Preventing domestic violence within collectivist cultures: A community-based well-being group for men.

The Men's Well-being Group (WBG) offers a 10-session community-based, peer- support program to foster men's mental health, healthy relationship skills, and build commitment to violence prevention. Emerging from Calgary’s Latino community, a facilitator training program was delivered by the Alberta Men’s Network in the summer of 2022, which included four additional ethno-cultural communities. Through a partnership with the University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work, community based participatory action research was used to evaluate the facilitator training and included surveys, focus groups, and narrative interviews. The community leaders (N=8) from diverse ethnocultural communities who completed the facilitator training provided their insights and recommendations on the adaptability and relevance of the WBG to their own cultural and faith communities. All of the participants shared that providing men with culturally appropriate spaces is essential to enhancing their well-being and fostering healthy relationships. According to the men’s evaluations, community leaders were able to build ties with other men and help reduce barriers faced by isolated men when seeking support. This poster provides an overview of the Well-Being Group will be shared, as well as the implications of community-based interventions for well-being that utilize practices that are culturally relevant.

Presenters:

Noemi Ramirez Escobar, BSW Student, University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work
Sarah Thomas, BSW, Project Coordinator, University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work

Arya Boustani, Community Leader

Liza Lorenzetti, Ph.D, Project Lead, University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work

Sebastian Benavides, Community Leader
Kamal Khatiwada, Community Leader
Jun Naraval, Community Leader

Badri Karki, Community Leader
Jeff Halvorsen, Ph.D, Research Coordinator, University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work

White Men Learning to Ally: Infographic Series

Six white men who were identified by Black, Indigenous, and racialized community leaders as allies participated in life history interviews and focus groups to share how they came to aspire to allyship and build trust. Together, we synthesized three themes: (1) Starting points: white men’s early experiences that made them open to learning more about joining social justice groups; (2) Becoming a white male ally: a look at the processes through which some white men came to join social justice groups; and (3) Six relationships of white men’s allyship: the relationships that men practice allyship in. The series is meant as a resource for social justice groups to share with white men seeking allyship, and for white men seeking allyship to process and reflect on how they may show up in these spaces.

By Jeff Halvorsen, Lemlem Haile, Fanny Oliphant, and Liza Lorenzetti.

Acknowledgements to the community leaders who contributed to this work, Pamela Beebe, Lemlem Haile, Omer Jamal, Abbas Mancey, Fanny Oliphant, Kamal Sehgal, and Adrian Wolfleg, and to white men aspiring to allyship (Ryan, Will Tabak, Doug Murphy, Phil, Jerry, and Perry Stein.

Suggested Citation: Halvorsen, J., Haile, L., Oliphant, F., & Lorenzetti, L., (2023). White Men Learning to Ally: Infographic Series. University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work.

Community Leaders Perspectives on White Men’s Allyship: Infographic Series

In a series of focus groups, seven community leaders including Black, Indigenous, and racialized people outlined their expectations of white men aspiring to allyship. Together, we synthesized these insights into three themes: (1) Resisting oppression: white men need to first understand that oppression is urgent, everywhere, and often invisible and taken-for-granted by white men; (2) Constructing white men: community leaders took the “power to define” and defined whiteness as a structural system, how white men are created by these systems, and the challenges this creates for white men aspiring to allyship; and (3) Expectations of white men seeking allyship to undo, learn & listen, commit, and act. The series is meant as a resource for social justice groups to share with white men seeking allyship, and for white men seeking allyship to process and reflect on how they may show up in these spaces.

Co-Authors: Jeff Halvorsen, Pam Beebe, Lemlem Haile, Omer Jamal, Fanny Oliphant, Abbas Mancey, Kamal Sehgal, Adrian Wolfleg, & Liza Lorenzetti.

Suggested Citation: Halvorsen, J., Beebe, P., Haile, L., Jamal, O., Oliphant, F., Mancey, A., Sehgal, K., Wolfleg, A., & Lorenzetti, L., (2023). Community Leaders Perspectives on White Men’s Allyship: Infographic Series. University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work.