With the College of Podiatry's announcement that our union is now an anti-racist organisation many of us have been considering what this means for us at the ground level where we are in direct contact with out patients.

We are often in an intimate space with our patients, physically and emotionally, so challenging inappropriate behaviour, out and out racism and other forms of bigotry without damaging your relationship (which can be vital to the patients' continued health) and remaining professional is a fraught topic and one where there is little or no guidance on.

Micro-aggression's and throw away comments which are much subtler can be the hardest of all to counter and take the time to consider in a busy clinical day.

All of which has lead us to find the very highly recommended Rachel De Garang who is going to take us on a journey today looking into these areas to prepare ourselves for considered and thoughtful interactions in this area in the future in our working lives.

09:30 - 10:00 Registration

10:00 -12.30 The morning session

Exercise: Crossing the line - participants to share when they have been on the receiving end of an inappropriate comment could be anything from colour of your hair or accent. How they felt, what they did or wish they had done what the outcome of that action was. Could also be a situation they witnessed.

Exercise: Exploring Racism - looking at case studies which I will give also highlighting media stories of racism. Explore in small groups - posing a number of questions for the participants to ask themselves

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch

Lunch will be brought to us individually in our training room to ensure that we are COVID-19 safe and the venue in general is taking excellent precautions in line with government guidance.

13:30 - 16:00 The afternoon session

Recap morning session and any reflections.

Exercise: Tools, Tips for challenging inappropriate racist comments. Open with discussion on the comments participants have heard from clients. Participants can then role play in groups of say 3 - challenging theses comments, look a a number at likely reactions and how one would proceed and engage with the client to help them understand why such comments are offensive.

If you want any more information on on COVID-19 safe measures at this venue then please follow this link: https://www.makevenues.co.uk/coronavirus-measures