This guide is a powerful tool for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of belonging and cultivate practices that promote connection, empathy, and community.
It responds to some of the most consistent questions about belonging:
- Is belonging a destination, a practice, or both?
- How do we cultivate the skills, flexibility and muscle to make belonging real?
- How do we balance belonging in society at large, for ourselves, and in our relationships?
- How can we be in a consistent relationship and dialogue with the Institute?
Intended Audience
- People interested in facilitating belonging or about belonging in groups or organizations.
- People who are interested in a variety of learning modalities or adding new facilitation techniques to their toolbox.
Recommended Use
- One hour sessions where you want to explore different elements of belonging in an embodied, creative and dialogue-based format.
- For greatest impact, we recommend these as a series or with consistent repetition, but they can also be used as standalone sessions.
It has been developed by the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California. It comes from Belonging: a Weekly Practice Space (BaWPS), a weekly practice space hosted by the Othering and Belonging Institute – a space for reflection, movement and critical inquiry to stretch our own understandings and applications of belonging.
Contents
Belonging invites us to develop our skills in deep listening and curiosity.
- Introduction and Setting the Container
- Setting the (virtual) container
- Introductory Session #1: Belonging is Affective and Material
- Intermediate Session #2: Setting the (Virtual) Container Advanced
- Intermediate Session #3: Beginning to Bridge: Interdependence and Belong
- Advanced Session #4: Belonging is like a garden that benefits from continual relationship, nurture, and work.
- Advanced Session #5: Longer Bridges: What if We Called In, Rather Than Called Out?
Report Excerpts
Download Resource
Belonging: A Weekly Practice Facilitator & Practice Guide (PDF)
Explore Further
- Identity Groups to Build Diversity and Power
- Standing in Solidarity with People of Colour
- United We Stand: Fostering Cohesion in Activist Groups
- Othering & Belonging Institute