Event – Conscious Use of POWER, 29th November 2019, London.

Join The Inner Activist to understand your relationship to power. Build capacity and connection within the communities you serve!

Come get involved…

About this Event
How we are in the world, how we relate, collaborate and lead arises in part from our experiences with power. Power can be a negative force, creating division, polarization and systems of oppression, or it can be a source of personal growth and collective transformation within our communities. Conscious Use of Power deepens our understanding of the conflicts, polarization, and feelings (such as anger, pain, guilt, helplessness, apathy and despair) caused by abuse of power and the resulting trauma. We explore the development of our social identities, both marginalized and dominant, as sources of strength and wisdom, and as places of deep wounding. Practices to get us ‘unstuck’ and help us tap into our psychological and spiritual power will free our capacity to build relationships across difference and to consciously use all forms of power to resource ourselves and our communities. Together we work to support the inner and outer changes which build solidarity, allyship and collective power.
***Learning outcomes***
Establish the relationship between inner work and leadership for the benefit of the communities you work with
Understand the various sources of power from psycho-spiritual to systemic and how they surface in social and environmental justice work
Explore your personal relationship to power – how does it shape your lived experience, how do you use it to impact the lives of others?
Identify skills to build relationships across difference (race, class, gender, ability, etc.)
Discover tools and practices to resource yourself under pressure to respond to challenging situations
Who is this workshop for?
We invite participation from individuals who have a foundational understanding of anti-oppression and how systemic power dynamics such as colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy have shaped the world around them. This workshop is open to:
Grassroots activists and change makers
Non-profit and Charity sector
Students and individuals interested in social and environmental justice
Registration fee
The Inner Activist prioritizes reducing barriers for program participants. One of the ways we do this is through a tiered fee model. We invite you to consider principles of self-determination and equity as you choose your tier.
£20 – Supporter (support others as well as yourself)
£10 – Sustainer (pays for you)
£5 – Community (discounted)
About The Inner Activist
The Inner Activist’s mission is to co-create learning spaces that develops compassionate, reflective and responsive leadership in individuals and communities, supporting leaders to skillfully navigate emotions, conflict, power and difference grounded in a commitment to social justice, diversity and equity. We do our work in hopes of a world where individual and collective leadership is based on justice and sustainability for all people, communities and the Earth; leadership that is self-aware, compassionate, collaborative, courageous, empowered and accountable.

To learn more, visit http://www.inneractivist.com. Get in touch with us at registrar@inneractivist.com

Living with the Culture Shock of Brexit – Then and Now – A personal piece written by Nadège Welsch

Then and Now…

Part 1 – THEN – 27^th June 2016

“This weekend, with news of the results of Brexit spreading across the world, has been a very challenging time for a lot of People, and I would like to share not only what I went through but what some of my fellow European and pro-Remain British friends may have gone through too.

I am an Intercultural Consultant. I help expatriate and global managers adapt to their new environment. In facilitating their adaptation I always refer to the Culture Shock curve and its five stages: Excitement, Denial & Depression, Culture Shock, Acceptance and Acculturation. The last time I experienced the Culture Shock curve for myself was moving to Singapore 10 years ago!

Over the course of this weekend I moved through the first two phases and am now heading, at some speed, towards culture shock.

The excitement phase was before the Referendum results, I think most of us were positive that the UK would vote remain and thus demonstrate that we are a strong Europe and that Europeans fit naturally along side British folk. When the results came in on Friday morning, as I woke up at 5:30am, I couldn´t believe that Brexit had happened. I was in complete denial, I just couldn´t wrap my head around it although I had an aprehensive feeling that it might happen, but again, my excitement was stronger. I found myself accepting the decision of the British public, as I live in their Country, and I need to accept their wishes but, trust me, I still felt out-of-place especially going heading out for dinner that evening. The atmosphere felt colder than usual, but I put this down to my own projections.

Tears in the morning

The rest of the weekend was set aside for the depression phase – waking up in tears not knowing what the future will bring, especially working as a freelance Consultant and delivering Trainings to, mostly, European expats – teaching them how to integrate into the UK, so that was a big shock ! What will I do? I thought I would spend the rest of my life here, I have friends which are now part of my Family, I have a home that I bought, I have a car, what will that mean? What does the future hold?

I also had a few talks over the weekend with a few Young British People and asked them what they thought of Brexit and a lot were shocked and angry. They said they were “Europeans” and not British citizens, what will happen for their future and their kid´s future? They won´t have the opportunity to have work experience abroad, travel, learn languages and go abroad to train themselves, so, overall, a big shock all round.

When I spoke to European friends and colleagues most felt betrayed, stabbed in the back, not welcomed and also fearful for their future.

We now know that nothing major will happen over the next two years and that, as Europeans, we will be able to stay. What will be the conditions after though? I think the acceptance phase after the shock sounds like, “One way or another if there are no Jobs, I/we will have to move back to Europe”. I think this is what our culture shock is about, leaving a beautiful country, our friends, our lives.

For now, however, we need to wait and see and try to get out of the shock phase to get on and live our lives.

Part 2- NOW

6 Months post Brexit:

Six months have passed since the Brexit Referendum vote. What has happened up to now? How do I feel? And, how do we as Europeans feel in the UK?

Since the announcement of the referendum and even after Brexit was voted into reality, many of us, in the intercultural world and in broader Training and Development have noticed a significant slowdown in business. A colleague of mine mentioned that some of his programs had been canceled, another said that some clients were backing out of training committements and that they wanted to wait for the New Year. Why is that so?

Unfortunately there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment, Brexit was one major event and shock in 2016. This was closely followed by the election of Mr Donald Trump, and now we can hear, throughout Europe, the loud voice of right wing movements, Austria was close and France will be the next test. What will happen there? At the pace we are going, everything is possible!

What will this mean for the world…for Europe?

What we can see is that there is mistrust of politics in general and a fear of the unknown and its consequences for peace, employment and our way of life. All of those participating in racist actions, protest votes and the results they are generating are people that want CHANGE . They are asking – who else can give them change? Noone but those who run against the existing political system.

We need to bring back trust and respect for one another. It is through cultural consciousness that we may avoid further conflict and make sure that our children grow up in a peaceful world, where citizens are respected, have a job and can practice their religion without challenge.

So, where am I then, after these last 6 months? I think I am still in the shock phase. And there is hope. I am edging toward the acceptance phase. we need to wait and see, and to see past what the press is telling us, go past what politicians are trying to sell us (from their own position of confusion, choas and fear) and make sure that our objective is for harmony and making sure that we engineer the conditions that allow for all of us to live together in peace.

Author Profile – Nadège Welsch

Nadège is Franco-German starting her career with a major German Telco based in Munich where she worked with Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa.

She expatriated to Singapore for a year and half before immigrated to the UK to pursue her passion for culture. With an MSC in Business Psychology she created Be-a-Chameleon seven years ago, training individuals as well as groups in cultural awareness, working effectively across cultures and working effectively in multicultural teams.

Nadège speaks English, French, German and Spanish and is a passionate advocate for cultural consciousness.