Welcome to Nurse Champions for Justice
Scroll down to learn more about this healing community for dialogue, education, connection, & action
Our Purpose
We are a small community of souls committed to dismantling racism and all forms of oppression inside us, in our health care institutions, and in the communities where we live and serve. We are mostly nurses grounded in mindfulness and holistic nursing practice and we welcome all people in helping professions interested in healing the social pathogen of racism. We engage a heart-centered, evidence-informed exploration of anti-racism practices to create spaces that are healing rather than harmful for those who experience trauma from racism and oppression.
We believe this is sacred, ongoing, life transformative work that takes community, time and commitment. It can’t be achieved quickly in a webinar, one continuing education class, or from reading a book. Transformation happens in relationship.
We do this work using liberation principles. No Shame, guilt, or pressure to show up in a particular way! Imperfections are most welcome!
We brave this work together. Nurses are leaders in facilitating change. As we unpack individual and systematic racism we strengthen our ability to listen to marginalized and oppressed voices, speak up in the presence of racial or social injustice and gain confidence to act in our personal and professional lives in ways that are healing rather than harmful.
Get to Know Us Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II8s6fMBR2A
Nurse Keith Podcast
Integrative Nurse Coach Academy Podcast
https://inursecoach.com/podcast/ep31-nurses-champions-for-racial-justice/
Video Testimonial from a Current Member
“This community is core for me in having a safe, smart, experienced nurse team with a well-resourced collection for information and support.” (Catherine Anderson)
The Work
According to the ANA’s January 2022 National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing “ninety-four percent of us nurses know that there's either "a lot" or "some" racism in our profession. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/967178
Do you want to address racism but don’t know what to do about it? Are you afraid of saying the wrong thing?
Providing care to those who have trauma in their stories, especially racial trauma, requires that we own our brokenness and shame. Nurses have been taught to stay neutral and not engage in our clients' stories. But with the epidemic of COVID-19 and the widespread call for social justice, we cannot stay in neutral.
Nurses grounded in mindfulness and holistic practice are uniquely skilled to help clients/patients navigate obstacles, but how do you help when the obstacle your clients/patients are navigating is a result of your own inability to acknowledge bias? How do we begin to own our terrible history of racial injustice?
Most of us did not receive social justice or racial trauma education in our nursing or nurse coaching programs. This leaves a big gap in understanding the stressors and pressures on people in marginalized communities.
Do you want to learn how to be present to those racked by historical & perpetual trauma?
We know that one webinar on unconscious bias just ain’t gonna cut it; we need a total overhaul. We know that sweeping racial, ethnic and gender identity generalizations have grown into microaggressions and microaggressions into fatalities. We know that we have to do more than a good service to right generations of oppression. Racism and other “isms” are social pathogens. We must keep the experience of oppression front and center, become aware of “the elephant in the room” of internal and systematic racism and take steps to address it.
The Work requires community, authentic conversation, deep listening and a willingness to be unbalanced.
Yes. Unbalanced. We know that we are imperfect, we are biased and flawed. As Nurse Champions for Justice, we are willing to be in deliberative community dialogues that might topple our conscious and unconscious structures (aka beliefs) of stability. We know the path forward can bring uncertainty and fear; so we offer to walk alongside of you and help navigate those challenges. But we also believe that with acceptance and growth we can better stand in solidarity & co-conspire with Black, Trans, Indigenous, and People of Color's lives and all the lives of the clients/patients and communities we coach and care for.
Membership Perks
We Offer Connection
By joining the Nurse Champions for Justice community you will be opening yourself to a depth and variety of education, tools and experiences that will deepen your nursing practice. In this community we share our connections, pain points, our stories and ways in which we are dismantling systemic racial oppression. When we brave this work together, we are braver nurses. At a minimum monthly Healing Space Dialogues are strongly encouraged, from there participation is “as you are able”. This work is a marathon not a sprint.
We Offer Monthly Healing Space Dialogues
We know that there are a lot of places and spaces these days to "do the work" on your own. Opportunities are endless for one time webinars, guides and workbooks but we know healing takes time and community. And what good is the opportunity if you don't know where to start? Or how to address the feelings that arise from beliefs and values that you hold dear? In society the wound of racism has been ripped open. Now we must nourish and aid the wound to heal.
