We are excited to announce the launch of our new Community section on the DDP Network website.
The section brings together our ongoing work to reach out to and engage with all members of our community. It is a part of DDPI and DDP Connects UK’s joint commitment to social justice and equity for all.
Currently, biases exist within DDP and its structures that have created barriers to people of colour, those from the LGBTQ+ community and non-abled-bodied people. We must make DDP a more compassionate and safe space for all professionals, parents, carers and children.
To make meaningful change we need to recognise the problems and address them. This work started with the formation of the Racial Equity Social Justice (RESJ) Committee, announced in June 2020.
The RESJ aims to educate the community about social justice, racial equity, heterosexism, implicit bias and the impact that they have on how we relate to one another. This includes all the many ways we communicate with the families we work with, how we teach training participants and, certify and supervise members to name but a few.
Ensuring people are seen and heard is vitally important and the RESJ aims to embed these experiences from the global DDP community in all levels and areas of DDP. Our services, training materials, leadership and membership relations for example, should be fit for purpose and “culturally and racially competent”.
One of the first steps has been the role out of the Racial Equity workshop series to be led by Dr Nikkia Young. Members from the DDPI and DDP Connects UK Boards, DDP Trainers, Consultants, Practitioners, those in training, DDPI and DDP Connects UK support staff, and members of the RESJ will all be attending the workshops, running throughout 2021.
Every month, we will publish a new Reflective Article by an attendee to keep you informed of the work that we’re doing and also to put these issues in a more personal context. Very often we believe that we’re alone in our experiences and worries, we hope these reflections will in part reassure you and let you know that we’re listening.
Our Global Development Committee is also represented in our new Community section. The committee supports professionals from around the world to access training, supervision and certification when they have little support in their own country. The work they do will inform how we support our global community and intersect well with our efforts to speak with and raise up our members.
The RESJ Committee and Global Development Committee will be working together in partnership towards the same goals.
This work is ongoing and we aim to embed the findings into all aspects of DDP, DDPI and DDP Connects UK from now on. We need to start the “difficult and necessary conversations about race, sexuality, gender, power and privilege”.
If you’d like more information about this exciting change or if you’d like to get involved please contact the DDPI leads Shani Sephton, shani@holisticattachmentservices.com and Courtney Rennicke courtney.rennicke@ddpnetwork.org
“Inherent in the values of DDP, embedded in the PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy) stance is our core belief that all people must be treated with dignity, compassion and respect.”
– DDPI Diversity Statement
You can hear more about the RESJ Committee from Shani Sephton, the Committee Chair, in the video below from the online DDPI AGM in November 2020.
Unless otherwise specified, quotes are from Shani Sephton on the introduction of the RESJ Committee.
