Effective Intercultural Practice - Center for Race and Culture (CFRAC)

This workshop will examine the concept of culture, the effect culture has on one’s personal and professional life, as well as the role that our cultural norms and expectations play in our interactions with others.

It will equip the participants with practical tools to reflect on their programs and services, apply strategies to challenge cultural bias and discrimination, practice intercultural communication to create a more inclusive workplace where colleagues and clients from different cultural backgrounds feel valued and respected.

In this session, participants will:

• Explore culture, cultural norms, and the way our own cultural lens influences our work

• Understand our cultural biases and the way they can lead to discrimination

• Understand intercultural practice in the context of social inclusion and equity

• Use culturally informed practices to guide their interactions for effective intercultural communication

For more information: CFRAC Training

Understanding and Mitigating Bias - Center for Race and Culture (CFRAC)

Taking an intersectional approach, this workshop will help participants to build their understanding of bias and practice steps that can be taken to limit the impact of unconscious biases on our decisions and behaviours.

Participants will enhance their self-awareness of their own biases, build understanding of their social conditioning, and examine behaviour versus intention in professed values and daily behaviours. Through case studies and interactive exercises, participants will identify their biases and assumptions, and learn how strategies to mitigate biases at the personal and organizational levels.  After participating in this training, participants will be able to:

• Understand and define the concept of unconscious bias

• Recognize personal and organizational biases and the way they impact our behaviours, interactions, and decisions

• Identify and use tools and strategies to mitigate their personal and organizational biases

For more information: CFRAC Training

Anti-Racism Education - Center for Race and Culture (CFRAC)

This training aims to empower the participants by focusing on mobilizing anti-racism knowledge and providing tools for prevention, intervention, and meaningful ally-ship.

Participants with varying levels of experience and knowledge of bias, discrimination, and racism will be able to work through the material at a level that is meaningful to them. They will deepen their understanding of racism and its history, how it impacts communities and workplaces, how to support racial equity. After participating in this training, participants will be able to:

• Develop a common understanding of the concepts related to race, racialization, and racism

• Understand the history of racism and current realities in the international and national contexts

• Recognize the impacts of racism on an individual, institutional and societal level and the importance of anti-racism education

• Gain experience with tools for responding to situations of racial discrimination

• Learn anti-racist strategies to support racial equity in policies and practices

For more information: CFRAC Training

Micro-Inequities in the Workplace - Center for Race and Culture (CFRAC)

In this workshop, participants will have a good understanding of micro-inequities, the way they impact individuals and workplaces, how to identify and respond to such behaviours, and how to implement preventive strategies.

A micro-inequity is a behavior, a subtle form of discrimination where a person is singled out, devalued, overlooked, or ignored due to their accent, ethno-racial identity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic class, disability, or membership in a minoritized group. Micro-inequities have negative impacts on workplaces and the wellbeing of individuals and communities. Focusing on education as the key to promoting inclusion and respect, the workshop’s main objectives to enhance the capacity of participants in addressing and challenging discrimination and inequity include:

• Raising awareness around micro-inequities

• Support skill development in the area of anti-discrimination to mitigate and intervene in instances of micro-inequities

• Promoting inclusive communication skills and service delivery

• Leading to new behaviors including reducing discriminatory habits and attitudes

For more information: CFRAC Training

Building Inclusive Workplaces and Practices - Center for Race and Culture (CFRAC)

This interactive workshop will focus on tools to recognize, articulate, understand, examine, challenge, and change workplace practices with the lens of using curiosity, collaboration, and conversation as a response and reinforcing that learning organizations use these moments (of potential constructive conflict) as learning opportunities.

