​LHENA Talks Speaker Series

LHENA Talks is a monthly speaker series that takes place on the 4th Wednesday of every month from 7 to 8 p.m. Each talk features a guest speaker and focuses on community issues of interest and is sponsored by a local business. LHENA Talks strives to bring together residents, businesses, and community members alike to foster a space for fruitful discussions while highlighting the amazing work being done in our communities. Interested in being a speaker or sponsor? Take a moment to fill out this form. ​​

LHENA Talks No. 3:  Community Truth, Justice and Healing with Crixell Shell from Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute

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​This LHENA Talk was on Aug. 25, 2021, with Crixell Shell, the assistant executive director of the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute and a racial healing talking circle group leader for the Local Coming to the Table program. The talk focused on the work Crixell is doing with the Minnesota Peacebuilding Institute and Coming to the Table to unify and strengthen our community in Minneapolis through racial healing and restorative justice training. How do we transform psychological trauma into nonviolent power? How can we work together to create a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past, from slavery and the many forms of racism it produced? Crixell answered these questions and explained what steps we can take to empower our community through racial healing, equity and restorative justice.

Speaker: Crixell Shell

Crixell Shell is the assistant executive director of the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute and a racial healing talking circle group leader for the Local Coming to the Table program. A cisgender, African-American woman with a professional legal and technology background, Crixell was in the first Minnesota Peacebuilding Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) training cohort in 2010. Since then, she has been an integral part of the development of the STAR training and Coming to the Table in Minnesota. Crixell facilitates multiple Coming to the Table gatherings a month, and she is on the national Coming to the Table leadership team. Crixell is a master certified STAR trainer and will become the executive director of the Minnesota Peacebuilding Leadership Institute on Jan. 1, 2022.

Sponsors

The local business sponsors for the talk are Becoming Machinic and Sortilege. ​​Becoming Machinic creates business process automation solutions for legacy IT environments on-premise and in the cloud for small to midsize businesses. Sortilege is an independent game design studio, making card, board, and roleplaying games. ​

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Other talking points in Crixell's LHENA Talk included: 

  • What is restorative justice and how can it help heal and transform our community?
  • What are useful approaches to self-care for resilience?
  • How do we teach community leaders and care providers to be trauma-informed, resilience-oriented, and restorative-focused within their spheres of influence?
  • How do racial healing circles help address interpersonal, community and structural racial violence and trauma?
  • How can racial healing talking circles help build community trust and peace?
  • How do we make Minneapolis a just and truthful community — one that acknowledges and seeks to heal the racial wounds from the historical trauma of slavery, genocide of Native Americans, and the racism these collective traumas continue to produce?
  • How can communities provide ongoing relationship engagement, leadership, resources and a supportive environment to dismantle racism?
  • Why is it important and beneficial for us to learn and grow together?​​