TESTIMONIALS

Former Chief Marketing Officer at Santander Bank US

by Chief Marketing Officer - Jennifer Mathissen

"Thank you for helping me grow so I can help others!"

Founder of States Strategies - A Government Relations Firm

by Founder - Ab Basu

"Birungi, thanks so much for an insightful course. Not only did I learn a lot, but I found myself actively looking for more information by the authors we covered. Sessions which forced me to think and perhaps even re-think certain things were definitely valuable to me."

Director of Calvin Hill Day Care Center at YALE University

by Director - Susan Taddei

"I am Susan Andrews Taddei, Mount Holyoke College - Class of 1991, Psychology and Elementary Education major. I am the Director of one of the YALE University's childcare programs, where we are doing our very best to build community among a diverse group of young families and create a better world, one three-year-old at a time. This was the second series I have done with Birungi Ives. As a teacher myself, I appreciate that Birungi respects the learning process. I never felt ashamed for not knowing something yesterday. I only felt encouragement while learning something new. I experienced many "A-ha!" moments as I went through the materials for each session. I loved that Birungi shared her own "A-ha!" moments with us! She established a group environment that enabled us all to be honest and vulnerable. She inspires me to continue my own learning about anti-racism and implicit bias."

Educational Developer MA, PHD at Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

by Doctor - Alexandra D'Urso

"I am so grateful to Birungi for having invited me back after having participated in her anti-racist workshop last summer. As a workshop facilitator, Birungi was warm, honest, encouraging, extremely knowledgeable, and resourceful in putting together the curriculum for the target group. Birungi recreated the positive, focused, and intellectually stimulating environment of a Mount Holyoke College classroom, and it was personally and professionally rewarding to learn with and from her. For a little background, I am MHC class of 2003 and have advanced degrees in Applied Linguistics and Curriculum and Instruction. I work as an educational developer at a highly ranked Swedish University for Life Sciences. My unit's tasks are to help implement Swedish government educational policy at the university and department levels, develop pedagogical courses and workshops for university faculty. I am a group coordinator for a five-year capacity building project on research supervision and generic skills training with another Swedish University and a University in Mozambique. Working with curriculum development in higher education, it is absolutely essential for me as a white American to continuously unpack my many privileges and learn from and with others- especially from people and perspectives often sidelined from decision-making processes in higher education. I have been trying to get university-wide support for anti-racist pedagogy training over here, and after having participated in Birungi's excellent training, I was well-positioned to not only insist upon the necessity of this work, but also ensure its ongoing status in my own context."

Lead Pastor - United Methodist Church

by Pastor - Margaret Gillikin

"As the lead pastor for a large, progressive United Methodist church located in Montana's capital, much of the work I do is oriented to educating church members and equipping them to put their faith into action. The antiracism work we do is primarily oriented to assisting people in doing meaningful advocacy work with the State Legislature and for developing antiracist, respectful partnerships with our Native American neighbors. Many, if not most, of my parishioners occupy significant roles of power, responsibility and privilege in this community. My purpose for participating in this mini-workshop was to further resource myself, in order to resource them in being allies who genuinely walk the walk. The materials offered in this workshop offered a helpful balance of challenge to examine the world newly as well as for personal reflection. The premise that racism inflicts trauma upon ALL people, regardless of role, is a key distinction that I've gotten nowhere else in the reading and training I've engaged over the past year. I find this helpful as it opens a window for compassion that otherwise might be slammed shut. Understanding that the reluctance / refusal of some white people to acknowledge the harm of racism is a form of denial and thus a self-protective response born of trauma creates space for approaching this work from a perspective of healing rather than judgment. It doesn't lessen the depth of work to do, but lowers initial barriers so that it can be done at all. I found this program to be very helpful and recommend it."

Director of Partnerships and Community Programs at Single Stop

by Director - Jen Schumacher-Kocik

"Birungi's workshop is an excellent example of the strength of these communities - not only in the caliber of the materials and Birungi's facilitation, but also in people's willingness to challenge themselves. I too did not know anyone in the workshop, but found it to be a safe space. It is important to acknowledge and reflect on race and trauma, however I have found very few settings where I was able to have this level of conversation in a thoughtful and supportive way. Birungi's workshop was the step I needed in my personal journey ... "

PEOPLE OF SCIENCE INTERVIEW

with Science is US

People of Science: Birungi Ives, Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Integration Specialist, Strategist, and Founder of ALIGNE Consulting (Kentucky) - “I developed an anti-racism program called, ‘The Path to an Anti-racist Society’. It’s my signature workshop that offers a transformative, interactive and practical training session for individuals and organizations wanting to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive society that’s EFFECTIVE..."
Click to Read

SACRED CHANGEMAKERS PODCAST

Episode #45

I welcome you to listen to this latest podcast interview with Jayne Warrilow of Sacred Changemakers about my diversity and inclusion work! ENJOY!
Click to Listen

AWAREPRENEURS PODCAST

Episode #164

Want to learn why I developed my successful Anti-Racism workshop and how I got here? Then, listen to my AWAREPRENEURS podcast interview today! Interviewed by Paul Zelizer, he has me take a deep dive into why this workshop upends typical diversity trainings and takes participants to places they never thought they had to go to bring racism to an end!
Click to Listen
Awarepreneurs Podcaset featuring Birungi Ives

SHAME, PAIN, and ACCOUNTABILITY: A Path to Healing the Emotional, Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Impact of Racism


After the "Path to an Anti-Racist Society" workshop, this is the next step on the journey to an equal society for all!

