Buddhist Chaplaincy for social change

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
- James Baldwin 

As a Buddhist Chaplain, I offer support and guidance for white, cis gender, and abled people of any sexual orientation in conditioning themselves so they can learn how to effectively disrupt and dismantle systemic racism, white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, and ableism. My work is grounded in my own practice of anti-racism & disability Justice, my Buddhist practice of over a decade, and my training in the Upaya Zen Center's two-year Buddhist Chaplaincy programme. 

I work in partnership with S.Rae Peoples of Red Lotus Consulting. Together we offer various workshops for white people to stay engaged and committed to anti-racist work.
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Upcoming & past offerings

A multi-week collaboration with a group or team of three to eight individuals from one community, company or organization who want to go deeper in anti-oppression work. 
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Individual support over a period of six weeks for white cisgender and/or abled people in positions of leadership in their community, company, or organization for understanding the work of culture change. 

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"As a result of Kaitlyn's useful tools, thoughtful insight, and intelligent leadership counsel, my staff and I feel very confident in our ability to welcome diverse patient populations into our clinic. Very simply, Kaitlyn added meaningful value to our organization"

Fern, Clinic Administrator,
Phinney Primary Care & Wellness

Gratitude & Appreciation

I am able to step into this work thanks to a multitude of others who came before. I acknowledge and recognize the many teachers I've had, who I continue to learn from and turn to in this work. They model for me what it looks like to grow with movements for social change and stay in the work.

The most significant folks for me in this lineage, with whom I have practiced, spoken with or learned from directly, are: 

• Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, author of The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through race, sexuality & gender
• Reverend angel Kyodo williams, co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking race, love & liberation, author of Being Black:Zen and the art of living with fearlessness and grace & founder of the Liberated Life Network
• Lama Rod Owens, co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking race, love & liberation, author of Love and Rage: The path of liberation through anger, & co-founder of the Bhumisparsha dharma community
• adrienne maree brown, co-host of How to Survive the End of the World podcast & author of Emergent Strategy: Shaping change, changing worlds and Pleasure Activism: The politics of feeling good 
• Rhonda Magee, Professor of Law & author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing ourselves and transforming our communities through mindfulness
• Dr. Jan Willis, Professor, Spiritual Teacher & author of multiple books and essays. 
• Tada Hozumi, Cultural Somatic Therapist
• Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism

I also acknowledge the work and influence of the following leaders whose offerings I have studied extensively & continue to revisit:

• Angela Y. Davis, Revolutionary, scholar, philosopher & author of multiple books, including Women, Race & Class & Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the foundations of a movement
• Resmaa Menakem, Somatic therapist and author of My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies
• Mahzarin Banaji, Professor, co-creator of the Harvard Implicit Association Tests & co-author of Blindspot: The hidden biases of good people
• Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race
• Patrisse Cullors, Revolutionary, co-founder of the BlackLivesMatter movement & author of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black lives matter memoir
• ​Kwame Anthony Appiah, Philosopher and author of The Lies That Bind: Rethinking identity​
• Krista Tippett, founder of the OnBeing podcast/project & author of Becoming Wise: An inquiry into the mystery and art of living
• Eula Biss, Author of several books & essays including White Debt, published in the New York Times Magazine

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And finally, I uphold those who paved the way for this work, these ancestors of justice and liberation who imagined a better way and whose acts of resistance and calls for revolution have informed my own path and practice: 

• Marsha "Pay it no mind" Johnson (24 August, 1945 - 6 July, 1992), Leader in the Stonewall uprising of 1969 & community support for Black & brown drag queens and transfolk
• Sylvia Rivera (2 July, 1951 - 19 February, 2002), Transgender and gay liberation activist & advocate for unhoused members of the trans and queer community
• Anne Braden (28 July, 1924 - 6 March, 2006), Civil rights leader in the United States & strong example of servant leadership & active anti-racism on the part of a white person
• Louis Riel (22 October, 1844 - 16 November, 1885), Métis Freedom fighter & resistance leader sentenced to death by the Canadian government