Becoming a Healing-Centered Organization: Anti-Racist Practices for Workplaces and Community Organizations

Creating a workplace or community space that is just, inclusive, and trauma-informed is no longer optional; it's necessary. We are living in a time where systemic racism and disconnection are deeply embedded in our institutions. At Creative Praxis, we believe that healing and justice go hand-in-hand.

This work begins by acknowledging the historical and present harms of racism and choosing to build new ways of working, leading, and relating that center humanity, care, and equity.

If you’re a leader in a school, nonprofit, business, or youth-based organization, you have the power to shape the ethos of your space.

Becoming a healing-centered organization means building an environment where people feel seen, heard, and valued. Anti-racism is not a one-time event, but an ongoing practice embedded in your policies, language, and leadership.

What Does It Mean to Be Healing-Centered and Anti-Racist?

Being a healing-centered organization requires more than good intentions. It’s about committing to a way of being that centers relationships, prioritizes collective care, and recognizes the systemic and personal impacts of racism and trauma. Anti-racism, in this context, is not an isolated workshop. It is embedded in daily operations, interactions, and decisions.

A 2025 study found that multi-method, experiential anti-racism trainings significantly reduced prejudice and deepened participants' commitment to equity. These findings affirm the power of dynamic, arts-integrated approaches—like those used by Creative Praxis—to shift mindsets, disrupt bias, and cultivate lasting change within organizations.               

At Creative Praxis, our anti-oppression work is grounded in these principles:

● Naming how racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of oppression show up in our bodies, our systems, and our environments.

● Rooting learning in history, identity, and land.

● Using arts-based, somatic, and restorative tools to create spaces of transformation.

● Working not only to resist systems of oppression, but to co-create new, liberatory structures.

If your organization wants to be part of meaningful change, this starts by aligning your culture, practice, and leadership with healing-centered and anti-racist values.

Step 1: Ground Your Work in Ethos

Before anything else, reflect on your values individually and collectively. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? What legacy do you want to leave?

At Creative Praxis, we help organizations build a shared ethos that reflects their histories, identities, and goals. Your ethos becomes your guidepost in every meeting, policy, and conversation.

Start with "I AM" statements. Space for each team member to reflect on who they are, where they come from, and what matters to them. Then, co-create “WE ARE” statements. Guide principles that define how you will work and grow together.

When everyone is rooted in a shared ethos, decisions feel more intentional. Conflicts are addressed with care. And leadership becomes more relational, not hierarchical.

Step 2: Redesign Learning and Working Spaces with Intention

Healing-centered organizations care about space—physical, emotional, and energetic. At Creative Praxis, we believe every detail communicates something. The color on the walls, the seating arrangements, and the way people enter and exit a meeting. All of it matters.

Ask yourself:

● Does your space feel safe and welcoming for everyone?

● Are there calming elements like music, lighting, or visuals that reflect your team’s cultures?

● Do you create rituals to open and close gatherings that affirm each person’s presence?

Intentional space design helps dismantle hierarchy and promote belonging. Whether online or in-person, think about how your space supports or limits connection and dignity.

Step 3: Create Brave Spaces for Honest Conversation

If we are going to dismantle racism and build equitable organizations, we need space to talk openly, honestly, and consistently.

This means:

● Hosting regular community listening sessions where people can speak and be heard without fear of retaliation.

● Building skills around compassionate communication, storytelling, and deep listening.

● Using Creative Praxis’s restorative practices to process harm and rebuild trust.

These conversations are not easy. They require vulnerability. But when facilitated with care and structure, they can shift the emotional climate of your workplace and deepen connection across lines of difference.

Step 4: Center Anti-Racist Training in Staff Development

To move from intention to action, staff need structured time to learn, unlearn, and reflect.

Creative Praxis offers anti-racism training for educators and anti-racist leadership development that helps teams:

● Understand racism as a system of power, not just prejudice.

● Analyze how bias and oppression show up in their roles and relationships.

● Practice using inclusive, humanizing language.

● Develop strategies to build affirming, anti-oppressive environments.

