*Note* This scheduling program was not designed by folks who do a lot with APA Style and unfortunately it defaults to listing authors in alphabetical order. We cannot fix this for this online schedule, but the author orders are posted in the order submitted in the printed program available via pdf here.
Throughout life, individuals experience a wide array of adverse and meaningful events that play an integral role in shaping one’s identity and sense of self. One of the major characteristics of well-formed life stories is a sense of meaning or integration of one’s experiences and of oneself (McLean & Pratt, 2006). In particular, storytelling is one form of meaning making that individuals integrate to gain a sense of deeper understanding of their own identity development (Scott, 2011). Given the innate power of storytelling, it is the goal of this workshop to create a dialogue and explore how graduate students and professionals integrate past and present experiences to inform their current and future work and how these experiences have shaped their overall identity as social justice advocates. Presenters will guide participants to construct a timeline of these important experiences and moments of impact that have occurred in their life and will be given an opportunity to share their timeline with other program participants. In this workshop, participants will: 1. Explore past and present experiences and the ways in which these events have shaped their overall identity and inform their social justice agenda with marginalized and oppressed communities; 2. Utilize culturally competent techniques and gain a multicultural perspective on related issues that are raised and shared among participants; 3. Use a supportive interpersonal alliance to provide a space that will empower graduate students and professionals through the discussions of multifaceted issues that may arise during the workshop. Furthermore, it is the goal of this workshop to encourage participants to integrate the skills learned in this workshop to empower diverse, oppressed and marginalized communities as storytelling and meaning making have been found to be powerful agency granting tools for those who have been hidden from history or left on its margins (Scott, 2011).