Dr. Stacey Pearson-Wharton

Cancel Proof

When we watch the news, it seems like there’s always a hate bias incident happening on a college campus. These racist, sexist, or homophobic acts need to be addressed, but are we tiptoeing around difficult conversations, too afraid that we might do something wrong or make things worse? Can campuses breathe life into social justice frameworks without stepping in multicultural “poo”? Sowing the seeds of diversity can be challenging.

Dr. Stacey offers workable steps and guidance to you and your campus. This program helps campuses and individuals deal with everything from minor weeds (like microaggressions) to hate bias incidents by teaching tools to heal ruptures, listen without being defensive, apologize unconditionally, and manage fears of saying or doing the wrong thing. Students will gain the skills they need help cultivate a more inclusive and socially just campus community.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• that everyone will someday experience a time when their personal bias negatively impacts someone, else despite their best intentions
• ways to heal ruptures created when well-intentioned people say and do dumb things
• how to hear, listen, and accept someone’s apology if and when they experience a microaggression
• offer windows of hope, healing, and help, despite the complexities and arduous work needed to create an inclusive campus environment

Black Mental Health: Keeping it 100

The mental health of Black people is often put on the back burner because mental health is seen as a luxury for White people. Similar to this, there are many myths about the mental health of BIPOC individuals. In particular, psychology has admittedly been oppressive to Black individuals, resulting in hesitation within the Black community to use mental health services.

This program will explore Black Mental Health and Well-Being. In particular, the signs and symptoms of mental illness and the ways these disorders manifest will be explored from a cultural lens. In addition, participants will explore ways to mediate the impact of race-based stress and other parts of the double pandemic. Dr. Stacey shares practical wisdom to help African Americans bolster their mental health and tips for allies to help do their part to contribute to the emotional well-being of African Americans.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will:

• Learn how to identify signs and symptoms of mental illness
• Self-reflect upon the cultural connections to mental well being
• Learn self-help and other resources available to help them on their journey to mental wellness

Difficult Dialogue in a Divided World.

Over the last few years, the art of debate has become pure vitriol in our country. From the national political stage down to discussion in the hallways of college campuses, we are struggling with how to disagree with civility. When people are engaging in disagreement, they often fail to listen and are unwilling to respect the different opinion. Moreover, people are turning to social media and protest as the vehicle to debate without having face to face conversations.

In this program, Dr. Stacey Pearson Wharton gives participants the tools they need to have authentic, healthy conversations about the “scary stuff” like racism, homophobia, sexism, religion and politics. This program helps campuses and individuals by teaching tools to approach difficult topics, listen without being defensive, and manage fears of saying, or doing the wrong thing. Attendees will gain the skills they need to help cultivate a more inclusive and socially just campus.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• how to understand the difference between dialogue and debate
• radical listening skills
• the behaviors that are healthy dialogue instigators

Taming the Dragon: Dealing with Stress and Anxiety

College students are facing more stress and anxiety than ever before, and they are overwhelmed. The stress dragon has taken over – but like any monster, it has weaknesses. This keynote offers tools to help students manage and tame stress. Dr. Stacey’s interactive techniques will reveal the difference between productive motivational stress and problematic anxiety, and offer strategies for training a baby dragon before it becomes a full-blown monster.

The discussion will also challenge the cultural mindset around the virtues of being stressed. Students will become their own mental health champions and learn to support the people they care about who may be facing anxiety. By taming their stress dragons and finding inner peace, students will be on the road to finding “happily ever after.”

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• how to tackle anxiety and develop skills to reduce and manage their stress
• methods to increase their performance in their academics and organizations
• the importance of working together as a community to support and help each other with stress and anxiety

Being Black in White Spaces

Predominately white colleges and universities (PWCUs) have taken many meaningful steps to become more diverse and socially equitable places. But, many students of color experience discrimination, social isolation, and psychological challenges during their educational experience. Given proper tools, students can not only survive, but thrive in these environments. Combining research studies that clearly articulate the challenges and joys of being a student of color in a predominantly white institution, combined with personal stories of success and strategies for growth, this keynote will offer students practical lessons to hone the tools they need to thrive during their college experience and beyond.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• how to be an ally and supporter of groups and individuals that are different from themselves
• ways to help marginalized groups share their story and feel included in the greater community
• tools that can help different communities thrive in an environment where they may not identify with the majority population

#RISE: Getting back up after a failure

Current students are experiencing high levels of anxiety in unprecedented numbers. A huge factor in this experience of anxiety is a fear of making errors or mistakes—in essence, the fear of failure. This keynote will help students face their fear of failure and normalize their reaction to it. Students will learn concrete skills to increase distress tolerance and resiliency that will allow them to “take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.” No one likes the feeling of failure.

Once we are able to acknowledge that this experience is an inevitable, yet temporary, part of our lives, we can begin to alleviate the negative feelings associated with this state and embrace failure as an essential ingredient in achieving success in life. Learning the proven, practical and concrete skills that this program offers will help lower anxiety and feelings of distress, and can be applied in any situation.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• how failure (and learning from it) is the path to success, and is an important (and inevitable) part of life
• how to better understand and analyze a risk, and make rational decisions based on the real pros and cons of a particular situation, without allowing the fear of failure to sabotage the decision-making process
• practical skills to negotiate and mitigate distress and failure