Building Our Capacity for Resistance

How do we continue to resist oppressive systems in adverse climates, while taking care of ourselves? This course works through what holds us back in our advocacy work and how to overcome those limitations sustainably.

Taught by Sarah Seraj, PhD

Live Online4 sessions x 75 min

Course Overview

While it is imperative that we resist the oppressive systems we currently live in, intergenerational and racial trauma often tricks us into believing that assimilation will keep us safe. In the workshop, we will unlearn these harmful narratives, dig deep into our roots to learn from ancestral knowledge and sustainably increase our capacity to advocate for our communities. The class will cover our past, present and future – the history of how we got here, the present fears that hold us back, and how we can overcome those to build a better future.

Why take this class? Without doing the important work of learning from history and healing from the past, we are doomed to continue our cycles of violence. Moreover, the work of resisting oppressive systems and reimagining them is a long and arduous journey. We need to build our resistance muscles if we want to sustain the long fight, and healing from our racial and intergenerational trauma will help us get there.

Who Is This Course For?

The course is best for folks who are questioning the role of systems of oppression in their lives and are looking for ways to feel more comfortable with advocacy as well as develop more stamina for it.

What You'll Learn

A better idea of how systems of oppression affect your life and well-being
More clarity around the fears that hold you back and strategies to overcome those
Learning how to speak up and develop more confidence in your advocacy voice
Strategies on how to use your economic power to boycott harmful companies
Unlearning capitalism’s efficiency mindset to invest in local businesses and relationships
An deeper understanding of leadership and community through a decolonized mindset

What's Included

Live Sessions

Interactive classes with your instructor

Session Recordings

Lifetime access to all recordings

Community Access

Connect with fellow learners

Certificate

Proof of course completion

Real-World Project

In the final class, learners will do a short 5-min speech or presentation on an advocacy issue close to their heart and attempt to convince their audience of other students to take a related action (however big or small).

About the Instructor

Sarah Seraj, PhD

Outspoken Psychologist. Data-Driven DEI Advisor. I help organizations become anti-racist using research-backed methodologies. I also support BIPOC in professional spaces.

Sarah Seraj, PhD is co-founder and CTO at A Better Force, where she conducts workshops and consults with companies on improving workplace culture and systemic inequities by using the latest findings from the social sciences. In her data consultancy work, she uses computational language tools to answer social psychological questions and develop best practices for companies. As a woman of color and an immigrant, one of the main goals of her work is to have more inclusive spaces for women, BIPOC, and other underrepresented groups. Sarah got her PhD in Psychology from UT Austin in 2021.

Frequently Asked Questions

Definitely! Contact us at contact@abetterforce.com to schedule a 30-min chat. You can also schedule a call through our coaching page.

Get Notified

Format

Live Online

Class Size

25 students max

Sessions

4 sessions

Duration

75 min each

Coming Soon

Find Your Voice

In this class, we unpack racial and generational trauma as a community, explore the roots of our identities, and learn to find our voices in a world that often wants to silence us. We retrace history to understand how modern society upholds white supremacy and causes extensive harm to BIPOC communities. Using that knowledge, we consciously move away from white models of success, learn how to become more comfortable with our identities, and re-design our life based on the values that matter most to us. We will also learn how to leverage our voice and power to organize in community and create the systemic shifts we need to usher in a better world. Topics covered: - Understanding systems of oppression and its effects on the present world order - How western imperialism rewrote the history of the world - The psychological damage of the white gaze on our identities and self-esteem - Reconnecting with our identity and reclaiming our voice, confidence, and power - Uncovering racial and intergenerational trauma to start the healing process - Dismantling the lie of meritocracy and white models of success and professionalism - Redefining success based on our own values and terms - Strategies to counter racism and uplift the most marginalized voices - Understanding how our liberation is connected and learning to create a network of allies - Making space for joy and internalizing that rest is an important part of liberation work

LiberationWellbeing

Sarah Seraj, PhD & Saamiya Seraj, PhD

Live Online25 students max8 sessions

Coming Soon

The World on our Plates: Culture, Politics, and Food Systems

This course takes as its starting point something we all need in order to survive - food - and examines how the personal is entwined with the social and the political. It must be clear this is not a course on “clean” eating or dieting - rather, it aims to examine how our individual choices are shaped by the larger food systems around us. Together, we will examine the various systems and processes leading to the food that ends up on our plates - where it comes from, what it is made up of, who is involved in putting it together - to reflect on larger questions around culture, cuisine, and community. Figuratively speaking, we are less interested in the breaking of bread than in the actual baking of bread. That is to say, whilst the symbolic and cultural elements of food are generally known, this course aims to focus squarely on the material dimensions of how food is made. We will consider how questions around labour, migration, race & gender, coloniality, capitalism and the climate crisis are wrapped up in the production of food. Together, we'll consider how our choices around the food we consume are shaped by the larger social and political contexts we are a part of. We'll see how these contexts affect our lives - not just nutritionally, but socially and environmentally as well. Our weekly sessions will culminate in a bread-making workshop led by Josefina Venegas Meza, a professional baker & pastry chef who has worked in some of London's best kitchens. In addition to acquiring a practical and valuable skill, we intend this practise-based session to function as an opportunity to personally reflect on the various topics we've covered together, and how they might apply in our individual lives. You will also receive a comprehensive and exclusive bread-making handbook with all the essential information you might need to refer back to should you wish to continue baking in future.

LiberationWellbeingWorldbuilding

Josefina Venegas Meza, PhD & Pavan Mano, PhD

Live Online25 students max8 sessions

Coming Soon

Beyond Sustainability: Connection, Wisdom, and Regenerative Leadership

We are living in a time when environmental conversations are often dominated by crisis, urgency, and fear. The narratives we hear most frequently focus on collapse, destruction, and emergency. While these realities cannot be ignored, constantly operating from this place can leave us feeling overwhelmed, drained, and powerless. What if there was another way to engage with this work? This course invites you to explore the environmental and sustainability space from a different perspective, one rooted in empowerment, connection, and renewal rather than stress and overwhelm. Over time, the sustainability field has increasingly been shaped by institutions, corporations, and NGOs. While many important efforts happen within these spaces, the deeper essence of environmental stewardship, the relationship between people, land, culture, and ancestral knowledge, can sometimes get lost. This course creates space to reconnect with that essence. Rather than approaching sustainability purely as an intellectual or technical subject, we will explore how to embody other ways of being that allow us to engage with the environmental field from a place of authenticity, care, and inspiration. Drawing from environmental psychology, behavioral change, storytelling, and ancestral wisdom, participants will explore how inner transformation can lead to more meaningful external impact. When we lead from this place, we are able to contribute to healthier systems while showing up with less guilt, less pressure, and more clarity, purpose, and power. By the end of the course, you will feel more empowered to engage with environmental work from a place of inspiration, grounded in a deeper connection to the land, to community, and to the wisdom that has guided humans for generations. Throughout the course, we will reflect on questions such as: - How can we engage with environmental work from a deeper, more life-affirming place that invites both ourselves and others into the conversation? - How can we move from intellectual understanding to embodied practice in sustainability? - How can personal transformation shape broader transformation in global systems? - How can we design and share initiatives, ideas, or projects that emerge from inspiration and authenticity rather than pressure or urgency? - How can we lead and communicate in ways that reconnect people to the land and to each other?

WellbeingNarrativeLiberation