[Kari Alston]

In my personal life I plan to be more watchful of the trauma I allow into my life and that of my children through our exposure to the news and other media outlets. I didn’t realize the harm it imposed on our mental wellbeing and that or my community members.

I also intend to use some of the information in this section to assist my participants in coping with so much. I feel that there is a lot of power in being able to identify and name the problem. I say “if you can name it, claim it, then you can tame it and change it”.

I am also very interested in the decolonized approach to psychology.

Overall, this speakier was amazing and really spoke to me. She gave me a lot to think about and a lot to work with.

[Kari Alston]

My name is Kari Alston with Common Wealth Development. I am the Adult Workforce Development Coordinator and I work with a extremly vulnerable population. Racially, I identify with my participants and have many shared experiences with them. A major take away though is that maybe to me we’re the same, but if I reverse where I am standing using the privilege/oppression model, I have to acknowledge that through there eyes, I am not so similar and maybe do not identify with them as closly as I imagined. This is a place for adjustment in my approach.

[Kari Alston]

My name is Kari and I work with Common Wealth Development as the Adult Workforce Development Coordinator. My participants tend to be of the most vulnerable populations struggling to overcome these very real barriers. At the front line it’s sometimes unbearable to witness so many obstacles out of their control in their way but going through the training reminds me that I am that voice for those I serve to challenge and remove as many barriers as i can so that they may finally be able to find a little peace and pride in who they are and how far they’ve come.