women's personal development programme

"Moving from silence into speech is for the oppressed, the colonized, the exploited, and those who stand in struggle side by side a gesture of defiance that heals, that makes new life and new growth possible."

bell hooks

academic, feminist

The women's PDP course

All Oxytocin-Learning courses take a 360 degree approach to blended learning. Our culturally competent Women’s personal development training courses provide stimulating online and face-2-face learning opportunities over a 15-week period.

Each course combines interactive learning sessions, webinars, presentations and self-reading. The programme is designed to equip participants with an understanding of self and with the tools which are necessary to support one’s growth in contemporary society.

Our womens’ PDP has been co-designed with participants living with mental health challenges and/or direct experience of mental health services.

The course is also founded upon wide-ranging research.

Blended learning

Our blended Women’s Personal Development Programme (PDP) training involves:

The equivalent of one day of learning per week over a 15 week period
An online 2-3 hour interactive learning session each week so that training support is available to support, consolidate and embed learning.
Topics to ensure participants have a solid grounding in the way race, ethnicity and culture interact with an individual’s lived experience of advocacy and mental health services.

“I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
W. E. B. Du Bois

Activities and learning material so participants develop a strong understanding of multiple forms of racism and patterns of inequality and how these relate to the racialised lived experience.
Uncovering our experiences and how they have shaped us
Supporting your ownership of your experiences and supporting your own unique awareness of self
Underpinning all of the work is the honing of your ability to honor your perspective as a Black woman and this is what we mean by through ‘The Black Lens’
We are attempting, with you, to dismantle some of the stereotypes and views that the world holds of you so that you can see yourself without those shackles.
Our lessons are specifically designed to assist you on this journey of self-determination and empowerment.
The women’s PDP helps to uncover your responses to the questions ‘Who am I? Who do I want to be? and How will I get there?’ This helps you to reveal who you are as a black woman in the past, in the present and in your future and equips you in the design of your life going forward.
You will do this through activities which focus on the what you need to do in the present to create YOUR own future.

Course commitment

Each lesson requires participants to carry out 3-5 hours pre-course activities, including self-reading, videos and presentations before attending a scheduled 2-3 hours interactive webinar. Each activity has been specifically designed to embed learning in different ways which is why each part of the course is essential.