Supervisors and employees will consider their separate but interconnected roles in creating and maintaining inclusive workplaces. Participants also will have the opportunity to apply these concepts in the context of their personal life in addition to their work, as we know that the ‘person’ and the ‘worker’ are one and the same, and that there are no clear boundaries between what we bring to work and what affects us in environments outside of the workplace.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Gain a deep understanding of key concepts around diversity, inclusion, and equity

• Learn how to apply the EDI framework to build stronger and more productive teams

• Work in groups on goal setting around creating and maintaining an inclusive and effective organizational culture

For more information: CFRAC Training

Unmasking Micro-Inequities - Center for Race and Culture (CFRAC)

Learn about micro-inequities, how they impact others, and how to hold people accountable for them.

The Centre for Race and Culture has developed a series of educational workshops and free open-access resources for service providers and the general public in Edmonton, Alberta under the name Unmasking Micro-inequities. This project supports participants to learn ways to hold themselves and others accountable when faced with everyday moments of discrimination—specifically micro-inequities—in their own lives and workplaces. We define micro-inequities as subtle, indirect, and often unintentional practices or behaviours that communicate bias or prejudice against members of marginalized groups, making them feel belittled, excluded, disrespected, or disadvantaged. These discriminatory acts occur across power dynamics, impacting members of marginalized groups such as women, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, religious minorities, and persons living in poverty. By learning about the interplay between macro- and micro-level inequities, participants will learn why micro-inequities are not small or insignificant, but harmful. Together, we will explore the various forms of micro-inequities and the power dynamics that inform them, along with strategies for recognizing and meaningfully responding to incidents of micro-inequities. Educational content will include definitions, up-to-date theory, and a broad range of examples and stories, all contextualized to the realities we face in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Using an engaged approach, opportunities for self-reflection, sharing experiences, discussion and action-planning will be woven throughout the workshops and resources. 

We will learn: 

• What micro-inequities and microaggressions are;  

• How to recognize and unmask them;   

• Why and how they are harmful; and, 

• Strategies for intervening in them (as bystanders, allies and targets) 

For more information: CFRAC Training

KAIROS Blanket Exercise – Reach Edmonton

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a workshop that explores the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Blankets arranged on the floor represent land and participants are invited to step into the roles of First Nations, Inuit and later Métis peoples. The workshop helps people to understand how the colonization of this land impacts those who were here long before settlers arrived. It engages people’s minds and hearts in understanding why the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is often broken and how we can take an action together.

The Blanket Exercise is available for community organizations in Edmonton and surrounding areas upon requests. The cost is subsidized by REACH for non-profit organizations that work with vulnerable populations. It is recommended that groups have a minimum of 12 participants.

If you are interested in having Blanket Exercise for your team, please contact Rie Nakai at rie.nakai@reachedmonton.ca.

To register: KAIROS Blanket Exercise – REACH

Intercultural Learning and Social Justice Workshops – Multicultural Health Brokers Co-Operative

These workshops intend to increase knowledge and build skills of participants in understanding social and cultural identities and how they influence experience of privilege, oppression and marginalization. 

These workshops explore broader issues of inequities and the complexities of building intercultural alliances to achieve social justice and change

Workshops can include:

• Integrating a racial equity lens in policy and practice 

• Organizing culturally diverse communities for change

Interested? Individuals and organizations interested in accessing our Journeys program can contact MCHB for public offerings and customized workshops for organizations. For more information contact Arlyn at mchb@mchb.org or call 780-423-1973.

Website page: MCHB - Journeys to Intercultural Wisdom and Equity

Skills Building Workshops – Multicultural Health Brokers Co-Operative

The skills building workshops will enable participants to apply intercultural strategies and tools in various areas of practice. 

We recommend that individuals complete the Foundations of Intercultural Practice Workshop to maximize the learning experience.

The suite of skill building workshops include:

• Intercultural communication – communication styles, verbal and non-verbal communication and intercultural communication bridging strategies 

• Intercultural planning and engagement – designing and evaluating programs and services across cultures, engaging people and communities from diverse cultural backgrounds

• Cultural mediation and brokering – the concept and practice of acknowledging and bridging differences in a variety of context 

• Trauma-informed workshop – focusing on the unique causes and impacts of trauma on immigrant and refugee populations..

