalition we are pleased to offer a number of opportunities to engage in Restorative Practices conversations on topics of racial justice and/or training in restorative justice techniques.
About Restorative Practices
“Restorative practices is an emerging social science that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities. Though new to the social sciences, restorative practices has deep roots within indigenous communities throughout the world.”
About Listening Circles
With roots in indigenous cultures around the world, listening circles provide people an opportunity to speak and listen to each other in an atmosphere of safety, decorum and equality. Listening circles emphasize storytelling for cultivating empathy. To help people gain a shared sense of understanding and emotional connection, these circles can be used in communities, workplaces, schools, organizations, neighborhoods, universities and families.
(Source, www.iirp.edu)
Listening Circles
Navigating a New Post-Pandemic Reality
May 18, 2021
4:00 – 5:30 pm EDT
Psychologists find that one of the best strategies for managing emotions is to name them. Last spring, during the acute anguish of the pandemic, the most viral post in the history of Harvard Business Review was an article describing our collective discomfort as grief. Along with the loss of loved ones, we were mourning the loss of normalcy. “Grief.” It gave us a familiar vocabulary to understand what had felt like an unfamiliar experience. Although we hadn’t faced a pandemic before, most of us had faced loss. It helped us crystallize lessons from our own past resilience — and gain confidence in our ability to face present adversity.
As we slowly begin to emerge into a new post pandemic reality, what are the current realities that we need to name and navigate? What have we learned? What do we think we will be facing?
This Listening Circle provides a space for us to enter into conversation on this pressing topic of pandemic induced mental health concerns and specific ways as to how we might move forward in a post-pandemic reality.
One Year Later: What Have We Learned About Ourselves and Our Society?
May 25, 2021
6:30-8:00 pm EDT
It has been one year since the murder of Mr. George Floyd. George Floyd Square, the intersection in Minneapolis where George Floyd died last May, features a mural that says “You Changed the World, George.” And, in the year since Floyd’s agonizing death, captured on video, we have seen changes ranging from mercenary corporate endorsements of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” to personal reckonings with the role of race in American society as well as substantial legislative and policy changes regarding policing.
However, what has it meant for us personally? How has the death of George Floyd changed us?
This Listening Circle will provide a space for us to enter into conversation on this topic and provide a place to process what has been and what remains to be done.