This workshop provides a space for participants to be deeply vulnerable and navigate the varied impact spurred by racial trauma, narrative trauma, and systemic racism-at-large. 

Expert speakers guide participants through the emotional, mental, spiritual (a non-religious affiliated approach to spirituality), and physical impact of Racism. In their area of expertise, each speaker provides participants a deeper understanding and self-awareness accompanied by skills, tools, and actions to heal this impact beyond the workshop.

This workshop is a total of 4 sessions with a duration of 2-hours each. Typically, the workshop would span over a period of four weeks. However, there is flexibility for corporate/organization scheduling. 

A week prior, participants receive a list of resources and an assignment to be reviewed and completed in preparation for each corresponding session. Each speaker leads a talk for up to 1-hour at one of the four sessions. The remaining time in the session is for group discussion.  

Currently, sessions are conducted virtually. All sessions are recorded. If you are unable to attend any of the dates, a recording of each session is made available to current participants.


SPEAKERS

Ssanyu Nutt-Birigwa - M.A. in Narrative Medicine

Narrative Medicine Professor - Ssanyu Nutt-Birigwa  is a deeply spiritual soul, who makes you feel at peace from the moment you sense her presence. Her Ugandan ancestral Shamanic Bone Healing Medicine combined with scholarly and clinical work during her time as a master's student in the department of Narrative Medicine, has informed the development of the Pause3TM method. Her mission is to teach this one-of-a-kind, person centered, integrative approach to conscious well-being and holistic health through mindset meditation, spirituality, energy healing, breath work, movement, and narrative. She is also the co-founder of Narrative Bridge, a firm that creates lectures, workshops, support groups, and programs for institutions of higher learning and organizations looking to improve their empathetic communication skills in a radical way. An adjunct professor in the department of Narrative Medicine (Columbia University) and lecturer of Spirituality and Health at (Columbia Medical Center), Ssanyu ultimately believes we can use our personal stories of pain, illness, suffering and trauma, these embodied experiences that often escape description, into meaning to heal.



Elizabeth Wilkins-McKee, LCSW - Licensed Psychotherapist


Elizabeth Wilkins-McKee, MSW, LCSW, a therapist in private practice. She is a fierce believer in the power of self-compassion, and a practitioner committed to  working with families and moms struggling with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders as well as infant loss. Her advocacy work focuses on maternal health disparities in the Black community, both locally and at the state level. As a board member and Vice Chair for Postpartum Support VA, an organization radically shifting their “white facing identity,” she is proud to participate in the transformation to applying an intentionally anti-racist lens to the work of maternal mental health. Ms. Wilkins-McKee facilitates workshops on the treatment of perinatal disorders and antiracist practice. She is currently co-creating a workbook that highlights the stories and realities Black mothers and families face and offers assistance for those dealing with perinatal health and mental health. Ms. Wilkins-McKee is the parent of a spirited teenage daughter and adventurous 11-year old son who keep her in-touch in all things "cool" and GenZ. (She still equally clueless about TikTok is and current fashion trends for young people, however!) 


Dr. Mukasa Mubirumusoke, PhD. - Professor at Claremont McKenna College

Dr. Mubirumusoke received his a Master degree in Philosophy from Boston College and his Doctorate in Philosophy at Emory University. 

Currently, Dr. Mubirumusoke is a professor at Claremont McKenna College. His classes include: Introduction to Africana studies; Africana Philosophy; Afropessimism; and The Politics of Hope.





John T. Wilkins, MD - Cardiologist and Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine


John T. Wilkins, MD, is a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine and an associate professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. As part of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Dr. Wilkins specializes in cardiovascular disease prevention, family history of heart disease, lipid abnormalities, hypertension management as well as general cardiology. In his research, he studies the epidemiology of numerous factors which may influence the evolution of cardiovascular risk factors from young adulthood to older ages.




*Note: The full curriculum for this course is only provided for enrolled students.


For more information about workshop content, please reach us at [email protected] 

Founder of ALIGNE

Birungi Ives

Birungi Ives, the founder of Aligne Consulting. She brings to Aligne Academy the highest level of expertise, global experience, and established relationships with internationally renowned brands, individuals, and organizations. Ives graduated with an Interdisciplinary degree in both African and African-American studies from Mount Holyoke College in 1996. The first professional position of her career, she served as the communication liaison between the Afro-Caribbean community and Nottingham City Council in Nottingham, England. It has been her purpose to communicate on behalf of marginalized communities to date. Ives' workshops lead participants to a deeper understanding of how Racism manifests in our society in overt and covert ways. Participants continue on a path of healing the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual (a non-religiously affiliated approach to spirituality) impacts of Racism on all of us. Participants have included executive leadership and employee populations at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, CVS HEALTH, Santander Bank, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

MORE WORKSHOPS

On the Path to an Equal Society for All