Workshops & Trainings
Learn with Us
In addition to public offerings, the Gandhi Institute offers learning experiences to groups of all kinds on a donation basis. We adjust the length and content of our offerings to best serve the groups with whom we work. Furthermore, we offer training to high school and university student groups and community groups.
Gandhi staff members are available to offer the following workshops designed to build critical skills. The cost of workshops are negotiated by the coordinators, but all contributions benefit the work of the Gandhi Institute.
If you would like to schedule a workshop or training, email gwen@gandhiinstitute.org.
For middle or high school students on Nonviolence in Action: This 75-minute webinar involves defining nonviolence, exploring different methods of nonviolence, understanding how Dr. King and Gandhi used nonviolence, and exploring how nonviolence may be applied to a school conflict. The webinar includes instructions for activities the classroom teacher can lead before the webinar to begin the discussion about violence and nonviolence with the students, as well as a digital copy of the webinar afterwards.
On one of the following: Rev. Martin Luther King’s Nonviolence Theory, Nonviolent Communication, Talking Circles, Conflict Resolution Skills.
Single or multiple sessions which include King’s nonviolence theory; conflict resolution skills; or a modified version of any of the offerings below.
Single or multiple sessions designed to introduce the principles and practices of nonviolence through experiential activities and group-based learning. Gandhi Institute staff and volunteers will lead exercises and present on topics that relate to current issues in participants’ lives. Participants will learn how to transform personal and social conflicts; develop techniques and strategies in nonviolent social resistance; be exposed to different forms of meditation; participate in a Talking Circle; and become familiar with the life and teachings of M.K. Gandhi and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. All offerings below are available for full-day workshops.
Workshop Topics
Cultural Humility
Cultural humility is a framework for supporting lifelong learning and reflection with the goal of influencing and addressing structural inequalities.
Through interactive exercises, this workshop will introduce and support understanding of a process-oriented mindset in relation to other cultures.
- Developed by a diverse group of health care providers during the 1990s, Cultural Humility is a discipline of seeking to understand in the spirit of inquiry and acceptance rather than from a sense of embarrassment or shame in relation to gaps in understanding.
- Cultural Humility perspectives seek to address issues related to unconscious bias and other perceptual and habitual challenges that prevent us from learning and seeing each other’s full humanity.
Conversations Through Tough Times
Whatever skills we bring to everyday communication sometimes desert us during challenging times.
This two hour online workshop uses experiential communication techniques to:
- Build empathy for others and ourselves when we’re stuck in challenging moments.
- Share best practices and ideas.
- Explore the concept of Intention vs. Impact.
- Discuss the role of rank in our lives.
- Build proactive systems so conflict can help bring us together rather than pushing us apart.
Conversation on Race / Conversation on Race & Poverty
How do you discuss race with colleagues, friends, and family?
Through whole-group and small-group discussions that are paired with interactive activities, we will explore:
- awareness of racial identity
- segregation in our individual lives
- practicing active listening skills
- finding ways to be more informed of racial privilege
Grief Cafe
“Grief is subversive, undermining the quiet agreement to behave and be in control of our emotions. It is an act of protest that declares our refusal to live numb and small” – Francis Weller
This workshop pulls from the work of Indigenous Elders, Francis Weller, and Joanna Macy to explore:
- How to share grief within a community
- Impacts of physical well-being
- strike a balance between silence, self reflection, and communal sharing
Let’s Talk About Hate
This workshop facilitates and exploration of this seldom discussed topic through a variety of perspectives and traditions.
Through interactive exercises and discussion, this two-hour session focuses on questions such as:
- What is hate?
- How does it shape our thoughts, identities, and communities?
- What can we do about it?
Student Conflict-Resolution Spaces
Could your school benefit from having a space where students can go to work through conflict?
Through this interactive workshop, you’ll learn about current programs that Gandhi Institute staff support in area schools, as well as ideas for how to create conflict-resolution spaces in your school.
You’ll learn about:
- Best practices for student conflict resolution spaces
- Systems where students and staff can learn and practice skills
- Responses to grief and trauma
- Systems for tracking data
- How the implementation of community building, mindfulness, peer mediation routines can support school climate work
Listening as an Act of Love & Social Change
Being able to listen and be heard is at the core of human relationships. Could you benefit from practicing your listening skills via verbal and nonverbal communication?
We’ll explore:
- strengthening empathic skills for yourself and others
- listening across differences/divisions
- practicing active listening skills
- finding ways to be more connected and collaborate with colleagues, family, and in other relationships
Student/PTO Fundraising Opportunity
The Gandhi Institute is currently selling Gandhi,The Man & The Movement card decks designed to teach information about Gandhi and nonviolence in a fun and interactive way. Each deck of 43 cards contains instructions for use for individuals, families, classrooms and other groups. Each deck sold yields $2.00 profit for school groups.
Workshop Feedback
“Through the teaching/instructing methods, our students are able to “let their guard down” and share each of their stories. We have watched our students interact with each other in positive and constructive ways, create new friendships, instill trust in themselves, their classmates, and YouthBuild staff. The experience students get during their Nonviolent Communication Training, with certainty, creates bonds lending to effective teamwork, communication, and leadership. The Gandhi Institute has not only proven to be a valuable resource to our organization, staff and students, but the community as a whole.”
-Nick Brown, Youth Build, Catholic Family Center
I recently attended the “Let’s Talk about Hate Workshop” … [which was an] exploration of the very difficult task of addressing not only hateful comments, but also of navigating the day to day challenges we face in achieving civil discourse in a divided nation. Throughout the seamless activities of the day, we were able to dive deep into understanding where our values are formed, the systems in place that feed discord, and positive actions we can take to bring empathy and healing. I also came away with resources for further exploration of the concepts we delved into during the workshop. This experience has filtered into both my personal interactions and my professional work as a teacher, particularly impacting my role as a facilitator for staff meetings around culturally responsive education and as a teacher leader for a student group centered around academic, mental and emotional support. Many thanks to Kit and the Gandhi Institute for this moving and insightful learning opportunity.
-Mary Callahan, Educator, Rochester NY