Cultivating Safe Spaces is a workshop that empowers organizations to put relationships first in order to successfully attain their goals.
Cultivating Safe Spaces delivers a framework that empowers organizations to make profound decolonial systems changes that promote strong relationships, diversity, inclusion, cultural and psychological safety, and employee wellness - allowing people to work from their best selves, effectively and productively.
If you have team members that tip-toe around each other because they don’t always get along, have communication challenges or have clashing values and worldviews, your organization will struggle to achieve it’s mission.
I can help.
Why does communication break down among well-meaning, hardworking people?
Because most workplaces are structured to prioritize productivity, revenue, or systemic policies and rules, and to put people second.
An organizational structure that feels impersonal and exclusive creates a culture that is fractured where:
People don’t feel motivated to do their best
People don’t want to take creative risks
People find it hard to get along with other team members
Organizations that fundamentally value the variety of backgrounds, stories, beliefs or perspectives of the people who make up the organization will thrive. At the heart of a high-functioning workplace is meaningful relationship:
Everyone wants to feel seen and heard.
Everyone wants to feel included, appreciated and respected.
Everyone wants to work in ways that feel natural and fun.
Everyone wants to feel safe so they can speak with ease.
If you’re a leader who knows that your team needs more tools and support and feels ready to bring positive systemic change to your organization—Cultivating Safe Spaces may be just what you’ve been looking for.
I’m Maureen Johnstone.
As a Certified Cultivating Safe Spaces (CSS) Facilitator, I deliver this unique and influential workshop to help shift the inclusion dynamics to make our work spaces safe and inspiring for all human beings.
What I love about the CSS model and its approach is its ability to humanize group environments quickly. Rooted in principles of reconciliation, people become more aware and intentional in creating spaces that feel safe, welcoming and engaging of everyone’s contributions.
This training aligns with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #92, which urges organizations to educate their management and staff on the effects of colonization on Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Benefits of Cultivating Safe Spaces workshops:
It puts people first in the workplace
It opens up communication between colleagues
It solves time-wasting and uncomfortable interpersonal friction
It gives people new tools for problem-solving
It decreases misunderstandings and toxicity
It empowers people to shine in their roles
It fosters new enthusiasm for the organization’s goals
It infuses compassion and empathy into the workplace.
A Cultivating Safe Spaces workshop guides people to a better understanding of themselves—of their deep rooted beliefs and perspectives and their unique needs for support and validation. Cultivating Safe Spaces empowers personal choice and prioritizes psychological well-being so that working together in collective spaces feels kinder and easier.
“Safety is the not absence of threat; it is the presence of connection.”
— Dr. Gabor Maté
In Cultivating Safe Spaces workshops, we promote:
…the safety to work from our natural perspectives, beliefs and strengths
…the authenticity to speak what's on our heart
…the growth and connection that stems from learning together
Responsibility lies with leaders in being vigilant about creating a culture in which people feel safe, seen, heard and respected.
This begins with deepening their identity as a leader, in cultivating safe space inside and out.
“I believe the best leaders honour all of who they are—where they’ve come from and what really matters.
The process and practice of cultivating a stronger relationship with yourself enables you to be in harmony with others.
The best leaders create a world where we can all live better together—and from here, reconciliation is possible.”
– Maureen Johnstone
I offer two customizable options for Cultivating Safe Spaces:
Half-Day
INTRODUCTION WORKSHOP
The half-day (3-hour, morning or afternoon) session is introductory in nature and interactively focuses on ‘understanding self’ and ‘perspectives.’
Full-Day
IMMERSION WORKSHOP
The full-day version expands to explore the necessary conditions for cultivating safe spaces along with the protocols that support inclusion, freedom, well-being, and validation.
This full-day session typically runs from 9 am - 4 pm.
I’d love to visit with you and answer your questions about bringing a Cultivating Safe Spaces workshop to your organization or business.
Elaine Alec is the innovator behind this innovative, decolonizing framework. Elaine belongs to the Syilx and Secwepemc Nations from the southern interior of British Columbia and Washington State and is the CEO of Naqsmist (nux-meest) which translates into “many coming together as one.”
To learn more about Elaine Alec and Cultivating Safe Spaces click here.