The Race Conversation

The Race Conversation

Finding a Voice

This webinar was recorded and is now available as a Talk on Demand. Click here for more details.

Saturday 20 March 2021 - A Live Webinar

With Dr Aileen Alleyne, Dr Neil Altman, Eugene Ellis and Jane Ryan – chaired by Foluke Taylor

  • Includes a recording of the event with access for a year (14 days post the event)
  • Bookings close at 9.00am GMT Wednesday 17 March

This conference invites psychotherapists of all backgrounds to consider the intricate and complex challenge of talking about race, both within and beyond the consulting room. It rests on the premise that examining the subjective experience of inequality across painful racial divides in our society is inevitably a confronting and emotionally charged endeavour: frustrating and saddening for black people; shame laden and unnerving for white people.

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FULL PROGRAMME

14.00 GMT (10.00 EDT)
Introductions and Zoom Housekeeping

14.05
Dr Aileen Alleyne
White Shame – White Fragility, in the Context of the Black Lives Matter Movement
This paper offers a critical analysis of three significant factors currently informing what is virtually our zeitgeist. Aileen will discuss her observations and sense-making of the phenomenon witnessed in a particular white British response to the BLM movement in the midst of other major societal upheavals: Brexit and Covid-19. She will borrow the term “white fragility” coined in 2011 by Robin DiAngelo, who defines the concept as: “a state in which even a minimal challenge to the white position becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves including: argumentation, invalidation, silence, withdrawal and claims of being attacked and misunderstood. These moves function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and maintain control.” The speaker will also critically address the concept of “white shame” to demonstrate that this ubiquitous emotion in the context of race, is a reaction formation that cannot be analysed away or forgotten but can be fully met and atoned.

14.45
Reflections and Responses

15.00
A “Race Conversation” between Dr Aileen Alleyne and Jane Ryan
This pre-recorded conversation, made especially for this webinar, will explore Aileen and Jane’s personal experiences of BLM, race and issues of equality, responsibility, and personal identity in the context of this historic year of protest. As a black woman and a white woman respectively, they will attempt to articulate and share their experiences and reflections on the BLM movement and its meaning for now and the impactful changes to the status quo.

15.20
Discussion with Dr Aileen Alleyne and Jane Ryan

15.30
Break

16.00
Eugene Ellis
Finding Your Voice in the Race Conversation
What racial differences impose on our minds and bodies as individuals and collectively as a society is demanding and complex. The challenge is often simply to remain coherent in our thinking, and often there is a feeling of being under-resourced to stay with the process. In this talk I want to explore what happens in our minds and also importantly in our bodies in the midst of the race conversation; to explore how a mindful approach to our physiological responses might support us as therapists in staying at the contact boundary of our own and our clients’ experience – and find our voice.

16.45
Reflections and Responses

17.00
A “Race Conversation” between Eugene Ellis and Neil Altman
This second conversation delves into the subjective responses of two psychotherapists, one black and one white. Both are authors of upcoming books on race, and they will exchange reflections, insights and ideas about BLM and the historic background to the movement.

Eugene Ellis, The Race Conversation: An essential guide to creating life-changing dialogue (Confer Books, 2021) Neil Altman, White Privilege: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (Routledge, 2020)

17.20
Discussion with Neil Altman and Eugene Ellis

17.30
Reflections and Responses with Aileen Alleyne, Neil Altman, Eugene Ellis, Jane Ryan and Foluke Taylor

18.00
End

FEES

Includes handouts and a recording

Bookings close at 9.00am GMT Wednesday 17 March

Confer member:
£56
(Click here to become a member)

Self-funded:
£70

CPD

Certificates of attendance for 4 hours will be provided

VENUE

This is a live online webinar using Zoom software. Zoom is free to download and use.

For more information about Zoom click here.

To download Zoom free of charge click here.

SCHEDULE

Saturday
14.00 GMT (10.00 EDT) Start
14.00 Introductions and Zoom Housekeeping
14.05 Dr Aileen Alleyne
14.45 Reflections and Responses
15.00 Dr Aileen Alleyne & Jane Ryan
15.20 Discussion
15.30 Break
16.00 Eugene Ellis
16.45 Reflections and Responses
17.00 Eugene Ellis & Neil Altman
17.20 Discussion
17.30 Reflections and Responses
18.00 End

BOOKING CONDITIONS

Regrettably, refunds cannot be given in any circumstances except as follows:

  • You cancel in writing to info@confer.uk.com 60 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 100% refund.
  • You cancel in writing to info@confer.uk.com 30 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 50% refund.

This does not apply to parts of an event such as a seminar within a series but only to a whole event or complete series. You may give your place to another person if you let us know that person's name at least 24 hours before the event begins.

We reserve the right to change a speaker at one of our conferences without offering a refund. However, if a solo presenter cancels we will offer a full refund OR transfer of your fee to another Confer event. If the entire event is cancelled we will offer you a full refund.

We reserve the right to change our prices at any time. Regrettably, discounts offered after you made your booking cannot be claimed or applied retrospectively.