Courses

Cultural Humility Core Principles

This beginner-level set of four 3-hour workshops—the “Core Four”—explores the principles of cultural humility. The workshops can be taken as a sequence or individually.

Principle 1: Self-Reflection and Compassionate Self-Critique (Looking Inward)
Principle 2: Mutually Beneficial and Caring Partnerships (Looking Outward)
Principle 3: Power and Privilege
Principle 4: Institutional Consistency, Power, and Privilege

Principle 1:

Self-Reflection and Compassionate Self-Critique (Looking Inward)

Cultural humility is rooted in the practice of self-reflection and compassionate self-critique. Furthermore, cultural humility requires an ongoing process of life-long learning of the self. Thus, developing a practice of exploration and self-discovery is an essential first step. This workshop introduces the concepts and select practices for building a deeper sense of self-awareness, discovery of internalized biases, understanding of values and related behaviors, as well as strategies for uncovering intrapersonal strengths and areas of growth.

What you will learn:

Understand the philosophical underpinnings of cultural humility principle #1
Develop a deeper awareness of the cultural humility principles and their interconnectedness
Increase your with the concepts and practice of compassionate self-critique, self-inquiry and meta self-dialogue
Develop an action plan for expanding intrapersonal awareness and integration of cultural humility into daily life

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles, with a focus on principle #1
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators, classified professionals, students, program leaders, clergy, community center staff, counselors, educators, therapists, coaches, social workers, and mentors
Anyone who works directly with other people
Anyone who works in an organization/network/coalition dedicated to ensuring the cultural safety, health, well-being, sense of belonging, and equity for themselves and others

Principle 2:

Mutually Beneficial and Caring Partnerships (Looking Outward)

The second principle of cultural humility focuses on seeing those we are in service of as wise, deserving of our attention, human peers, and partners. It challenges us to move away from hierarchical thinking, classism, rankism, and elitism. We are reminded that each individual navigates complicated histories, storied lives and marginalized identities. Approaching each relationship with deep curiosity, peer respect and care creates pathways to rapport and meaningful interactions.

What you will learn:

Understand the philosophical underpinnings of cultural humility principle #2
Develop a deeper awareness of the cultural humility principles and their interconnectedness
Increase your comfort with the practice of dialogue, peer support, and humble inquiry
Develop an action plan for expanding interpersonal awareness and integration of cultural humility into daily life

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles, with a focus on principle #2
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators, classified professionals, students, program leaders, clergy, community center staff, counselors, educators, therapists, coaches, social workers, and mentors
Anyone who works directly with other people
Anyone who works in an organization/network/coalition dedicated to ensuring the cultural safety, health, well-being, sense of belonging, and equity for themselves and others

Principle 3:

Power and Privilege

The third principle of cultural humility highlights the role of power and privilege in our relationship as well as our conscious and unconscious investment in authoritarian power dynamics. Cultural humility requires an honest assessment of the role of power and privilege in our daily life, and how it shapes our interactions. To fully engage in equity, social justice, and cultural humility, we must not only recognize our privileged identities, we must understand how to negotiate them, name them aloud, and move toward allyship. Part of navigating our own and others’ identities is acknowledging the role of power and privilege in each interaction. Understanding how to employ cultural humility and reduce the impact of power and privilege differentials includes familiarity with the concepts of the matrix of domination, power, privilege, and levels of oppression.

What you will learn:

Understand the philosophical underpinnings of cultural humility principle #2
Develop a deeper awareness of the cultural humility principles and their interconnectedness.
Increase your comfort with navigating identities, skilled reflective practice, and ally/solidarity behaviors
Understand the matrix of domination, power/privilege analysis, and levels of oppression.
Develop an action plan for expanding interpersonal awareness and integration of cultural humility into daily life

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles, with a focus on principle #3
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators, classified professionals, students, program leaders, clergy, community center staff, counselors, educators, therapists, coaches, social workers, and mentors
Anyone who works directly with other people
Anyone who works in an organization/network/coalition dedicated to ensuring the cultural safety, health, well-being, sense of belonging, and equity for themselves and others

Principle 4:

Institutional Consistency, Power, and Privilege

The fourth principle of cultural humility includes maintaining institutional consistency. In other words, the institution must also engage in reflective and culturally humble practices, policies and procedures. In this workshop, we explore how oppressive systems dynamics become both internalized and institutionalized, as well as the long-term impacts on individuals. Strategies for addressing institutional barriers and oppressive systems are covered along with strategies for self-care.

What you will learn:

Understand the philosophical underpinnings of cultural humility principle #4
Develop a deeper awareness of the cultural humility principles and their interconnectedness
Increase your comfort with systems theory, institutional accountability, and intervention strategies (e.g., communities of practice and cultural humility core teams)
Develop an action plan for self-care and institutional success

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles, with a focus on principle #4
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in institutions
Self-care action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators, classified professionals, students, program leaders, clergy, community center staff, counselors, educators, therapists, coaches, social workers, and mentors
Anyone who works directly with other people
Anyone who works in an organization/network/coalition dedicated to ensuring the cultural safety, health, well-being, sense of belonging, and equity for themselves and others