Unpacking The Inside Game of Unconscious Bias

Friday July 31, 2020   9:00-11:30 am EDT  Live Online

This training provides 2.5 contact hours of Continuing Education for Social Workers in NYS. CE Certificates will also be provided for professionals from other disciplines.

For this training, Lifestage is proud to partner with The Bolder Company, which works with organizations that are in acceleration mode and undergoing change, helping individuals and teams to make positive changes in their communication and behaviors through fully experiential, improvisation-based learning. All Bolder Company engagements move individuals towards mastery of essential, foundational workplace skills; listening, speaking up, taking ownership, and developing relationships.  These newly developed skills improve cooperation and collaboration and reduce stress and turnover.

Meaningful, enduring change involves mobilizing the power of the unconscious to positive ends. Social workers, counselors, coaches and others working to help individuals and communities shape their lives recognize the unconscious mind as a pervasive influence on perception and decision-making and the complexity of belief systems, defenses, and automatic/habitual thinking and behaviors. Whether working with individuals in 1:1 consultations, families, groups or communities, making the unconscious conscious is an ongoing process that expands the field of available choices. 

There is an important intersection of developing Emotional Intelligence competencies and the capacity to shift out of reactive behavior into making conscious responsive choices. When we are willing to examine our inner game of closely held beliefs without self-judgement, we open the door to self-discovery and opportunities for shifts in perspective and behavior. It’s in this space of curiosity and openness that authentic shifts with far-reaching impact are possible. 

This workshop is an opportunity to learn about a process of unpacking the unconscious biases that are an inescapable reality for human beings and gain a toolkit for understanding the filters that impact the capacity to listen, take in what other people are communicating and process new information in order to learn and grow. 

Using Applied Improvisation and other experiential exercises we will identify, acknowledge and examine biases and discover opportunities for reflection, sharing, and choice in a safe psychological space. There will be ample opportunities to debrief and discuss applications to practice.

Objectives:

Learn how to help clients track their own patterns of perception and behavior without self-judgement;

Identify core beliefs that form mental filters through which people view, interpret and judge themselves and others;

Learn 3 techniques for raising awareness of and examining unconscious bias;

Gain knowledge about positive, affirming experiential processes that reveal unconscious biases and can aid in realizing conscious shifts in thinking and attitudes;

INSTRUCTORS: 

Ellen Feldman Ornato, Founding Partner, Bolder Company Inc

Founding Partner Ellen Feldman Ornato has a diverse work background that includes stints as a city planner, an economic development official, and a marketing director in a large retail chain.  She is an entrepreneur at heart and owned a learning company and a marketing & public relations agency prior to launching Bolder Company with Jenny Drescher in 2014. 

Ellen has extensive experience working with manufacturers, building essential supervisory and leadership skills with rising leaders. She is bilingual (English/Spanish) and blends her knowledge of Unconscious Bias, DiSC®, and other leadership content with a wide variety of experiential methods that make learning stick.

Jenny Drescher, Founding Partner, Bolder Company Inc

Jenny Drescher is an invigorating speaker and coach with a bold, funny style. An accomplished performance Improviser, instructional designer, and candid-yet-kind facilitator, she draws out courage and playfulness in her audiences and students. She delights in guiding people to break free of patterns that hold them back and liberate the powerful leader within.

 Jenny has 10+ years of coaching and training experience in workplaces, service agencies, and schools. Jenny’s corporate work background includes inside and outside sales, customer service and account management. She has been a certified coach since 2007.

Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, CGP, CPAI

President of Lifestage, Inc a training/consulting company based in Smithtown, NY, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Group Psychotherapist, Certified Practitioner of Applied Improvisation and creative arts therapist, with 30 years experience as a clinician and trainer working in every area of mental health. She speaks and presents on topics related to creativity, creative/experiential methods, storytelling and Applied Improvisation in the process of learning and change for individuals, organizations and communities around the country. She is published in the international Journal of Arts In Psychotherapy Special Issue on Addictions and Special Issue on HIV/AIDS, Music Therapy Perspectives, The Recovery Press, Clinical Social Work, Entrepreneur, and writes for medium.com where her pieces have been featured on The Start-Up and has been interviewed for NBC News, The New York Daily News, VICE, Newsday, LA Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, Women's Day and many others. A new website: www.lifestagetraining.com is in development, so follow Lifestage on Facebook and Instagram for updates about workshops and events.