The Call is Coming From Inside The House: Examining Internalized Oppression

This workshop is an examination of internalized oppression – an honest look at how systemic injustice doesn’t just exist “out there,” but also takes root within us. Together, we’ll explore how power, privilege, and social conditioning shape our perceptions, judgments, and relationships in ways we might not even realize. By getting curious about these dynamics, we can start to shift our lens, approach others with more empathy, and interrupt the cycles of harm we’ve inherited. This is an invitation to uncover what lies beneath the surface and begin the work of breaking patterns from the inside out.

What to Expect:

• This workshop is interactive and reflective, combining short talks with guided exercises and small group discussion. 
• We’ll look at how internalized oppression shows up in our thoughts, behaviors, and relationships, and what it takes to interrupt those patterns.
• Expect moments of discomfort, curiosity, and connection as we explore new ways of seeing ourselves and each other.

Who This Space is For:

• This space is for people [community members, care workers, leaders, educators, and organizers] who are ready to look in the mirror and get honest about how internalized oppression might be shaping their relationships, organizing work, and approach to justice.
• It’s for anyone willing to do the inner work needed to break harmful patterns so we can move toward more liberatory, connected ways of being in community.

Group Agreements: 

1. Take Space, Make Space:We come as humans first, ready to unlearn, learn, and be held with humility. No one is the expert in this space. Contribute to the collective, not from a place of extraction. Practice Take Space, Make Space to balance voices in the room.

2. Honor Lived Experience:Lived experience is sacred knowledge and holds equal, if not greater, value than degrees, certifications, or titles. Ancestral, somatic, spiritual, collective, or individual—every path to healing is valid. There is no “one right way” to care for ourselves or others.

3. Acknowledge Power and Privilege:Recognize how power, privilege, and access show up in the room. Decenter yourself when needed and amplify voices often silenced or overlooked.

4. Address Harm with Care:Mistakes will happen. When harm occurs, approach it with care and accountability as acts of love and repair, without shame or punishment.

5. Be Real and Human:Show up imperfect, messy, and authentic. This is not a space for performative healing or professionalism. Show up as you are, honoring your needs—eat, drink, or turn off your camera as needed. Assume others are coming from a place of good intentions.

6. Align with Liberation: This space is rooted in radical values like liberation, disability justice, abolition, and anti-Zionism. Respect these principles.

7. Maintain Confidentiality: Protect the confidentiality of any clients or personal stories shared in this space.

Accessibility:

Zoom offers live captioning. If further accessibility tools are needed please let us know.