Social justice work demands navigating complexity, holding contradictions and remaining present with suffering while maintaining clarity and compassion. This three-session module integrates polyvagal theory, somatic practice and reflective inquiry to explore how tending to internal states directly influences capacity for external change. Through accessible psychoeducation, embodied practices and witnessing in small groups, participants will develop practical tools for regulation under pressure, examine the narratives shaping their work and discover how a resourced nervous system opens new responses to systemic contradictions.
Detailed Description
The module builds progressively across three sessions. In the first session, participants learn to recognise their nervous system states and practice accessing regulation when under pressure, reconnecting with the values that drive their work. The second session explores how physiological state shapes the stories we tell about ourselves and our work, and how those stories, in turn, influence our state. The final session brings participants into direct contact with the double binds inherent in social justice practice, discovering how staying regulated in the face of impossible choices opens new possibilities that transcend either/or thinking. Each session deepens participants' capacity to tend to their internal experience as a resource for sustained, values-led engagement in systems change.
Dates: Spread across 3 sessions, 28 April, 5 May and 12 May, 2pm-3.30pm
Targeted at: practitioners and leaders across all sectors committed to social justice and social change.
For enquiries please contact us at socialchangehub@sussex.ac.uk.
Please read out terms and conditions and cancellation policy on Sussex Social Change Hub website.
