DRUUMM is bringing a new opportunity for members, BIPOC friends and White Ally UUs who want to build their intersectional racial justice skills for holding space for small groups, community organizing and social change. We’re proud to be continuing our partnership with Justice Movement to sponsor their Peer Space Holder Intensive, a 21 hour training cohort beginning October 17, 2026. The deadline to apply is Saturday October 3, 2026. Click here to request application materials.
This deepening-level online training is designed for Unitarian Universalists who are ready to strengthen their capacity to facilitate courageous conversations about race, identity, privilege, oppression, and social change. Participants will build skills for moving difficult conversations away from conflict and toward deeper understanding, accountability, connection, and collective action.
The full cohort will learn together, with additional structured small-group programming for BIPOC participants and White Allies. This design supports honest reflection, racial identity development, accountability, healing, and sustained relationship-building across differences.
The program reflects DRUUMM’s commitment to developing antiracist leaders, nurturing cultures of solidarity and care, and building a more accountable, anti-oppressive, and multicultural Unitarian Universalist faith. This may also fulfill continuing education or professional development requirements for ministers, religious educators, and other UU leaders, depending on individual credentialing bodies.
- Atena Danner – (she/her) is an educator, a writer, and a critical thinker who uses creativity to facilitate connection, curiosity and discovery in joyful learning environments. Atena joined Justice Movement in 2024. With her decades of experience, knowledge, passion and empathy as a facilitator and content creator Atena designs engaging experiences for learners who want more for themselves, their networks, and their communities.
- Natalie “Nat” Brewster Nguyen – (they/them/any) is a Queer BIPOC artist, writer, performer, parent, entrepreneur and community organizer. In addition to Justice Movement, they are the Executive Director of Splinter Collective, a non-profit historic event space focused on art, social justice, and amplifying marginalized artists.
- Danya “Xena” Davis – (she/her/ella) is a white cis educator and co-founder of Justice Movement. She holds a Masters degree in diversity studies, with a focus on race, privilege and pedagogy, from the University of Cape Town and is currently based in Guatemala. Danya is also the ‘chaos coordinator’ at Splinter Collective.
Program Snapshot
- 21 live contact hours over eight months
- Homework, reflection, and small-group work between sessions
- Monthly Online sessions from 2:00–5:00 p.m. Pacific Time
- Sliding-scale tuition from $420 to $2,520
- Financial assistance available for DRUUMM members
- A limited number of tickets will have access to 19% and 10% discounts. Request your application and submit early for these limited tickets.
Program 3 Hour Live Session Dates | 2:00 – 5:00 PM Pacific
- October 17, 2026
- November 21, 2026
- No December session
- January 16, 2027
- February 20, 2027
- March 20, 2027
- April 17, 2027
- May 15, 2027
Interested participants may request an application here: bit.ly/druumm-arao
About the Peer Space Holder Intensive
The Peer Space Holder Intensive for Unitarian Universalists is an interactive, relational course, participants will receive guidance through major facilitation “hot topics” and key skills to establish their practice as facilitators with a shared understanding of social justice, privilege and oppression.
Peer Space Holders are able to organize demographic groups for unpacking privilege, embracing responsibility, and strategizing ways to bring more awareness to their communities. As they learn to effectively hold space for peers, participants practice essential facilitation skills, such as:
- Confidently shifting conversations about intersectional racism and other isms into meaningful connection rather than frustrating arguments.
- Identifying ways to navigate internalized privilege and oppression by:
- Identifying and working with triggers in ourselves and our participants.
- Naming and responding to common ways that participants derail discussions
- Exploring types of challenging participant characteristics and how to manage these dynamics so the gathering can return to purpose when thrown off course.
- Strategies to meter participation – how to draw more participation from those who need encouragement and reinforce gentle boundaries for those who tend to take up more space.
- Help peers move from awareness towards responsibility and meaningful change.
- Strengthen confidence, clarity, and care as a facilitator
And more!
Who This Course Is For
This course is designed for people who would like to hold space for facilitated group discussions in their congregations, organizations, workplaces and communities.
This interactive course is a good fit for you if you:
- Are newly facilitating or may consider doing so.
- Have been facilitating for years and want to refresh your skills to keep up with this dynamic field
- Want to support racial identity or other identity specific peer learning spaces
- Want more practice navigating difficult conversations about intersectional race and oppression
Participants do not need extensive facilitation experience. However, this should not be your first racial justice course. Some prior learning about race, racism, privilege, and oppression will help you participate fully.
We utilize racial caucuses to support full engagement. Racial caucuses can honor the emotional labor of and reduce the burden often placed on BIPOC participants in multiracial spaces.
We ask that white participants arrive with curiosity, awareness of power dynamics and the desire to listen, learn, and take responsibility for their participation We do not expect participants to ‘have it all figured out’, but we expect participants to be far enough in their racial awareness journeys to navigate conversations with well balanced participation – neither dominating the conversation or solely being an observer.
Justice Movement Trainer / Facilitators specialize in intimate, relational learning, building custom courses tailored to specific groups and topics, and a multi-faceted participatory process that feels more like an expansive personal journey than a class. Since summer of 2024, Justice Movement facilitators Natalie Nguyen, Atena Danner, and Danya Davis have partnered with DRUUMM to offer customized intersectional allyship content and group facilitation. Atena and Natalie’s experiences as UUs ensure that the training they deliver is relevant and aligned with our Unitarian Universalist values and covenants.
