Workshops
Racist incidents can be expressed in a violent manner, verbally overt or subtle, however regardless what form it takes and expressed, the incidents still impacts on people – whether experienced it first hand or a witness to an incident.
People have told us often they do not know what to do when they experience these incidents because they did not want to cause anymore trouble or trigger the perpetrator even more leading to more severe abuse. Therefore whether they are witnesses or experiencing it first hand, many choose to do nothing, yet feeling guilty or ashamed not to be done anything.
These workshops are designed to support anyone who have experienced racism, direct witness to an racist incident or indirect witnesses who have been impacted by the news, and equip everyone in the community the skills and capability to cope with racism and contribute to a strong and resilient community.
Which workshop do I take?
Our workshops are designed based on our 3-level resilience model developed by the Resilience Against Racism team and includes a series of 5 workshops.
Upcoming workshops
You can browse all of our upcoming workshops and make reservations via our Eventbrite page.
The workshops help you to acknowledge the past and make sense of the incident, help you live in the present and ground your emotions and regenerate the hope for the future.
Living the present (grounding your emotions)
- Racism: how to deal with my emotions?
Acknowledge and make sense of the past
- Racism: Why did it happen to me?
Regenerate hope for future
- Racism: Speak up with confidence
- Rebuilding your strong cultural identity
- Challenging racism and respecting multiple perspectives
Racism: How to deal with my emotions?
Experiencing racism or directly and indirectly witnessing racism can be overwhelming and often trigger challenging emotional responses, such as fear, anger and shame.
The workshop aims to help you build the skills to understand your emotions after racial incidents, particularly those who are overwhelmed. This workshop will also help you return to emotional balance and calmness.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- People who have experienced racism
- Direct witnesses to racism
- Indirect witness to racism (e.g. hear incidents through friends or media)
Previous dates: 19 September 2020, 15 October 2020, 21 January 2021, 3 March 2022
Racism: Reframe and empower
The impact of challenging emotions may linger long after a racism incident. This workshop supports you to develop the skills to make sense of your incident and the ability to shift any challenging thoughts and direct them positively to create change. This may include negative self-talk after adversity and regain optimism in life.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- People who have experienced racism
- Direct witnesses to racism
- Indirect witness to racism (e.g. hear incidents through friends or media)
Previous dates: 26 September 2020, 22 October 2020, 28 January 2021
Racism: Speak up with confidence
It can be challenging to discuss the topic of racism when the space and people around you does not support the discussion, however we know that racism still impacts on your wellbeing and is a barrier to your full belonging in Australia.
The workshop aims to support you to develop effective communication skills to challenge racism, express disapproval and express your needs assertively on the spot.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- People who have experienced racism
- Direct witnesses to racism
- Indirect witness to racism (e.g. hear incidents through friends or media)
- Anyone who have been involved in arguments or conflicts with others who disagree with you on racism.
Past date: 10 March 2022
Rebuilding your strong cultural identity
One of the key ways to fight racism is to be proud of your own cultural heritage rather than rejecting it in order to “fit-in” to Australian society. Research suggested that having a positive cultural identity and strong sense of self is particularly helpful in combating race-related stress and stereotype threat. This workshop helps you reconnect with your cultural strengths, values and beliefs and reinforce pride in your cultural identity and thereby help you build confidence.
Note: This workshop is NOT suitable for those who are overwhelmed by racial incidents. It is recommended that if you are overwhelmed to first attend the workshop Racism: How to deal with my emotions.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- People who have experienced racism
- Direct witnesses to racism
- Indirect witness to racism (e.g. hear incidents through friends or media)
- Anyone else who are interested to rebuild a a strong cultural identity
Past date: 11 February 2021
Challenging racism and respecting different perspectives
There may be times you want to support your friends and your community to cope with racism or hold a space to discuss racism when you know there are people who oppose it. These are important conversations and are challenging to do and require an expanded capacity to listen to all sides with empathy.
This workshop aims to help you to expand the capacity and build the confidence to respond to others emotional needs with a higher level of sensitively and empathy and also ensuring your own perspectives are heard and your own needs are met.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- Those who want to support people who have experienced racism
- Those who want to support others who have directly or indirectly witnesses racism
- Those who want to create the space to talk about racism and therefore hold multiple and potentially polarised perceptions and views
Note: This workshop is NOT suitable for those who are overwhelmed by racial incidents. It is recommended that if you are overwhelmed to attend the workshops Racism: How to deal with my emotions and Racism: Why did it happen to me? first before attending this one.
Intersectionality: Racism and sexism at work
For women of diverse backgrounds, it can be challenging to distinguish between racism and sexism especially in the workplace, however these experiences remain to impact on your wellbeing and a barrier to fully participate in the workplace.
The workshop aims to support you to understand the problem of intersectionality between racism and sexism in the workplace, identify the belief systems that impact on intersectional discrimination and explore methods to navigate the problem.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- People who have experienced racism and sexism
- Direct witnesses to racism and sexism
- Indirect witness to racism and sexism (e.g. hear incidents through friends or media)
Past session: 17 March 2022, 5:00 – 7:00 pm AEDT
Asian fetish and yellow fever: how to navigate the discomfort
The experience Asian fetish and/or yellow fever is uncomfortable and sometimes confusing. This workshop explores the issues around Asian fetish and/or yellow fever, learn to identify the behaviour and how it impacts on Asian women and explore methods to navigate the discomfort when it happens.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- Women who have experienced Asian fetish and/or yellow fever
- Direct witnesses to Asian fetish and/or yellow fever
Past session: 24 March 2022, 5:00 – 7:00 pm AEDT
Navigating subtle racism (microaggression)
Subtle racism or microaggression is hard to identify and therefore also challenging to navigate. This workshops helps you to understand what is subtle racism and why it happens, learn the different types of it and help you develop a range of strategies to help you manage the experiences.
Who are suitable for this workshop:
- People who have experienced subtle racism
- Direct witnesses to subtle racism
- Indirect witness to subtle racism (e.g. hear incidents through friends or media)
- Anyone else who are interested to rebuild a a strong cultural identity
Note: This workshop is NOT suitable for those who are overwhelmed by racial incidents. It is recommended that if you are overwhelmed to first attend the workshop Racism: How to deal with my emotions.
Past session: 23 March 2022, 5:00 – 7:00 pm AEDT