LAUNCHING THE SERIES

mindful of the impact of their words, agree to disagree, and put away their technology. The idea and the importance of developing a “Personal Safety Plan” encouraged participants to generate a list of mental and physical strategies that would ensure their sense of safety in the face of potentially threatening or dangerous situations –during the workshop or in their daily lives.

The next moments were dedicated to getting participants in the habit of identifying and naming feelings, promoting connections, and empathy. In pairs and small groups participants shared memories and described their emotions from specific times they felt safe and unsafe, as well as the emotions they felt at a time of creativity. This laid the groundwork for a conversation about trauma; for some participants, it was a discussion about the ACEs survey – recognition of the different kinds of adverse childhood experiences and recognizing their own experiences, for others the “privilege walk” laid bare the pervasiveness of social, economic, and political inequities and their role in the system.