We take the next step & open up a space for healing dialogue about the fear, shame and anxiety in change.
In these monthly 90-minute healing dialogues, you can become more brave as you hold the space to listen, respond and share in your unique way. “A Healing Space” is an invitation to the possibility of change that begins with self-awareness.
This nursing continuing professional development activity was approved by the Maryland Nurses Association, an accredited approver by The American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. You will need to attend 90% of the zoom call and complete an evaluation to receive 1.5 contact hours of continuing education credit.
Why We Love Healing Space Dialogues (4min listen )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXEgwgK_nhg
These creative processes
- Start with a self-care practice towards building awareness and resiliency. As nurses we know self-care is the very first act of caring for others well.
- Honor and hold space for the trauma, frustration, and system failures that make social justice work difficult.
- Address deepening our nursing practice through an anti-racist and anti-oppression lens.
- Supply an opportunity for shared connection and resource building.
We Offer Weekly Educational Prompts
Every Monday a new prompt appears for your reflection along with encouragement for community sharing around the topic
We Encourage Peer Support
We do this work in community with one another so what better way than to buddy up and learn together? As we explore via healing space dialogues and weekly topics for reflection you can ask for support , choose a buddy to practice with or find someone near you with similar interests to work together on creating actions. This way you are growing multi-dimensionally.
We Offer a Library
We offer a library of resources with books, podcasts, articles, videos for your consumption and learning. And the best thing is, all of the information is stored in one place for you to come to!
More to Come!
For those who are more advanced or who want more in the future we hope to be adding CEU courses focusing on anti-racism, trauma-informed care, influential leadership and deliberative dialogue. These are excellent courses for those who want to take their knowledge to workspaces. Below is a sample of what our offerings might be in the future:
- Embodiment Practice for Anti-Racism
- Room to Breathe: Rewiring for Ease Mindfulness Program
- Nurses Influential Leadership Lab Course
Meet Your Hosts
Nikki E. Akparewa, RN, MSN, MPH, BCC
pronouns: she/her/hers
Nikki is a the Founder of Transform Nursing and is a subject matter expert in diversity and inclusion work. As a Diversity & Inclusion Coach for over 10 years, Nikki’s vision is to coach health care leaders using inclusive leadership strategies. Nikki is an expert on promoting individual & organizational growth by navigating difficult conversations around race, class and other social barriers that health care leaders need to learn to deliver safe and compassionate care. Nikki’s result oriented approach strengthens one's ability to operate confidently as inclusive clinicians.
Jernis "Jayne" Peterson RN, BSN, NC-BC
pronouns: she/her/hers
Jayne is a Board Certified Nurse Coach and Accredited 5Rhythms® Movement Practice teacher with a nursing career spanning nearly 40 years. She is passionate about teaching inner resource skills and embodiment practices that connect one to their natural healing abilities and innate wisdom. Jayne specializes in facilitating body-centered ways of experiencing, knowing and living into one’s whole self. Thinking herself progressive, liberal, inclusive and anti-racist Jayne was surprised by some defensiveness that came up while listening to a colleague share about experiences of racism. Jayne calls this her "moment of grace" which began a deep dive into areas of unconscious bias, white privilege, and systematic racism. Jayne now will tell you, "I am a woman with colonizer's beliefs deeply imbedded within my body. This colonizer mindset is visceral, in my DNA. Bit by bit I am trying to unravel this legacy and promote healing from the inside out."
Jackie Levin, RN, MS, AHN-BC, HNWC-BC
pronouns: she/her/hers
Jackie is a second generation Jewish American cisgender lesbian woman of European ancestry, married to a man. As the Founder of Leading Edge Nursing and a Board Certified Holistic Nurse and Wellness Coach her core work is bringing nurses into nature-based experiences, tapping into the unseen world for healing self and offering mindfulness practices for health and wellbeing. When Jackie began to see how systemic racism and white supremacy were present in her life, not just "out there", and how environmental injustice was a part of racial injustice, she sought out ways to meaningfully engage with others to learn more and do more to shift white privilege to equity. With Nikki and Jayne, and her practice of self-inquiry, Jackie is excited to be in a community of nurses who are committed to come together with compassion, deep listening, and humility to support awareness and engagement in anti-racism work.
Refund Policy
If you are not satisfied with your membership, please let us know within the first 14 days and we will give you a 100% refund.
