Key Theme #5 We are shaped by our history; shaping our future differently will require intentional changes in our present practice

Change is work. As members of ACPE we are committed to work for positive change. There’s an apt physics equation: Work = Force x Distance. The more change we aim to make in ourselves, and the firmer our defenses around making that change, or the more alone we feel in making it, the more work it will take. 

 

Our ACPE conference this year invites us to change in the direction of being anti-biased in general and anti-racist in particular: to change ourselves, our programs, our practice, our organization. Certainly our various histories impact how much change is called for in aspiring to be anti-biased around any particular ism. Our histories also shape how hard it will be to change particular biases.

 

Yet we have an opportunity, and we have one another. “Creating Room to Breathe: Spiritual Care Education amid Sickness, State-Sanctioned Violence and Social Division” will provide a gathering space in which to engage change. Presenters from outside and our own colleagues will help us, regardless of where we start, to unfreeze from bias and racism, to practice new behaviors and envision an anti-racist ACPE, and to commit ourselves to the ongoing work of moving our organization and our practices toward greater justice. We in ACPE are in good company for this work.