Every training is interactive and community-based, using art, somatic practices, and real-life scenarios. Participants leave with tools they can use immediately and with a deeper understanding of what anti-racist leadership looks like in action.

Step 5: Address Burnout and Vicarious Trauma

You cannot build a healing-centered organization without addressing burnout. Whether you're working in education, nonprofit, or community-based work, you’re likely holding a lot.

That’s why burnout prevention, secondary traumatic stress training, and vicarious trauma support for professionals are a core part of our offerings. In these trainings, we:

● Help staff recognize symptoms of burnout and compassion fatigue.

● Teach embodied self-regulation and community care practices.

● Normalize rest, boundaries, and joy as central to sustainability.

Staff who feel resourced and supported are more present, creative, and committed.

Step 6: Build Policies That Reflect Your Values

Anti-racism must show up in your systems, not just your mission statement.

This means reviewing and rewriting:

● Hiring and promotion policies to remove bias.

● Decision-making processes to include voices of those that have been historically silenced.

● Feedback and accountability structures that promote justice, not punishment.

● Evaluation methods that measure culture, not just productivity.

Creative Praxis supports organizations through consulting, listening sessions, and custom curriculum design to build structures that align with your values. We believe that policies should be living documents that reflect care, fairness, and shared power.

Step 7: Lift Up Community Wisdom and Voices

Organizations often overlook one of their most powerful resources: the people they serve.

We help organizations:

● Involve youth and families in shaping programs and spaces.

● Celebrate cultural wisdom and lived experience.

● Shift from “serving” communities to “building with” communities.

Healing-centered organizations recognize that change is strongest when it comes from the people most impacted.

Step 8: Engage in Ongoing Reflection and Growth

Becoming a healing-centered, anti-racist organization is not a box you check. It’s an ongoing process.

Set aside time to regularly ask:

● What’s working in our culture, and what’s not?

● How do we respond when harm occurs?

● Are we practicing what we preach?

Use arts-based reflection tools, somatic exercises, and storytelling to process, learn, and adapt. This keeps your work alive and responsive. It also ensures that healing and justice are not left behind when things get busy or hard.

The Role of Arts and Somatics in Organizational Healing

At Creative Praxis, we believe healing is not just intellectual, but also embodied.

We incorporate:

● Arts-based SEL professional development for teams looking to connect emotionally and creatively.

● Somatic-centered learning for those interested in reconnecting with the body as a site of knowing and healing.

● Visual art, music, storytelling, and movement as regular parts of learning and reflection.

These practices don’t just make training more engaging; they also help shift mindsets, regulate nervous systems, and build deeper connections between people.

Creative Praxis’s Services for Healing-Centered Change

If your organization is ready to deepen its commitment to equity, wellness, and anti-racism, Creative Praxis offers:

• Single Topic Training (2–4 hrs): Introductory anti-racist, grounding session

• One-Day Intensives (6–10 hrs): Deep dives into anti-racist practice

• Multi-Day Retreats: Immersive space for deepened anti-racist knowledge of community and systems

• Train-the-Trainer Programs: Build internal capacity to lead anti-racist, liberation-based work on a personal and professional level

• Custom Toolkits & Curricula: Practical resources for sustained, anti-racist practice.

All our sessions are rooted in restorative justice and equity-focused professional development. Whether you're just starting or seeking to deepen existing work, we are here to support your transformation.

Building Justice and Care with Creative Praxis

Creating a healing-centered, anti-racist organization is about commitment. It’s about making decisions rooted in justice, care, and accountability. It’s about recognizing that the workplace can be a site of harm or a site of collective healing. And anti-racist leadership development can help you do that.

At Creative Praxis, we’ve worked with educators, youth workers, and community leaders who are ready to do this work. Not alone, but in partnership.

If you’re ready to bring healing-centered, trauma-informed training and creative anti-oppression training programs to your organization in Philadelphia, let’s connect. Together, we can build spaces where all people feel held, affirmed, and free.

Contact Creative Praxis today to begin building the workplace you believe in.