Skip to content
View menu
Sterling College
Log in
Change Shaping Calendar view

Showing Up for Change


Class
Quantity
For someone else
Quantity
For someone else
No access code required
Enroll

Develop the skills and tools to unpack and manage the ways individual traumas and nervous systems shape who we are in community and in social movements

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Stepping into community and movement space means making sense of who we are and why we are there. The goal of this course is to prepare community builders and movement change makers to step into the arena with some basic personal questions answered: Who am I in this space, what do I want to offer, what will I learn, and how do I want to change the world around me in a way only I can do? In this course, learners will move through positionality, values, communication, and listening styles and get a brief intro to the self in community.    We are often thrust into change without being able to make decisions about how we shape it. This course will give us the tools to know ourselves better and gently shape the changes we are called to make.

 

 

Learning Objectives:

This course provides an opportunity for learners to develop the skills and tools to unpack and manage the ways individual traumas and nervous systems shape who they are in community and in social movements.

 

This course was created through and is part of :

COURSE-AT-A-GLANCE

Showing Up for Change is one of five (5) thoughtfully and intentionally created courses that feature the voice of experienced, well-learned and inspirational movement builder and activist, Fatuma Emmad, in addition to readings, videos, and discussions forums.

The topical overview of the course below provides an early taste of what you can expect as you embark on this 9 module learning journey.

Module 1: Journaling as a Tool for Self-Understanding and Grounding

Module 2: Who am I in Community?

Module 3: Values - Learning What They are and How They Impact Action

Module 4: Attachment Theory and Interpersonal Neurobiology

Module 5: Calming Your Vagus Nerve and Being Present

Module 6: Leadership and Fellowship

Module 7: What is the Change I Want To Be? Vision for Life as a Change Agent

Module 8: Change Agent Impact Statement

Module 9: Shaping Change

                AUDIENCE

                This course is designed for:

                • established and budding activists, organizers, community leaders, and coalition-builders;
                • leaders, staff, and volunteers affiliated with organizations making change within their spheres or seeking to have greater impact in the wider world;
                • anyone interested in building stronger and more resilient communities;
                • anyone who wants to pause and consider what is needed psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually to feel resourced and prepared to find their place and purpose in challenging times.

                COURSE FEE

                The total and regular cost for this course is $150.  This fee includes the cost of course tuition and materials.

                LEAD CREATOR

                Michelle Auerbach (she/her) is a world builder and  community maker who uses all her geeky skills to support and educate change shapers. She works toward a  more just and loving place where more people get taken care of better. Michelle works as a consultant, educator, and writer focused on change shaping, creativity, and leadership for individuals, organizations, and communities.

                Michelle has been studying change and developing her change shaping practice for over 40 years. She has worked with institutions (the NY City Department of Health, Kaiser Permanente, and The National Institutes of Health), organizations (from Fortune 50 companies to NGOs and nonprofits) and communities (through activist movements, consulting, designing change processes and facilitating), and she creates communications and storytelling strategies for universities, legislative change groups, and pro-social businesses. 

                Michelle was trained in facilitation and change management as well as individual and group coaching at the Columbia University School of Public Health, Kaiser Permanente, and the New York City Department of Health as well as through movements and teachers on the ground.  She was a professor of Ancient World Languages and Humanities for a decade and served as chair of the Arts and Humanities discipline for the State of Colorado Department of Higher Education. Currently, she teaches communication and story for changemakers at The University of Colorado and Sterling College. 

                Michelle was also trained as a chef in New York City at the Natural Gourmet, where she studied nutrition, Chinese medicinal cookery, and healing traditions as well as studying pastry at Peter Kump’s Institute for Culinary Education. She worked in restaurants and has done food writing for the New York Times, the London Guardian, and Sunset magazine as well as other outlets. MIchelle has a particular passion for supporting food sustainability and justice.  

                Michelle’s PhD dissertation was written on story as a trauma sensitive change technology for individuals, organizations, and communities. She studies the way we respond to change from  wisdom traditions that go back 6000 years to the neurobiology that drives our connected selves. Her book, Resilience: The Life Saving Skill of Story came out in 2022 and her second book on change shaping and storytelling is due out in 2023. If you want to read her novels or her nonfiction you can find it, and more of her writing at www.michelleauerbach.com.

                Agreements & Terms

                 

                Enrollment provides access for one year and represents an annual commitment. There are no refunds. If you decide to stop participating in a course or certificate program, you remain responsible for completing any remaining payments on your payment plan in full.

                To participate in any learning community spaces (such as discussion boards and videoconferences), you agree to follow Sterling College’s Code of Online Conduct.You also agree not to reproduce or circulate proprietary materials from this program.

                You agree to respect the identities, privacy, and confidentiality of other learners in this program and will not share screenshots, recordings or information disclosed in our learning community spaces with other parties. To foster a dignified, respectful, brave space and model accountability, learners who do not uphold these requirements may have their access revoked without refund.

                 

                Course descriptions on this webpage are for informational purposes only. Content may be updated or changed as planning evolves. Sterling College reserves the right to alter the program specifics, including details about course content, instructors, collaborations, field trips, facilities and pricing, at any time without notice. 

                Here is the class outline:

                Course Introduction

                Welcome to Showing Up for Change! In this module you'll find introductions to the course and your instructor, as well as some advice on navigating NEO.

                Module 1: Journaling as a Tool for Self-Understanding and Grounding

                Journaling is both a skill and a tool that helps to organize and support movement and community work as well as to support you as you learn and change.

                Module 2: Who am I in Community?

                In this module, you will read about the idea of positionality, and you will take some time to create a map for yourself of who you are and where you sit in relation to the work you want to do, and the communities you want to build or strengthen.

                Module 3: Values - Learning What They are and How They Impact Action

                In this module, we will read about the Values Circumplex and begin to think about your values, your community values, and the values of the people who do not agree with you. This is a theoretical view and one that can grant some perspective specifically because it creates distance between your feelings and your actions.

                Module 4: Attachment Theory and Interpersonal Neurobiology

                This is a module on what might be going on inside of us when we work in community. Why are we even looking at this deeply psychological theory about human attachment as we talk about communities and movements? We look at attachment theory because these are the hidden drivers for much of our behavior when it comes to being in community with other people.

                Module 5: Calming Your Vagus Nerve and Being Present

                In this module, you will learn about how our nervous systems work, the basics of a theory called Polyvagal Theory, from Dr. Stephen Porges, who created it, and what that means for working with yourself when you are in community and feeling unsafe or you know someone else is feeling unsafe.

                Module 6: Leadership and Followership

                In this module, you will get a chance to turn what you know about leadership on its head. The idea that everyone is a leader is both true and untrue at the same time.

                Module 7: What is the Change I Want to Be? Vision for Life as a Change Agent

                As you move into community and movement work, you need to know the impact you want to make. This module will give you time to think about what that impact may be. You will also be able to see what skills you have and how the changes you make are a meeting of the needs of the world and your greatest gifts.

                Module 8: Change Agent Impact Statement

                Impact statements are common for research and for proposals for things like roads and bridges, or changes to tax law. But we do not think about it when we are not applying for the grant or working with governments or regulatory bodies. However, doing them can feel dry and uninteresting.

                Module 9: Shaping Change

                We are the change shapers and the culture makers. Before you got this far, you were shaping the change in your world. This module will help you see that practice in a new way, informed by both the world and by the science fiction and cultural visionary, Octavia Butler.