Dismantling Systemic Oppression: A Satir Lens
Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training
➤ When: April 23–24, 2027
➤Time: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM both days
➤Where: Sancar Turkish Cultural Center, Chapel Hill, NC
➤NBCC: NBCC Eligible Event
➤Facilitators: Lutricia Callair, LCSW & J. Hugh Gratz, LCSW (retired)
Two days to examine what you carry, what you've inherited, and what becomes possible when you meet it with awareness instead of avoidance.
Most of us learned to talk about oppression before we ever learned to look at how it lives in us — in our families, our nervous systems, the stories we inherited without choosing them. This training starts there instead.
Using Virginia Satir's models — family of origin work, the Iceberg, congruence, the change process — you'll explore your own history as the starting point, not a footnote. This isn't a training where you arrive already fluent and get evaluated on it. It's a container built for honest, sometimes clumsy, always human exploration.
You'll leave with:
A working understanding of how systemic oppression takes root historically and how it shows up personally, relationally, and generationally
Practical tools — grounded in Satir's family systems model — for staying present and congruent in difficult conversations about race, identity, and power
A clearer map of your own family-of-origin patterns around difference, silence, and injustice
Language and frameworks you can carry directly into your clinical, organizational, or personal relationships
What Makes This Different
Tools, not just awareness. Most trainings on this subject leave you more informed and no more equipped. This one is built so you leave with both — knowledge, and practical tools you can actually use.
A container built for honesty. You don't have to arrive with the right language already polished. This is a space to learn and explore with grace, without the fear of getting it wrong in front of the room.
Satir as the foundation, not a metaphor bolted on. You'll work directly with Satir's change process, the SEED model, and family-of-origin mapping — applied specifically to how oppression is transmitted, absorbed, and can be interrupted, generation to generation.
What You'll Explore
Where systemic oppression comes from, and how it becomes embedded in institutions and daily life
How Satir's family systems model connects to trauma, identity, and generational patterning
Your own family history — who modeled for you how to notice, feel, and respond to injustice, and how
What generational trauma looks like in the body and in relationship patterns, and how it shows up now
Tools for staying grounded, connected, and effective — for yourself and for the people you support
A case study of a real community's experience with systemic harm, and what recovery and repair looked like for them
Format
Both didactic and experiential: presentations, small group work, family mapping, body-based practices including sculpting, and reflective/mindfulness practice. Expect to participate, not just observe.
Facilitators
Lutricia Callair, LCSW is a clinical social worker and a Satir practitioner who focuses on children and families in crisis. She has been an activist since the age of 14, trained in non-violent civil disobedience (Satyagraha) and a member of the Roy Wilkins Youth Council of the NAACP. Her book which addresses her work as an activist and therapist is due for publication Winter 2025.
J. Hugh Gratz, LCSW (retired) is a clinical social worker for 40+ years with experience in family therapy, hospice and bereavement, anti-oppression work and emergency trauma response including to NYC after 9/11, Sri Lanka after the tsunami, and El Salvador during their civil war. He trained with Virginia Satir over the last 8 years of her life and was a member of her training staff.
Pricing & Registration Policies
$350
Financial aid is available based on need. If cost is a barrier to attending, reach out to admin@virginiasatircenter.com to discuss options before registering.
All registrations are final. We do not offer refunds for cancellations.
This training requires a minimum number of participants to run. If that minimum hasn't been met by 60 days before the training date, we will cancel the workshop and fully refund all registered participants. Because of this, we recommend waiting until 60 days before the training to book non-refundable travel.
