9to5 has built a training collaboration with RoadMap Consulting to combat sexual harassment in social justice organizations. Below is an excerpt of an interview with Mary Ochs, Trainer and Co-Leader of RoadMap’s Weathering the Storm project, which the joint sexual harassment training is part of.
In 2018 RoadMap and 9to5 jointly hosted a webinar with over 500 participants. We urge organizations to not limit themselves to the law but go above and beyond. The webinar opened many eyes about what often happens when harassment goes on: if the issue is addressed, managers tend to get rid of the harasser, and not think about where else they go or if they continue to harass others. If the harasser is liked, the organization doesn’t deal with it at all. It opened many eyes to all the damage that it caused to the people being harassed, and to the whole organization.
Our training is based on real world examples. It’s also important to have a wider lens on the issue: harassment can impact others in the organization. It creates fears and triggers other experiences. People may have experienced some version of the harassment but didn’t do anything or knew it was happening and didn’t know what to do, so it affects the whole team.
We always send two trainers, ideally one is a person of color. Depending on audience – it might be a man/woman team or include non-binary/trans trainers. We work to make sure the audience have folks to identify with.
We do not do just one-off trainings. We provide a package: pre-work on the policy and assessments; in-person training that must be four hours long with time explicitly for supervisors and two additional hours for implementation and coaching. Our approach and content are geared to organizations with racial justice/gender justice values. We want to model what healthy relationships look like in all sorts of ways. Our work is connected to resilience, self-care, walking our talk and reimagining and practicing safety.
For more information about in-person training fees and upcoming webinars, please contact Linda Garcia Barnard at LindaGB@9to5.org.
