Monarch Reach Training

The more people we teach, the further Monarchs Reach!

Cultural competency training

We want to train individuals to become culturally safe space personnel for African American and LatinX students!

What is our goal?

- The purpose of Monarch Reach is to give African American and LatinX students a space where they can go and converse with a certified Monarch Reach member that can listen and connect them with any resources they need.
- Based on our research, we found that many minoritized students feel they do not have people to come to or know of the resources available to them when they are struggling mentally and/or academically. By training faculty, staff, and students to recognize the cultural struggles of minoritized students, we can bridge the gap between minoritized students and mental health disparities that can affect their lives on and off-campus.
- This training will be designed to help faculty and staff become more culturally competent. By providing workshops and resources on the barriers that minorities face, we hope that this will help students feel more comfortable on campus.

Blue team prototype ppt 1

What does our training

consist of?

- Monarch Reach has a specific way in which it will be facilitated. ODU personnel can take our cultural competency training to become Monarch Reach trained individuals that diverse students can go to. We will have two different tracks of training.
- There will be one track for Undergraduate students and one track for graduates/ staff/ faculty. Our training provides specific information that helps prepare students and faculty for difficult and important conversations with disadvantaged students. We will make sure this is effective by evaluating mock conversations and sessions. We will also be issuing a post-survey at the end of our training.

What our training does for ODU

We address the problem of having a lack of students utilize the many services on campus that are supposed to address mental health problems and stressors. Our surveys indicated a lack of communication between students from certain demographics at ODU and faulty/staff. That is where we bridge the gap for students, staff, and mental health.

Our idea is backed with proof of concept because of a similar program already implemented at ODU called safe space. This is a successful program that caters specifically to members of the LGBTQ+ community. The program has had over +500 people participate in becoming safe space personnel for this community. We spoke to a faculty member who participated in the safe space training and she said:

"It was an amazing experience! I learned so much about the LGBTQ+ community. I thought I knew a lot before but the training taught me things I never knew about the community. I feel a lot more confident in my ability to have conversations with any LGBTQ+ students when they need it!"

-Dr. Felecia Commodore

Reach into the Monarch community with us!

What makes our program different

Monarch Reach encompasses culture and communication to create a safe space for Black and Brown students. We take pride in making our training unique to ODU and its community by having students, as well as faculty, become Monarch Reach members. We will have students be a part of the teaching process during our training as well. Monarch Reach will provide resources and opportunities to students based on the needs they bring to our Monarch Reach team.

This will be much more effective than putting the resources in the current announcements, as students will be given exactly what they need and have their voices heard. We will also provide a survey for students to take at the end of their sessions so we can better our program and training. We will know how effective our program is by the amount of engagement and participation we get but most importantly, by the follow-up surveys given to students to see if our sessions were effective for them. This training would be the first of its kind at ODU for minority students and a perfect addition to enhance campus life for years to come.

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