Shirley Hallett shares her feedback from attending a CSP webinar on exploring Race, Identity and Difference.
The aims of the session were to:
- Have an awareness of race, race related issues and identity
- Have an awareness of how our identities impact on us, profession and the wider society
- Have an awareness of microaggressions and what you can do to tackle inequalities
The session was really interactive and incorporated a lot of reflection on your own experiences and biases as well as activities to support this. There was information about what is laid down in law and what needs to be done at a local level – the law is very much around managing adverse situations and less about preventing them from happening in the first place.
There was also discussion about the lack of diversity in the physio profession and how we need to support students from diverse backgrounds and the inequalities they experience.
There was discussion around use of language and how BAME is increasingly considered to be an unsuitable acronym and in 1:1 situations we should always ask someone how they identify.
.My take home projects were to:
- Look at job descriptions and ensure they are proactive towards diverse recruitment, not just ‘token’ statements about diversity
- Introduce empathy walks – you go for a walk 1:1 and you each have 15 minutes to talk about your life experiences that have been meaningful to you. The other person actively listens and then you swap over. The idea is that deeper understanding of our colleagues will improve acceptance and understanding in the workplace and hopefully people will be able to bring more of their true selves to work
I would recommend attending a course like this to anyone – it gave me lots to think about.
The allyship webinar was also excellent.
July 2021