Setting up student groups and workshops on race in H.E. counselling
When:
—
Venue:
Online
**TICKET BOOKING CLOSES 11am TUESDAY 16 FEBRUARY**
Speakers: Ayan Ali, Student Counsellor, Birkbeck, University of London
with guest speaker Aisha Gordon-Hiles, Student Counsellor, University for the Creative Arts (UCA)
A few other counsellors working on initiatives for students of colour at other universities have confirmed attendance and will be part of the conversation.
Audience: qualified counsellors working with students in UK Higher Education institutions only
EVENT OUTLINE
Racism has been in the spotlight following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. This is a confidential conversation space for H.E. counsellors to share ideas and good practice for running workshops and groups where university students can discuss issues of race and racism. The discussion will focus on creating safe group spaces for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)* students to talk about race and culture rather than one-to-one counselling.
Ayan and Aisha will give short informal presentations on how they set up brand new workshops/groups in 2020-21 to kick off the discussion. These are offered as work in progress and we are keen to hear what other counselling services are already doing or planning too. However, if you're an H.E. counsellor/manager who wants to run events to support students of colour with issues related to race but aren't sure how to go about it, then hopefully you'll get some ideas in the conversation.
Birkbeck's events are called 'Dealing with Racism: a Wellbeing Workshop for Black/BAME students'. Ayan, a black female counsellor, created and delivered one-off 2-hour student workshops with presentations and discussion held for either black students (African and Caribbean heritage) or BAME students (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic). We explored the impact of racism in their daily life and ways to improve wellbeing.
UCA’s events are called BAME-APY (a play on the work “Therapy”). They are advertised to students as “A space for BAME students to discuss issues of race and culture”. Aisha, also a black counsellor, created these workshops as a direct response to issues highlighted by students at UCA. Each workshop lasts for 1.5 hours and is focused on a specific topic. The workshops are split into 3 sections: Exploration of the topic/Emotional exploration/Resourcing.
Online: Microsoft Teams (event link to be sent to ticketholders on the day of the event). The workshop won't be recorded. The desktop app offers a better experience than joining through a browser. Please have your own camera turned on throughout if possible for this interactive event (we recommend updating to the new Teams meeting experience so you can see the maximum 49 camera feeds on screen in 'large gallery' or 'together mode' - click here). Refer to the troubleshooting page for help using Teams. IT recommend closing your Chrome browser if you’re using the Teams desktop app because it can reduce sound/video quality by using up energy.
NB preferably no more than 3 tickets per H.E. institution to allow more sharing nationwide. Please register via the booking link for the waiting list once the event is full - the whole list will be emailed if tickets become available and they'll go to the person that books online first.
Please contact the event organiser Ayan Ali if you have any queries before the event and see the links above for tech support: ayan.ali@bbk.ac.uk
*NB The term ‘BAME’ is used here for the time being but also acknowledged as a contested word for important reasons.
Further reading: research done at Cambridge University on how students of colour experienced the university counselling service. BACP AGM keynote presentation December 2020: Micha Frazer-Caroll discusses race and therapy from the client/campaigner’s perspective. https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/bacp-events/agm-2020/ You need a BACP login to see the video but the slides are in this link https://www.bacp.co.uk/media/10396/micha-frazer-caroll.pdf
Contact name: Ayan Ali
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