Ask the Expert: Practicing Compassion to Further Social Justice and Create Change
Through our work with hundreds of clients, The Diversity Movement has connected with thousands of fascinating people who are creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces and communities. For this “Ask the Expert” series, we invite leaders to talk about their DEI journey, lessons they’ve learned, and what inspires them every day.
Sydney Spears, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB), Center for Mindful Self-Compassion
Sydney Spears, Ph.D., LCSW, (she/her) is a certified Mindful-Self Compassion teacher and the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) for the Center of Mindful Self-Compassion (CMSC). She has been dedicated to advocating for social justice for underrepresented and oppressed groups for many years. Practicing self-compassion and compassion for others are important elements in her equity work and her daily self-care.
For 18 years, Sydney served as an administrator and professor for the University of Kansas-School of Social Welfare. Her academic teaching specialty and research involved issues of diversity, social justice, and clinical social work. This work expressed Sydney’s deep passion for advancing social equity for BIPOC and women-identified communities as well as other marginalized communities interfacing systemic injustices.
Sydney is highly committed to advancing anti-oppressive and trauma-sensitive organizational practices, policies and programs. This commitment also extends into Sydney’s “empowerment and liberatory” work as a private practice psychotherapist and her organizational DEIB leadership work for CMSC and the Center for Trauma and Embodiment in the Boston area.
