How to be an Ally: BRAVE safe spaces

With everything going on in the world, it’s sometimes difficult to know what or how to say things and often times, we feel unsafe to speak.

Jermaine Henry shares tools to create a space that can navigate difficult conversations with yourself and with others. We will explore both the philosophy and practice of creating BRAVE spaces using a PRO-LIBERATION framework through self-reflection, discussion, and group activities.

This is an introductory workshop for people who want to get a primer on how one’s identity and intersectionality plays out in conversations, how to listen deeply to one another, and how to practice speaking our truths with openness, courage and compassion.

SPEAKER: JERMAINE HENRY

Jermaine Henry is a Social ARTrepreneur who is passionate about connecting and inspiring people to self-actualize. He utilizes drama, emceeing, facilitation and spoken word to curate brave spaces promoting freedom, love and equity.

Jermaine works with young black and indigenous leaders across Ontario to promote healing through community arts with grassroots groups such as AVNU, Spoke N’ Heard, The New Mentality, and YSI Collaborative. He has had the privilege of performing, facilitating and collaborating with diverse groups in schools and community around mental health, leadership, pro-liberation and community engagement.

Previous clients include AVNU, Canadian Mental Health Association (Toronto Branch), Engineers Without Borders, Inspirit Foundation, Studio-Y @ MaRS District, Toronto Community Housing, and the Children’s Peace Theatre.

Learn more about Jermaine and who he’s worked with at jermainehenry.ca/about.

Testimonial: 

“Jermaine has worked with The New Mentality in a number of different roles, including as a Facilitator, Harvester, and Core Team member. The New Mentality is a broad network of diverse people, working within the realm of mental health. Jermaine has demonstrated skill in hosting diverse groups of different sizes hosted groups of different sizes and varied ages and backgrounds. Our work often dives into very challenging topics and conversations around mental health, and more recently into race and anti-oppression. This is where Jermaine’s skills shine through – he has hosted these conversations with grace and presence while not shying away from the depth of the issues. He is gifted in helping groups surface their collective knowledge, and in supporting individuals and groups to experience growth and connection. Jermaine has a strong presence and an infectious energy. It has been a pleasure to work together and I will continue to look for opportunities to collaborate.”

Caralyn Quan, Program Manager, The New Mentality
Children’s Mental Health Ontario

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WHAT IS “HOW TO BE AN ALLY”?

As more and more of us confront the fact that the world is not equitable for all, it is crucial for us to understand what our role is in supporting one another and together, figure out the systems and society that work for everybody.

One step that we’re taking at the Centre for Social Innovation is partnering with equity educators who create learning spaces for us to ask questions, challenge assumptions, learn about what makes each individual unique and complex, and what makes us one. The kinds of questions we hope to ask include, but are not limited to: How do I check my privilege? How can we engage in a conversation around identity, oppression, and colonialism? How do we learn from each other? How do we support one another?

How can I be an ally?

We have asked leaders from the CSI community to speak about their lived experiences, their professional practice building bridges among communities and to share their thoughts on how someone could be their ally. This will be followed by a facilitated Q&A.

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About the cost and accessibility

The cost was a hard piece for us because we want this to be accessible to everybody, but we also wanted to honour the time of our facilitators and attach fair value to their work and ours. The cost of tickets is still reflecting a discount from both parties, but we’re comfortable with this if it means more people can attend.

If you find the cost prohibitive, we are offering 5 subsidized tickets for each session on a first come, first serve basis. You do not need to a provide an explanation and we trust that these subsidized tickets will go to people who really require them. You can register for subsidized ticket through eventbrite. For other accomodations required to attend the workshop (i.e., tokens, child minding, etc), please email Shilbee (shilbee@socialinnovation.ca).

We’re constantly learning and exploring different ways to live up to our value of creating healthy cultures and we’re always open to feedback!

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Will there be more “How to be an Ally” events?

To get on the mailing list for How to be an Ally series and provide feedback on topics, submit your contact information by clicking here.