It’s Not You, It’s Me: Reframing Our Understanding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

5:00pm to 7:00pm ET

LIVE WEBINAR

Presenter: Charla Yearwood, MSSW, LCSW

NASW-NYS Members: FREE

NASW Other Chapter Member (Including NYC): $40

Non-Members: $50

NASW-NYS Student and Transitional Members: FREE

This workshop is approved for 2.0 continuing education credit hours for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists and licensed psychologists

Workshop Description
In the quest for creating a more equitable society, we are often trapped into a habit of centering the dominant, oppressive group, to learn about the needs of the marginalized, oppressed group. This leads to benevolent initiatives aimed at addressing the “needs of the marginalized.” While well-intentioned, this framework cannot bring about equity because it maintains existing power structures. Instead, it is needed to wrestle with the understanding that the only thing marginalized and oppressed people need from their oppressors is for their oppressors to stop marginalizing and oppressing them. In this presentation, the presenter will offer ways for attendees to grow in their understanding of why social workers must engage in personal reflection to recognize false ideologies they are carrying into the world, and do the work of healing from narratives that are used to maintain oppressive power structures. The workshop will also explore the ways these ideals affect our social work practice, including the ways it dangerously influences our clinical practice.

Learning Objectives

After the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the issues with the idea that benevolence is anti-oppressive.
2. Identify the ways white supremacy shapes and maintains bias within social work practice.
3. Describe the ways therapy and mental healthcare care can confront white supremacy and other oppressive cultures.
4. Explain how the above strategies for challenging white supremacy can also be applied to other oppressive systems.

This workshop is approved for 2.0 continuing education credit hours.

NASW-NYS is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (Provider ID #0014), licensed mental health counselors (Provider ID #MHC-0053), licensed marriage and family therapists (Provider ID #MFT-0037) and licensed psychologists (Provider ID #PSY-0088).

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Presenter:

Charla Cannon Yearwood (she/ her) is a licensed clinical social worker who is deeply committed to anti-racism and liberatory practices in mental health care. Charla was a co-founding member of the Social Work Coalition for Anti-Racist Educators (SWCAREs), an organization that has led efforts to address racial bias and discrimination in social work education and practice. Through this work, Charla and her colleagues guest-edited a special issue of the academic journal, Advances in Social Work, which focused on Dismantling White Supremacy in Social Work Education. Following this project, Charla was invited to advise the Council on Social Work Education in the development of the anti-racist competencies now required of all accredited social work programs across the country.  Today, Charla serves as the Founder & CEO of Connected in Community, a mental health and wellness practice in Indianapolis that focuses on serving Black, Queer, and other social justice-minded people.  She also facilitates a Racial Justice and Liberatory Practice continuing education series at several universities, including the University of Houston and Columbia University.