Trauma and the white body Thursday 4 May 2023 1000-1200

This is a cameras on event for people who identify and are seen as white.

Theme:  What is it to live in the white body?  What is our experience of this?  Might it be that we are holding the silence of generations regarding the perpetration of wrongs.  Please note that we will just be approaching the edge of this territory and be focussing on enquiring into how we can best do this work together.

Requirements: This work is suited for those who feel in at least a somewhat resourced place at present.  You are invited to enrol if you feel you have capacity at present to notice what arises for you in the course of the workshop.  You are asked to commit to being present with your camera on for the whole of the event and have the intention of supporting yourself and others in the group.

Approach:  The work is spiritually based.  It is regarded as a healing journey.  Creativity is included. The approach is non-judgemental with people welcome  wherever they are in this enquiry.

Cost: £12.50

Numbers:  These will be limited to 12.

Bio:  Susan Groves is a UKCP registered Core Process Psychotherapist.  Her ancestry is British/South African.  She has been offering work around whiteness in South Africa and the UK for several years.  She approaches the work as an artist collaborating with those who attend events.  She is grounded in part by the faith traditions of Christianity and Buddhism.

Forthcoming course:  Susan will be offering a more comprehensive course May – July 2023 integrating Core Process Psychotherapy and the racial justice enquiry.  This workshop may prove a useful introduction to the approach of the course.

Explanatory note:  It is felt by many that white people need to meet and ‘do their own work’ before they can safely meet with others.  Hence this workshop being offered to people who identify as white.

Some responses from participants in previous racial justice enquiry events:

Susan brings a hesitancy to her work which is helpful.  It isn’t over-researched nor does she over-theorize in her presentation.  I’m left with a sense of my own responsibility and this is empowering.  She exudes trust in the listener.

Henry Davies, friend and colleague

There was a lightness to this potentially heavy topic.  A freshness. It was enjoyable, a beautiful experience.  I’m excited for the next one.

Laurie Gaum, artist, theologian and human rights advocate

The joining of beauty with pain was so unusual.  It took the conversation to a different level.  It will be reverberating within me for a long time.

event participant