“all models are wrong, but some are useful.”
~george box, statistician

 

what if we treated racism, sexism—all the -isms of inequity—even ecological disregard, as social addictions?

Spiral-Staircase-Arrows
think of beloved community as a spiraling staircase climbing toward a more just society. each major move depicted is foundational to the ones above it
in his book BETTER: Waking Up to Who We Could Be, principal collabyrinth consultant melvin bray describes beloved community—another way of saying equity/diversity/inclusion—”as more of a twelve-step program than a semester-length seminar. you [don’t get to] know all the right stuff and never get around to practicing it.” in facilitation, melvin goes a step further to describe beloved community as requiring four behavioral gains—critical analysis, self-awareness, cultural competence and better practices, which happen to be the same major moves toward recovery made in a 12-step program.

this suggests not only is it possible to recover from supremacist logics and the systems of inequity that concretize them, but we are already familiar with the path to recovery. using the classic AA framing as a starting point, melvin has articulated below specific steps important to each major move toward recovery. each step deals with actions, not feelings, with the expectation that finally doing well toward one another will eventually engender the positive feelings so many seek. and if not, doing better will at least create a world worth our feeling better about.

in an effort to support communities and organizations that want to use the Beloved Community 12-Step Model (below) in pursuit of equity/diversity/inclusion, collabyrinth provides professional services relative to the anti-oppression work of critical analysis, self-awareness, cultural competence, and better practice. our hope is that the 12-steps framework, coupled with the scholarly expertise, moral insight, and facilitation skill our team can provide, will finally move your community of goodwill into the better it wants to achieve. read on below and click each link above to learn more about the road to recovery for both individuals and institutions.

 

recommendation

in starting your journey, we first recommend the 12 STEPS TOWARD BELOVED COMMUNITY WORKSHOP. this interactive seminar allows communities that want to get a better sense of the 12-steps to play with the stuff of each before taking the plunge. the full workshop takes 2 days. a 1-day learning lab that focuses on steps 1/2/11 or 4-5/8-9 is also available. contact us for pricing.

 

beloved community 12-step model

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