GCC Leadership Group
Welcome!
Sagely is offering a special group program for professionals in roles that require them to foster inclusion, support others, and inspire trust. We will enhance our capacity to do this without burnout by relying on methods from meditation and psychology, neuroscience, macro-social work, and transformative justice studies.
Monday May 20, June 3, June 10, June 14 (11:30am), June 24, July 1st at 12 pm PT/3 pm ET
In this group, we will learn, practice, and apply:
trauma-informed methods that help us be with and work through the influence of prior experiences of overwhelm
therapeutic practices of resourcing, boundary setting, and nervous system regulation
narrative reframing exercises that inspire compassion rather than activation
system mapping tools that help us occupy the effective position of compassionate witness
imagination exercises that help us envision new ways of engaging that move beyond prior patterns
Please find our draft outline of topics here.
Note: During this program, we are offering open “office hours” on May 28th and June 4th at 12 pm PT. Lesley will send a link for sign ups via email.
Recordings and Resources
May 20th
Introductions
Questions to Consider:
What does it feel like to show up fully, with our talents respected?
What makes us feel burnout?
What makes us feel more connected and more effective?
What does inclusive culture feel like?
Article: Healing Systems, Stanford Social Systems Review
Session 2
June 3
What does it mean to be the source of redirection?
Today we discussed the following:
“Rightsizing” our contribution by identifying the me/not-me and acknowledging the grief involved in not being able to do it all alone.
Being an inclusive leader by identifying the source and redirecting others through our own modeling.
Recognizing trauma’s impact through attention or stories of self value/safety without the need for precise details.
Noting that sometimes to have a need is a trigger.
Considering the transformative justice model—which is to separate my healing from your punishment. This does not mean there are no consequences, just that my healing does not require them to come in any particular way or form.
Considering the impact of the victim-perpetrator-savior triangle. What does it feel like to be with the emotions these roles cause without getting stuck in them? (i.e., “John is experiencing [hardship]” rather than “John is a victim.” or “John is a bad guy.” or “John is a good guy because he saved Jane.”)
Resources
Triangle into circle transition
Session 2
June 24
Grounding and Dual Attention
Grounding ourselves so that we have more awareness of what’s mine and what is not mine.
Practicing holding awareness of our internal and external experience at the same time.
Moving away from rigid understandings of the right/wrong way to have awareness.
Experiencing distractions and returning to our own experience.
What is it to be with someone while they are processing rather than trying to process for them?
July 15
Occupying the witnessing position
Communications - what is someone telling me based on where they place their attention?
Lantern vs. Flashlight
Resources
Community Commitments
The following community commitment guidelines come from the UNC School of Social Work, with whom Sagely partners to offer research internships. Please feel free to share them. We will be using them for our group as well.
Use "I" statements.
Take space, make space.
Acknowledge intention while naming impact.
Commit to confidentiality. What's said here stays here, but what's learned here leaves here.
Use folks' correct names and pronouns.
We are all on a learning journey. Have grace for ourselves and each other.
Avoid "in group" and coded language by explaining and unpacking acronyms.
Agreements
Sagely agrees to keep all information you share confidential.
Sagely uses visualizations, meditations, and case studies that are specifically designed for our groups. They build off of each other and require some instruction before use. We ask that you not share these materials. If you feel that a particular item might be of use in your organization, please contact us about adapting it for your setting.
Sagely keeps recordings of sessions on this password-protected site. We ask that you do not share recordings with anyone outside the group. We ask that you keep all information that your group members share confidential. Thank you.