• Practice-specific workshops – parenting in two cultures, family violence prevention across cultures, chronic disease prevention in culturally diverse communities 

The length of any of these workshops can vary from 2 – 6 hours depending on the interests and preferences of participants and requesting organizations.

Interested? Individuals and organizations interested in accessing our Journeys program can contact MCHB for public offerings and customized workshops for organizations. For more information contact Arlyn at mchb@mchb.org or call 780-423-1973.

Website page: MCHB - Journeys to Intercultural Wisdom and Equity

Foundations for Intercultural Practice Workshop– Multicultural Health Brokers Co-Operative

This foundational workshop will increase your knowledge about interacting, relating and communicating with culturally diverse people. 

Participants will be able to:

• Incorporate diverse cultural contexts in their work and practice

• Be more confident to address cultural issues in a personal and professional context 

Topics may include:

• Overview of Diversity and Immigration

• Cultural Self-Awareness

• Cultural Knowledge

• Introduction to Intercultural Learning and Development

Interested? Individuals and organizations interested in accessing our Journeys program can contact MCHB for public offerings and customized workshops for organizations. For more information contact Arlyn at mchb@mchb.org or call 780-423-1973.

Website page: MCHB - Journeys to Intercultural Wisdom and Equity

Rights of Young People & In-School Human Rights Practice – John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Advocacy

Using diverse and age-appropriate educational resources and fun interactive activities, we guide the exploration of various issues and elements of human rights relevant to schools and the communities where they are located.

JHC was founded with a core principle of creating space for young people to engage in and know their rights and responsibilities in community.

 JHC can support young people, teachers and school administration in implementing human rights and peace education while creating human rights communities. JHC’s education team uses human rights-based approaches and tools to help your school and students advance a culture of inclusion and equity. We create processes and sessions to build Rights Respecting Schools where everyone is respected, included, valued and belongs.

These courses include:

• Human Rights and Peace Education for Educators

• Human Rights and Peace Education for Young People

• Digital Literacy and Online Safety

For more information: JHC – RYPISHRP

To register: JHC – Workshop Google Form

Building Equity, Diversity and Inclusion through an Anti-Oppressive, Human Rights Framework – John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Advocacy

These workshops aim to explore the complex nature of oppression and support the creation of anti-oppressive strategies in different contexts.

Organizations can either select several sessions to inform and guide the building of an anti-oppressive strategic plan, or one or a few sessions that help them increase awareness and understanding, incorporate changes in their practices, and introduce a human rights culture for individual and organizational growth.

These courses include:

• Fundamentals of Anti-Oppression

• Anti-Racism—Learning to Confront the Uncomfortable

• The Not So “Micro” Aggressions

• Building a Rights-Based Organization

• True Colours Personal Development

• Understanding the ‘-isms’ and Learning How to Respond

• Confronting Ableism: Developing a Culture of Inclusion

For more information: JHC – BEDIAOHRF

To register: JHC – Workshop Google Form

Peace Building and Transformative Dialogues – John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Advocacy

Guided by human rights principles and anti-oppressive practices, JHC supports organizations and grassroots communities in designing and facilitating safe and brave spaces for difficult conversations conducive to integrating human rights into their policies, practices, and guidelines, solving tensions, and engaging in strategic planning.

Human Rights facilitation processes are conducive to action, foster collaboration, and center on the voices of all members of the group, especially those of equity-deserving groups.

These courses include:

• Human Rights Facilitator: Level One

• Advanced Human Rights Facilitation

For more information: JHC – PBTD

To register: JHC – Workshop Google Form

Human Rights as a Tool for Advocacy: Stride Training – John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Advocacy

JHC has developed a series of trainings to provide opportunities for community-based advocates or organizations to strengthen their awareness and understanding of human rights and discrimination, network with other advocates and organizations, and build skills to advance the rights of historically marginalized community members using the human rights mechanisms that exist for accountability.

