The Race Conversation Keele Counselling Conference Eugene Ellis
The Race Conversation “We are dealing with a social construct that was not designed to make sense. To the extent that it is the product of design, the race constructs that we live by were shaped specifically by a desire to avoid making sense. They were shape for centuries by a need to rationalise and justify indefensible acts. So when we grapple with race issues we are grappling with something that was designed for centuries to make us circumvent our best instincts. It's a dance partner that is designed to trip us up” Jay Smooth - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Discussing Race The Black Student’s Experience
Hurt “Is it possible to create safe spaces for the race conversation?”
The Hierarchical Nervous System • Social Engagement System (Saftey) • Active Defence (Danger) • Passive Defence (life threat) Stephen Porges - Polyvagal Theory
Your experience when you think about the race conversation and your personal challenges? Core Organisers “Consciously or unconsciously, we are constantly participating in the process of selecting what information we pay attention to and thus how we organise this information internally. To study the organisation of experience, we direct our attention to the five building blocks of experience called core organisers” Pat Ogden - Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Core Organisers Cognition (The Cortex) Emotion (limbic system) Five sense perception - images and memory - inner eye Movement - from trembles to walking Inner body sensation - heartbeat, shivers (Brain Stem) The paradigm shift • Recognising there is unconscious material present when race becomes figure (Ancestral baggage) • Understanding that there is a measure of distress and feeling physiologically unsafe in becoming conscious (Race Construct Arousal) • Becoming more competent/comfortable in the new paradigm. Staying curious and recognising our defences
Ancestral baggage • The unspoken, but evident effects of historical racism that affect current relationships within black communities and between black-and-white people • Just as love can create a memory of lasting comfort and connection, the wounds of historical racism may be so great that they create a memory of lasting discomfort and disconnection • The emotional and transformative aspect of being affected by the history of racism • The sometimes negative feelings that we fear but are not truly conscious of can be conceptualised as ancestral baggage Race Construct Arousal • Feelings but not the words • Self focus, preoccupation with safety, feelings of guilt, shame, hurt and anger • It hits you in the gut and in the mind. • Communicating non verbally through the autonomic nervous system that you are unsafe to be with.
Trainers and Therapist Forums Finding Your Voice Becoming aware of our behaviour, thoughts and feelings in the spirit of mindful awareness and compassion.
Directed Mindfulness Directed mindfulness capitalises on neuroscience findings that mindfulness meditation increases activity in the medial prefrontal cortex… and decreases activity in the amygdala, thus facilitating regulation of autonomic arousal. (Lazar et al., 2000; Creswell, Wade, Eisenberg, and Lieberman, 2007) Relational Mindfulness Relational mindfulness: where two people are both being with implicit processes together. Pat Ogden
Compassion • A sense of shared suffering • Requires staying in Social Engagement System in the dyad to enable both the compassionate individual and the other to feel safe and to be proximal. Stephen Porges • Articles from a UK perspective www.baatn.org.uk/articles • Podcasts http://baatn.podomatic.com • Mckenzie-Mavinga, (2009) I. Black Issues in The therapeutic Process. Palgrave Macmillan. • Mckenzie-Mavinga (2016) The Challenge of Racism in Therapeutic Practice ,Palgrave Macmillan.
www.baatn.org.uk eugene@baatn.org.uk
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