Collaborative, Heart-Mind Learning (Online!) &
Generative Ways to Engage with Conflict and Difference
We’re so glad you’re here!
We have so much to share with you.
power
practices
Learn a framework and language for understanding and communicating about social power dynamics, equity and difference.
restorative Practices
Take courses, get coaching or facilitation of restorative practices based in restorative principles and conflict transformation.
awareness
practices
From compassion to mindfulness practices we integrate awareness into all of our courses, coaching and facilitation.
We hear a lot of people from many different social locations who say they want to do something about social inequities, abuses of power, and systemic oppression.
However, we also hear that people either don’t know what to do, feel emotionally-labored-out, hopeless, powerless, othered…or some combination of these states.
We get it – we’ve been there (and still visit often!). But we’ve learned how to not dwell there. We’ve learned how to know where we are, what power we have, how to nourish and play, and to keep moving forward.
That’s why we’ve developed this challenge. We want everyone to have an accessible, sustainable, compassion-and-connection-centered space to learn, grow, and collaboratively develop their Power-and-Equity Consciousness.
What is Power-and-Equity Consciousness (PEC)?
Power-and-Equity Consciousness (PEC) is a term that was developed by Restorative Integration Founder, Dr. Amanda Aguilera in conversation with her colleague, Regina Smith, to refer to the state of awareness of social power dynamics, like those in interpersonal power differentials as well as collective and systemic power, that influence equity in relationship.
Why do I need to develop my PEC?
Power is present in every relationship. As your PEC develops, you are more capable of seeing power dynamics as they occur, inequities that show up in those power dynamics, and deciphering your responsibilities and vulnerabilities within those dynamics.
When you have a framework for understanding power dynamics, the language to talk about it, and the skills to navigate it, you are better resourced for creating and maintaining relationships across difference.
Here are just some of the outcomes you can expect as you develop your PEC:
Power-and-Equity challenge features
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A Year of Support
In 12 months we will support you as you move through the developmental phases of intrapersonal and interpersonal PEC. Guided by our lead facilitators and the support of your peers, you will not only get the knowledge you need to successfully navigate power dynamics, you will also get experiences needed for deepening your PEC. This Challenge is a journey – it’s an experience that will change you.
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Monthly Online Courses
9 Courses in 9 months! Consecutive content delivered in monthly, asynchronous online courses. Each course takes about 2 hours to complete and involves a multimedia approach to learning to keep you engaged. These courses cover the foundational concepts needed to engage in the live online training sessions. They also allow you to take your own pace in learning those concepts, give you time to reflect, and keep the costs of training down.
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Live Interactive Sessions
At the end of every month in the first 9 months, we offer a 2.5-hour live session as a companion to the online course. Two lead facilitators will guide you through interactive, team-building experiences to deepen the learning of each course. Bring your reflections and questions from the course and get ready to deepen your relationship with yourself and others in your group.
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Weekly Awareness Practice
Because awareness (compassion + mindfulness) is the foundation of Restorative Integration, we offer 30-minute weekly awareness practice sessions throughout the year to strengthen your internal capacity – which of course, influences your external capacity (your ability to be there for others). We offer weekly compassion and mindfulness practices every week throughout your journey in the Power-and-Equity Challenge.
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Online Practice Groups
Once the coursework is complete, you are given access to practice groups (1.5 hours each) offered twice monthly. The practice group provides a space for you to put into practice what you have learned in the courses, get guidance from facilitators, and integrate the learning into your life. You will get to bring your real-life experiences to practice difficult conversations with the restorative skills and awareness practices you have gained throughout the challenge.
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Online Coaching Groups
Coaching groups are offered with the same frequency as practice groups once your coursework is complete. Coaching sessions allow you to ask questions, problem-solve, and review content with trained facilitators. This helps you dive even deeper into the content while you apply it to your life. In addition to group coaching, individual coaching is available at an hourly rate.
Power-and-Equity challenge Course path
The nine courses in the Power-and-Equity Challenge are designed to help you progress step-by-step in your Power-and-Equity Consciousness. Each course builds on the previous content and is paced so that you have time to explore and integrate each concept. Each course includes asynchronus online content you take at your own pace followed by a live 2.5 hour live session with interactive experientials, discussions and Q&R (Question & Response).
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1: Introduction & Framework
This first course gives you an overview of the Power-and-Equity Challenge, a grounding in the Restorative Integration framework, and the basic concepts and language for social power dynamics.
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2: Neurobiology & Psychology of Power
Based in research, this course explores our brain on power - how the biological, neurological and psychological intrapersonal experience influences our interpersonal relationships and how power differentials impact our internal experience. Understanding how the body, mind and emotions work in power dynamics gives us an advantage for successfully navigating our relationships.
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3: Cultivating Personal Power
If you've ever wanted to feel more empowered and to expand your inner capacity - this course will give you the opportunity to explore all things personal power. Integration is a key concept for inner growth and the ability to relate to yourself in an integrated and compassionate way will give you the foundation for making the development of your Power-and-Equity Consciousness more sustainable. You'll also get to discover here how personal power is the key to using our power well in all the other dimensions of power.
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4: Understanding Multi-Level Power
With this framework of social power dynamics, you'll come to understand that there are multiple dimensions of power - and they are all operating at once. In this course, we'll do a deeper dive into collective and systemic power and how they influence our personal, role and status power. We will also look at "Ourstory" - from ancestry to collective wounding from past to present and how we can address ongoing systems of oppression.
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5: Navigating Power Differentials
With the understanding of systemic power, we move into the complex power dynamics present in every interpersonal relationship. We'll look at the responsibilities and vulnerabilities in each part of the power differential and address your particular challenges in relationships across difference and power.
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6: The Art of Giving & Receiving Feedback
Feedback is essential for our own learning and growth as well as for developing and maintaining healthy relationships. Giving and receiving feedback is not only a skill to be developed, it is an art form. In this course you will be introduced to the anatomy of feedback, its critical components, and obstacles to effective feedback experiences. You will also have the opportunity to practice giving and receiving feedback.
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7: Introduction to Conflict
In many western cultures, conflict is generally approached with avoidance or competition, especially when there is a power differential involved. From a restorative and conflict transformation lens, this course will help shift you into a conflict positive frame so that conflict can become a more generative experience in your life.
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8: Restorative Approach to Harm
Building on the previous course, we get to go more into the practice of engaging in conflict. We introduce the restorative conversation and tools for working through interpersonal difficulty and harm with Power-and-Equity Consciousness. This course gives you a way to practice difficult conversations so that you can navigate them more generatively.
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9: Commitment
Perhaps the most important course of all, is our last course on commitment. Here we get to explore what responsibility really means, and craft our commitment for developing Power-and-Equity Consciousness. We get to challenge each other and encourage each other, and form accountability partnerships for moving forward.
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