These courses include:

• Human Rights 101: Understanding the Architecture and Role of Human Rights

• Anti-Oppression in Human Rights Advocacy

• Human Rights 102: Filing Human Rights Complaints - the Ins and Outs

• Beyond Quick Fixes: Embracing a Human Rights Approach to Poverty

• Human Rights 103: Taking Action on Human Rights

For more information: JHC - Stride Training

To register: JHC – Workshop Google Form

First Responder to Sexual Assault and Abuse Training - Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services

A training for first responders to learn how to respond to disclosures around sexual assault and abuse. 

With support from the Government of Alberta and Women and Gender Equality Canada, the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services (AASAS) developed First Responder to Sexual Assault and Abuse Training™. This training is intended to build the capacity of professionals, paraprofessionals and community members to respond effectively to disclosures of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Survivors who receive safe and supportive responses to disclosures of sexual violence are more likely to reach out for help from medical and counselling services and/ or report to police. First Responder to Sexual Assault and Abuse Training™ is inclusive of the full continuum of sexual violence and across the lifespan. This is an Alberta based workshop which uses Alberta resources and guidelines. This is a beginner yet comprehensive ‘Identify, Respond and Refer’ training. This training is beneficial to professionals and paraprofessionals who are working with individuals who may be impacted by sexual violence and to other community members who are interested in increasing their skills and confidence to address sexual abuse and sexual assault. This training is open to, but not limited to, individuals who work in Health, Social Services, Education & Justice, Nurses, Physicians, Social Workers, Youth Workers, Mental Health Workers, Teachers, School Counselors, Police Officers, Victim Services Workers, as well as Faith Leaders

Upon completion, participants will be able to:

• Define sexual violence and describe its various forms

• Understand the short and long term impacts of sexual violence across the lifespan

• Articulate why sexual violence is never the fault of the person who has been harmed

• Explain the attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate sexual violence and other root causes

• Provide a positive and supportive first response to a disclosure of sexual violence

• Identify resources and referrals to support those who have experienced sexual violence

This training will teach participants about sexual violence and the first responding skills for disclosures of sexual assault and abuse. This is NOT a course on counselling interventions. If you have experience in counselling and would like to take a more advanced level, 12 week course designed for counselling interventions, please see our Counselling Adult Survivors of Sexual Violence course.

To register: AASAS - FRSAAT

Counselling Adult Survivors of Sexual Violence - Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services

This 12 week online integrative course is designed for counselors, therapists, and other mental health practitioners who are new to working with survivors of sexual violence, or who may be already working with survivors and would like to more deeply inform their counselling practice. 

Participation is open to those in the helping fields (mental health professionals, social workers, etc.) whose scope of practice falls within the code of ethics and standards of practice of the professional body to which they belong. Applicants must have, at a minimum, a bachelor’s level education in a social or health services discipline and/or are registered/licensed with a professional association that maintains a code of ethics and standards of practice that provide parameters for the registrant’s scope of practice. Special considerations may be accommodated on a case by case basis. For questions contact ContEd@aasas.ca.

While this course does not provide in-depth training in a specific modality it will introduce and critically consider various modalities, theories, principles and ethics associated with working with survivors of sexual violence. This course offers an integrative, mindfulness-based approach to on-going assessment and interventions with adult survivors (all genders) of sexual assault and childhood sexual abuse. It draws on the most current theory including feminist, attachment, regulation, and interpersonal neurobiology; and evidence-based practices, including mindfulness, cognitive, emotion-centered, somatic, and other emergent approaches for trauma, addiction and mental health.

The baseline premise is that the embodied present-moment personhood of the therapist is the primary evidence-based intervention in working with survivors. The course is also situated within an understanding of culturally relevant practice and how multiple identities, social locations and historical contexts inform interventions with survivors; and how counsellor reflection, self-knowledge and self-care form the basis for ethical counsellor praxis.

