Course Description:

While social workers are prepared for and accustomed to leading critical conversations with clients regarding intercultural issues, these dialogues can pose uniquely intimidating challenges for professionals within the supervisory relationship. Research shows that supervisors feel uncomfortable, undertrained, and ill-prepared. Obstacles to essential cross-cultural dialogues include insufficient preparation in a supervisor's training due to the lack of social justice focus in the traditional model of supervision, fear associated with personal and emotional risk inherent in social justice dialogues, and the importance of balancing the needs of the agency with those of the supervisee. In this session, participants will learn strategies for facing the discomfort inherent in antiracist discourse. These strategies include recognizing personal resistance, identifying racist policies and practices; creating transformative spaces; and engaging in crucial conversations where individuals remain engaged rather than discount, deflect, or retreat from discomfort.

Course Link:
https://noncredit.gvsu.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=SOWK00010705

CE Value (credits): 2
CE Type: Standard

Grand Valley State University

Contact Information:
Lauren Fodor
616-331-7180
learn@gvsu.edu