Robert Horton is co-founder and and co-director of the UNtraining. He is a white man with a passionate interest in undoing racism and a belief that this process begins with oneself. Robert has been working with Rita Shimmin since 1994, studying her approach to multi-dimensionality which she calls Racism, Diversity and Risk of the Self. The UNtraining is based on their work together. Robert studied Process Work with Arnold Mindell and has practiced Tibetan Buddhism for more than 25 years.

Robert has led on-going private UNtraining groups since 1995. He has made individual presentations and led workshops at numerous schools and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, including JFK University, Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, San Joaquin Delta College, Berkeley Psychotherapy Institute and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He also works with individual clients around racism and social issues. More about Robert and How The UNtraining got started.

Rita Shimmin is co-founder of the UNtraining and a teacher of multi-dimensional consciousness. Her work, called Racism, Diversity and Risk of the Self, is the source and inspiration for the UNtraining. She continues to support the process of its development and acts as on-going mentor to leaders in the UNtraining.

Rita has been a teacher, trainer and coach for more than 35 years. She has worked within educational institutions, at all levels—with kindergarteners and university management teams—and with business entities, including community-based non-profits and national investment firms. In recent years, she has co-directed the Bay Area Black Women's Health Project and served as Interim Executive Director for Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services in San Francisco.

Rita is currently co-executive director for a large faith-based social agency in San Francisco. She is also an organizational consultant, teaching the development of multi-dimensional consciousness through group programs and individual coaching. She is available through referral only. More about Rita

Bob McIntosh has helped guide the UNtraining since its inception. As a high school math and computer science teacher-leader for many years, Bob has extensive experience in curriculum development and facilitating change efforts, and has been involved with diversity awareness and training programs in public schools. He has served as Mathematics Specialist for Curriculum and Instruction for the Washington State Department of Education. He leads workshops to help educators implement equitable teaching methods and problem-based learning.

Janet Carter has been a participant in the UNtraining since it began. As co-director with Robert, her focus is outreach and communications. Janet is a writer, editor. historical researcher and educator. She is currently writing a book called Good Little White Girl, investigating her personal, family and cultural heritage as an exploration of how the "white training" is handed down. She facilitates the ongoing Phase 3 of the UNtraining and leads writing workshops to explore whiteness. She is also the assistant teacher for Phase 1. Check out her blog Good Little White Girl now!

Swan Keyes is a psychotherapist, consultant, and anti-oppression educator. A woman of Caucasian Jewish descent with an MA in psychology and extensive training in drama therapy, Theatre of the Oppressed, and over 15 years of Vipassana meditation practice, Swan integrates expressive arts with other forms of experiential study to create dynamic learning environments for people of all ages to challenge racism, sexism, homophobia, classism and other forms of oppression. She specializes in working with youth and offers workshops and lectures for colleges and social justice-oriented organizations in the US and abroad. Swan currently lives in New England where she is on maternity leave. Swan's website

Rae Mary worked in the field of affordable housing for many years, including a stint as the Director of the Housing Department of the City of Dallas, Texas, and retired from the City of Oakland, California, where she oversaw the programs for hunger and homelessness. She is a long time housing advocate, and civil rights and feminist activist. Her participation in the UNtraining since 1997 arose from her increasing awareness of her own unconsciousness about her white racist training and the adverse impact it had on others. She works in many areas toward a world where we honor the needs of everyone as well as the resources of our planet.

Rae was a teaching assistant from 2000 through 2005 and has been a teacher since then. In 2005 she moved to the Midwest where she grew up, and is bringing the UNtraining to the area where she lives—Rock Island, Illinois, one of the Quad Cities, which also include Davenport, Iowa; Bettendorf, Iowa; and Moline, Illinois.

COMING IN 2012—PHASE I OF THE UNTRAINING IN THE QUAD CITIES!
Email Rae at midwest@untraining.org if you'd like to know more.

Kathleen Rice has been involved with the UNtraining since 2000 as one way to learn how to relate to the multiple forms of unearned privilege she receives. Her motivation is to live more equitably in the world, build trust in authentic relationships across differences, and be her full self. The UNtraining has had a profound effect on reducing her feelings of self-righteousness, guilt and shame in her anti-oppression work, and on increasing the joy, playfulness and love she brings and receives in doing this work.

In her work-for-pay, Kathleen serves as an independent consultant, facilitator and trainer on issues of diversity, leadership, community service learning, and community and organizational change in higher education, government and non-profit settings. Kathleen has pursued formal educational opportunities by earning degrees in elementary education, higher education, and college student development. She is also a certified facilitator in the Technology of Participation from the Institute of Cultural Affairs. She has worked in several universities and for the Corporation for National and Community Service. Kathleen is certified to lead Phase 1 of the UNtraining. Check out KL Rice Consulting

Deborah Marks is a bodyworker and teacher of Eutony and Rosen Movement work. She has also been trained in Somatic Experiencing for working with trauma and PTSD. She attends Quaker Meeting, and has lived in a collective household for 15 years. White, owning-class, female and Jewish, Deborah has been learning about privilege and oppression from many directions. She is joyously committed to allyship with other white people in unlearning our white training. She is a Phase 1 teacher.

Caren Ohlson is a Marriage & Family Therapy intern who works with children and adults in the East Bay. She has been involved with the UNtraining for over five years and is deeply committed to working with other white people to re-learn the curiosity, respect, love, and accountability that our white ancestors lost so long ago. Caren is also committed to using this new learning to be an active participant in political work with white people and people of color to dismantle structural racism in our society. She is a teacher-in-training.

Rachel Shaw has been actively participating in the UNtraining since she began Phase 1 in 2009, a transformative and eye-opening experience. In her work as a high school librarian and teacher, she looks for opportunities to talk with students about racial identity and privilege. Her experience as the mother of two white boys has also helped her see first-hand how early white conditioning begins. She enjoys connecting with other white people about whiteness and racism while also bringing a sense of humor to the process of white identity development. She is currently a teaching assistant in Phase 1.

 
Dr. Nancy Arvold is a retired senior teacher with the UNtraining. She is one of the founders and co-facilitators of East Bay Saturday Dialogues. Nancy offers presentations and trainings in the field of white studies and anti-racism, and teaches cross-cultural counseling. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, specializing in LGBT, couples, addiction, and family of origin issues. Nancy has been active in addressing treatment disparities and cultural competence in the field of social work for more than 12 years. She completed her Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Her dissertation, entitled "Doing Our Own Work, A Journey into Whiteness: White Women’s Struggles to Become Authentic Racial Justice Allies," is based on experiences of participants from the UNtraining. It can be accessed through Proquest or by emailing Nancy directly. She is developing a workshop based on this study.

Nancy came to the UNtraining in 1997 through a growing awareness of the complicity of white people in maintaining white supremacy. She believes that racism is the mortar that holds the bricks of oppression together, and that unconscious white privilege keeps this system of inequity going. Her current focus is prison justice, in particular the issue of abolishing solitary confinement. Contact Nancy: narvold@sunset.net

Read Nancy's DiversityWorld article - "Disability: The 'Achilles Heel' of Diversity Professionals"