Upon completion students will be able to:

• Discuss evidence-based self-care practices, including building a community of support, to increase resilience and minimize practitioner burnout

• Articulate theoretical frameworks for understanding sexual violence and trauma, how they reflect values, worldviews, and interventions

• Describe the complexities of responding to the effects and impacts of sexual violence, that there is ‘no average client’ and to affirm practitioners’ capacities to co-create and sustain a therapeutic relationship

• Recall the principles, tools, and skills to reduce distress and provide stability and to conduct initial and on-going assessment strategies

• Name the basic principles, tools, and skills of a variety of evidence-based approaches (including mindfulness, cognitive, emotional, somatic and anti-oppressive) to respond to the effects of sexual violence and trauma

• Draw from a number of approaches to work collaboratively with adult survivors of sexual violence addressing the relationship issues that may be specifically meaningful to them

• Mindfully bring the therapeutic relationship to closure.

To register: AASAS – CASSV

HR and DEI Courses for Professionals - Canadian Equality Consulting

CEC offers a number of custom online, on-demand sessions focused on various HR and DEI topics.

These courses include:

• Black History Month: Exploring the Roots of Anti-Black Racism

• DEI Fundamentals

• Detangling Anti-Fat Bias in the Workplace

• Equitable and Inclusive Leadership Certification

• Equitable and Inclusive Boards

• Indigeneity in Turtle Island: Footprints Across These Lands

• Navigating Canada’s Complex Histories: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

• Over The Rainbow: A Celebration of Gender and Sexual Diversity

• Over The Rainbow: An Exploration of Trans & Non-Binary History

• Unconscious Bias & Bias Awareness

To register: CEC – Online Courses

Introduction to Hoarding Disorder – Hoarding Disorder Foundation of Alberta

This three-hour workshop, offered by the Hoarding Disorder Foundation of Alberta, will introduce you to important information about hoarding.

We present information on stigma and myths, assessment, complicating factors and treatment options, communication strategies and harm reduction. Finally, we offer practical tips and tools and local resources for helping in a good way.

This session is designed for people with a keen interest in providing appropriate support to a person living with HD:

• Family members, friends and neighbours

• Professional organizers/declutter coaches

• Property management, disposal & cleaning companies

• Municipal enforcement

• Social services and of course, mental health professionals

We encourage anyone who is interested to register. If cost is prohibitive, please contact us to discuss a sliding scale.

To register: HDFA – IHD

Cultural Awareness Training - Indigenous Psychological Services

Cultural awareness training designed for psychologists working with Indigenous populations.

Our training integrates the Two-Eyed Seeing approach, crucial for psychologists working Indigenous populations.

We offer programs designed to enhance awareness of historical factors impacting client well-being and review how cultural insights can promote healing.

We explore trauma-informed perspectives that are effective in colonized systems and focus on actionable truth reconciliation with cultural safety at the forefront.

We differentiate between cultural humility and competency and define holistic practices applicable in clinical settings.

Our training equips psychologists to adopt cultural and trauma-informed practices, including a Residential School in-service with impactful presentations and sessions for survivors.

To register: Indigenous Psychological Services - Workshops

Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training – Cascade Projects

Cultural awareness training with a focus on experiential activities and practical discussions around reconciliation.

Cascade believes engagement begins before a shovel hits the ground. It begins internally with an organization’s understanding, capacity and intention when it comes to Indigenous engagement. To build that foundation, our Indigenous Engagement Advisors works with clients to design and deliver cultural awareness training to ensure their employees from the top down are prepared when they are working in community. Led by our Indigenous Awareness Educator, Dr. Patricia Makokis, this participatory training covers the History of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and is adapted to Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 First Nations history. This in-person training includes a grounding circle, the blanket exercise, a debrief session and a discussion on how to connect these learnings to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Call to Action #92. This training is customizable and can be delivered for 10+ people over a full or half day.

To register: Cascade