Emily Graham (they/them)

Systems of carcerality (like the US prison system) teach us that accountability is achieved through punishment. This easily seeps into our relationships and can disrupt our capacity to practice accountability with each other in a way that restores balance, equity, and justice. Since - despite our best efforts - incurring/causing harm is inevitable in our relationships, this Liberated Accountability is a crucial skill to learn. This interactive workshop will explore new understandings of Liberated Accountability, and how to navigate it as a person who has experienced harm and as someone who has caused harm. We will discuss relevant communication skills, as well as the role of personalized, embodied apologies to create meaningful repair. Each participant will also receive a Found Family Discussion Guide and Integration Exercises to take home.

In so many ways, we are taught to control each other and situations as a means of gaining a perceived sense of safety. We try to use control to feel connected to each other, but this ultimately inhibits secure connection. In this interactive workshop, we will reconceptualize control across levels of experience from personal (codependence) to systemic (neoliberal myths), as well as explore practical skills around boundaries (vs expectations vs rules vs agreements). By identifying our own attempts to control, we can discover how to move away from this misguided attempt to connect and back into alignment with secure and sustainable ways to be in relationship. Each participant will also receive a Found Family Discussion Guide and Integration Exercises to take home.