FAQ
Q. What does ar-tic stand for?
A. Anti-Racist Trauma-Informed Care
Q. How is that different from regular trauma-informed care?
A. Typically, trauma-informed care models make little to no mention of the particular traumas related to being black and brown skinned in America. These traumas are deeply impactful, and deserve more than a single slide mention in a powerpoint presentation. Black and brown folks often receive the worst quality care in social service and healthcare systems. If we are to change this paradigm, we need to build trainings and programs that center black and brown folx.
Q. How did rebecca and shea meet?
A. We were colleagues while working with youth in foster care, and discovered a shared passion for real equity.
Q. I didn’t want to bring it up, but shea is white…what’s a white person doing here?
A. You noticed! See? Color blindness isn’t a thing. Shea IS a white person. That’s true. She’s a wonderful example of a white person who is committed to being a true ally to communities of color.
Q. I’ve taken all of the equity and diversity trainings possible. What is ar-tic going to provide me that i haven’t learned elsewhere?
A. ar-tic isn’t focused on providing introductory, ground level trainings on the definition of racism, equity vs. equality, etc. There are amazing trainings that provide that kind of education. We’ve attended a whole bunch of them, and we love and support them. ar-tic is specifically for people who have taken other trainings, and are ready to move onto the next level. We want to work with folx who are ready to get in the mud and wrestle with how to create an organization that is anti-racist and trauma-informed.
Q. I haven’t done any equity or inclusion work. I guess ar-tic isn’t for me, then.
A. It can be! Reach out to us, and let us know what it is you need. You don’t have to have taken all of the trainings in the world to be ready to get muddy. You just have to be ready to get muddy.
Q. I really want to take a training with you but I’m not seeing any trainings listed currently. When is your next one?
A. The best way to get that information is to join our mailing list. We actually very rarely do trainings open to the general public anymore. Not because we don’t love them! But because we are extremely busy people, and we do tons of behind the scenes work with lots of very cool organizations. If you join the mailing list, we promise we won’t spam you (generally we email at most once every 2-3 months) and you’ll get first dibs on getting into a public training.
Q. I’m scrolling through your website and i’m not seeing all the training offerings you have (and I know this because I heard about you from someone I know who has a partnership with you already/we did a consultation). What gives?
A. Well, we get it. Websites are easy and convenient. They also (in this case) represent one of the White Supremacist Values we talk about so often- worship of the written word. Specifically at this moment, the assumption or belief that we’re somehow less professional because our website isn’t perfect. It’s the same thing that happens when people find typos in slideshows.
Let us take this moment to remind you: professionalism is forced assimilation. Tell the others.
Now, we’re not avoiding updating our website as a statement against white supremacy and capitalism, although that does sound like a great idea now that we consider it. However, we don’t update it all that often because we’re actually out in the world doing the work. We have less time to talk about it because we are being about it, so to speak. So yeah. Over the past few years we’ve invented a TON of cool stuff that just never made it on the website. It’s in progress. And your feelings about that really say more about you than it does about us. ;) Isn’t white supremacy just bonkers?