Dialogue Towards Change

Dialogue Toward Change is a private, non-profit (501C3) organization dedicated to providing research, training and services to alleviate the potentially destructive repercussions of witnessing defamation. Our focus includes the psychological effects of not only bearing witness to, but also indirectly learning about, oppression both subtle and acutely traumatic. Our efforts are geared to acts that occur in ethnic, community, work, and family settings.

We provide a structure for persons to recognize the disruptive impact of vicarious oppression and trauma, and to transform that recognition into an opportunity to empower themselves and others. By fostering collaborative dialogue among members of an oppressed group, and between opposing groups, we assist participants to affirm their own individual and group identities without exploitation.

The Objectives of A Dialogue Toward Change are to:

• describe the cognitive, emotional and behavioral effects of witnessing oppression and trauma for individuals in vocational, community and family settings.

• study how witnessing oppression and trauma within one's own cultural group affects an individual's cultural or ethnic identity.

• promote the healthy psychological integration of vicarious oppression in order to foster personal empowerment and social responsibility.

• increase awareness of both the uniqueness and universality of vicarious oppression in order to assist disparate people to create bridges of empathy, respect and compassion.