About Inclusion & Belonging at Virginia Tech
What is Inclusion & Belonging?
Inclusion & Belonging focuses on three specific areas of student development:
- relationship development
- leadership development
- mental health and well-being
Our graduates must be able to work and live among people who hold different identities and beliefs. As leaders, they must be able to lead and serve people who are different. Lastly, the current state of world affairs can be mentally challenging — students must learn to care for themselves and those around them.
We leverage Perspectives as a tool to assist with relationship and leadership development. For mental health and well-being, we use the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), which trains community members to not only help themselves but to help others within their wider social network. The primary focus of this skills-based stabilization program is to reset the natural balance of the nervous system.
Who is Inclusion & Belonging for?
- Me: The primary beneficiary of Inclusion & Belonging is the individual who wants to learn about themselves and how their beliefs are shaped. The goal isn't to encourage anyone to change their closely held beliefs, but to understand how those beliefs were formed and to determine if they lead to being the person they want to be.
- You: Constructive dialogue helps me understand you and how your beliefs were shaped. I get to hear your story and understand the "why" behind your views.
- We: Once I understand myself and how your ideas were shaped, we can determine how we can move forward together to positively affect our culture and community.
How?
Inclusion & Belonging focuses on three skills: increasing listening skills, increasing empathy, and creating relationships across differences.
Why?
The way to healing our differences is through dialogue, and through that path, we can reconcile our differences.