What we experience in IMPACT class changes graduates in
powerful yet intangible ways. The things we learn about ourselves become part
of our daily lives and the transformation is gradual. It’s perceptible, but
hard to pinpoint.
Some women want the sense of safety to travel solo. Others
are sick of being pushed around at work. Others find they can’t effectively
keep their sense of self with family. Some have been subjected to emotional and
physical violence, and are looking for a way to heal. We have dug to the bottom
of ourselves and have assembled all we could salvage. We’re not sure what shape
to give what we’ve found. How do we materialize a new life, a new voice, and
new perspectives?
“Let’s start there,”
says IMPACT ‘s philosophy. “Start where you are. What’s solid for you right
now? Then build on your strengths.” When I returned to Chicago from living
overseas a few years, I looked at all the ways I could make a difference in my
community. How could I draw it in around me, in a way that’s true to me and to
my beliefs? How could I put down roots again while being more enmeshed with
people who would support me and also challenge me? IMPACT fundamentally
provides a sense of openness and acceptance to each individual.
Many volunteers and instructors involved with IMPACT have
either a formal or an intuitive understanding of social work concepts. This
shows in IMPACT’s strength-based perspective, and how IMPACT helps people
empower themselves. IMPACT isn’t social work per se, but there are many
correlations. We espouse the method of non-violent communication, where we
focus on how a statement is perceived rather than its possible intent and rebuttal.
We strive to practice service leadership in assisting one another get our work
done to benefit IMPACT’s mission.
The Core Program embodies everything a social-work group
should be. Instructors build a space for each voice to be heard. In it, we connect
to one another without expectations other than we will root for one another. We
encourage one another when our courage or our stamina flag. We celebrate one
another at the end of each fight, and at the end of the Core Program. Then we
venture back into the world and into our own lives, to carry on the message of
non-violence through containment.
Whether a macro-, big-picture person or a one-on-one,
act-local person, IMPACT changes our thinking. To be given the space to
experiment, to stretch, to wrestle with major issues from the past, or even to have
a voice and be more assertive and feel less fear and go where we want – every
woman is affected in one way or another by taking these classes, and spreads
the change around her.
Submitted by AC Racette
Submitted by AC Racette
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