Are you saying or doing things that you don’t realize are culturally insensitive?

The session will help you identify behaviors that show disrespect, biases, unfair advantage, and also positive reinforcement.  Called micro-messages,  these behaviors, when experienced by others shows insensitivity to aspects of their culture that are important to them.  The impact of these insensitive messages creates negative feelings that can build up and affects the  workplace and your staff and volunteers. Learning to recognize and limit the negatives and increase the positives  can help you become more culturally competent, and support a respectful and inclusive work environment where every individual can thrive.

Session objectives include:

• Define cultural competence and micro-messages
• Recognize micro-messages, both positive and negative as they occur in the workplace
• Increase awareness of the impact of micro-messages, and their cumulative effect on people and teams
• Practice identifying and managing micro-messages

Natasha Coleman, MPH, Sr. Director State Health Systems, Eastern Division, American Cancer Society, Inc.
Natasha Coleman is the senior director of State Health Systems for the American Cancer Society Eastern Division. Currently, she provides overall guidance and direction to a team of program directors and grant-funded staff. Collaboratively, Natasha maintains a comprehensive portfolio for such statewide accounts as New Jersey and New York State Departments of Health and health plans such as Emblem Health and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Previously, at the American Cancer Society, Natasha managed a $2.2 million budget for the Central New Jersey market. She implemented a comprehensive strategic plan to improve regional partnerships with priority hospital systems. She managed a $150 thousand multiyear Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation grant focused on enhancing the patient navigation services within priority hospital systems that treat the medically underserved.

In 2001 as a program coordinator at the American Cancer Society, she developed their cancer screening and education program, Sister to Sister and Brothers Talk, and moved on to senior director of Cancer Control and Patient Navigation in 2005.

Earlier, at Horizon NJ Health, she implemented education programs for their Medicaid member network throughout Northern New Jersey.

Natasha received her Masters in Public Health from Rutgers. She lives in Ewing with her husband and two daughters.