Anita Arnold - The Convergence Center - Social Justice, Personal Growth

“I have one small drop of knowing in my soul. Let it dissolve in your ocean.” ~ Rumi

Anita Arnold, M.Ed, CMP, is the creator and founder of The Convergence Center, which she opened in 2006. She has been in private practice as a psychotherapist for over 20 years and has found a means to converge her "work world" with her "activist world work" as a diversity trainer, cultural competency educator and organizational consultant. Her undergraduate degree is in World Cultures, and she has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Temple University. Her post graduate work includes studying for two years at the Multicultural Institute of Family Therapy under the supervision of Monica McGoldrick, PhD. where the focus of the family therapy training was through the lenses of race, class, ethnicity, gender and

sexual orientation. In addition to past experiences as executive director and clinical director of several social service agencies,

she has worked as a family therapist for over 20 years, and has incorporated her systems theoretical approach when consulting with organizations. Her approach is integrative, life-affirming, and holistic.

With a history of social justice activism for over 30 years, Anita has found passion and commitment integrating her practice as a therapist with her social justice endeavors. She has trained at “Training for Change” in Philadelphia, and “Theater of the Oppressed” in New York, in addition to participating in numerous anti-racism and anti-oppression trainings. When consulting with human service agencies, non profit agencies and organizations, she starts with a foundation of a commitment to social justice to her design models, and she finds challenge in assisting organizations assess their commitment to becoming not only culturally competent, but culturally proficient.

Two innovative workshops she has designed are “Moving Injustice” and “Blinded by the White”. Both are geared to help organizations address issues of diversity and cultural competency, as well as lead participants thru the examination of white cultural identity and the impact of power and privilege at both the individual and organizational level. Anita also consulted with a European project and assisted medical personnel from thirteen European Countries in creating a cultural competency curriculum.

She is active in community projects that address the dynamics of oppression, and holds membership in “Community Action Against Racism”, NAACP, and “No Place for Hate”. While residing in Pennsylvania, she was appointed by the County Commissioners to the Bucks County Human Relations Council. She initiated and facilitated the Steering Committee for the First Annual Bucks County Diversity Summit in 2006.

Anita has recently relocated to Blue Hill, Maine, where she has opened THE CONVERGENCE CENTER—an international training and consulting practice that unites social justice with personal growth concerns. Contact her at 207-669-2836 or anita@theconvergencecenter.org for additional information, consulting and training needs.

Partial list of Clients and Past Trainings and Workshops include:

Bucks County Housing Group
Pennsylvania Psychiatric Nurses Association
Ocean County Library Diversity Initiative
Penn Foundation Mental Health Association
Bucks County Intermediate Unit Diversity Task Force Annual Conference
Bucks County Diversity Summit
Journey Toward Wholeness Anti-Racist Task Force
UUCWC, Titusville, N.J.
Multicultural Arts Program
Fifteen Minute Festival, Maine
Migrant Friendly Hospital Project
Michener Museum Diversity Task Force
Liberty School
Diversity Leadership Institute--Univ. of Maine
Community Services Foundation
NASW Maine Chapter