ACCOUNTABLE + SAF(er) SPACES APPROACH

2024. LIVING-BREATHING COMMITMENT:

Welcome All! I am a Racial Justice and Somatic Health Equity Educator, committed to embodying antiracist values and being accountable to and transparent with my community in this work.

These “Accountable + Saf(er) Spaces” guidelines put into writing, my mission, values and procedures for creating and nurturing protected, accountable and saf(er) environments as we practice antiracist education and healing work together. My vision is to create communities of well-being that empower people and enrich society. I hold the values of compassion, equity, integrity, belonging, and accountability as foundational to our community.

To understand what accountable and saf(er) spaces ARE, it’s important to understand what they are NOT. An Accountable and Saf(er) Space is not a “safe space”. We cannot assume to know the traumas and triggers that each person carries as they enter our space. It is up to each individual to define what feels safe for them. We do not take it upon ourselves to claim this label for all people. What we are committing to, is a collective environment of justice, resistance, protected, empathy, responsibility and accountability.

An Accountable + Saf(er) Space is a supportive, non-threatening environment that encourages open-mindedness, respect, a willingness to learn from others, physical safety, mental and emotional support, and an honouring of our unique identities. A saf(er) space is informed by trauma-responsive, transformative mediation and social justice education values.

In an Accountable and Saf(er) Space, we aim to share education and awareness of the power and privilege that we bring into the community that we share. In this space, everyone teaches and everyone learns. At the foundation of understanding dynamics of power and privilege is understanding our own social location. The concept of social location comes from the field of sociology and describes the groups that people belong to because of their place or position in society. An individual’s social location is defined by a combination of factors such as gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic location. This makes social location unique to each individual – no two individuals will have the exact same social location. Understanding our social location is important because this knowledge strongly influences our identity, or our sense of self, and how we see the world.

I understand that racialized and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals continue to experience discrimination and oppression in community spaces. Individuals at events and in workshops with me, Carla Beharry, should not be discriminated against or harassed because of their race/ethnicity, gender, sex, sexuality, socio-economic class, cultural background, religion, spirituality, immigration status, language status, physical ability, neurodiversity, mental, emotional and physical health status, or any of these intersecting identities. I aim to actively minimize barriers present in this community that may impact a person's participation, engagement, and sense of belonging.

I stand as actively against all forms of racism, discrimination and oppression. I understand that good intention is not enough to prevent harm and violence and that harm can be inflicted and traumas may be triggered either consciously or unconsciously through power dynamics that perpetuate inequities.

I recognize the privilege of conducting my work in the Waterloo Region on the original lands of the Anishnawbe, Haudenosaunee, and Neutral/Attawondaron peoples. I respect the Treaties that were made on these territories and I acknowledge the deep harm that has been inflicted on First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples on Turtle Island. I dedicate myself to moving forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration, and will continue to commit my time and resources to support Indigenous-led initiatives in Waterloo Region.

We cannot assume that everyone will feel SAFE in every encounter in our work together.

However, we are committed to upholding our dedication to creating accountable + saf(er) spaces and to undergoing processes of restorative mediation and conflict resolution, accountability and transparency when harm occurs. We are also committed to ensuring that those who continue to perpetuate harm after moving through a transformative justice process will not be welcome within our space and community.

The following values lay the foundation of our work and help us provide saf(er) spaces for all:

OUR WORK IS EMBODIED AND INFORMED BY TRAUMA-HEALING, TRANSFORMATIVE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORKS:

In this work we commit moving beyond cognitive learning. We understand that violence, harm and trauma lives in the bodies of those who experience pervasive and persistent oppression. We commit to moving our bodies in spaces with an understanding of the unspoken power our privileges carry. These privileges may encompass our race, our ethnicity, our religion, our gender identity, our sexual orientation, our ability, our mental health status, our socioeconomic status, our citizenship status, and any other spoken or unspoken privileges we carry. We understand that each person in this spaces, enters with their own lived-experience of trauma and we collectively commit to holding each person with care.

WE AVOID ASSUMPTIONS:

Speculations about a person's identities and ways of being in the world is a discriminatory act. While humans often make generalizations and assumptions without intending harm, we understand that this process can in fact, be harmful. We strive to be aware of our assumptions and to respect everyone else’s identity, race, ethnicity, culture, religion, mental health status, socio-economic status, ability, preferred language, gender, sexuality and pronouns.

PHYSICAL CONSENT:

Physical boundaries are essential to building protected spaces. It is important that all clients and event participants commit to honouring physical boundaries. This includes touching anyone’s hair, clothing, body or belongings, without consent.

EMOTIONAL CONSENT:

Our promise is to provide the highest standards of education in an inclusive and welcoming space. This includes the understanding that many individuals enter our space with existing wounds, biases and traumas. Our racial justice and somatic equity work includes encouraging participants to gently turn towards and work with discomfort within their means. In the process of this practice of confronting uncomfortable thoughts, body sensations and feelings, we encourage participants to engage in self-care and to honour one’s own sense of agency in defining boundaries that feel right for them. We understand that for individuals who experience harm and violence every day in our system, that initiating further discomfort can be harmful and traumatizing and that instead, creating spaces to find more healing and resource is both healing and nourishing in the path toward liberation.

SHARING SPACE:

We understand that antiracism education and health equity programs should be accessible, open and welcoming space for ALL individuals. We honour and respect the unique identities that each person brings into our shared spaces. All efforts are made in online spaces to include closed caption options and transcripts or recordings where necessary. While we do not have a permanent physical space, we prioritize running events and workshops in spaces that are accessible.

ACCOUNTABILITY:

When harm occurs, we will implement a restorative and transformative conflict resolution approach to understand the harm done and repair it to continue building community.

VIOLENT SPEECH AND ACTION:

Each participant entering the space agrees to abstain from physical and emotional violence, intentional harm, racism and discrimination within our space. This includes non-verbal harm, racist “jokes”, sharing of racist materials and having visible hate symbols on one’s physical body.

OPENNESS TO CHANGE AND LEARNING:

Learning about our social location and the privilege we embody is essential to creating a saf(er) space for those who have been excluded from mental health support spaces. We encourage all participants to acknowledge mistakes and to be aware of the impact of their words and actions.

Thank you for taking the time to review my Accountable and Saf(er) Spaces Approach. Our commitment is to grow as an equitable and embodied community is rooted in antiracist values and social justice practice.

Please contact me, Carla Beharry to offer suggestions to include in this living, breathing, policy.