One of the main ideas I took away from the webinar \u201cRethinking Participation: Neurodiversity and Inclusion in Digital Learning Communities\u201d was the intentional creation of psychological safety in learning design (Burgess, 2026). This was evident in how Burgess facilitated the session, where they used anonymous polls and normalized different ways of showing up (2026). I agreed with Burgess\u2019 emphasis on psychological safety as a foundation for engagement. This relates to the few opportunities I have had to facilitate the two-day workshop Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), especially given how sensitive the conversations can be and how personal the topic is for many people. As Edmondson (2018) explains, psychological safety involves creating a space where people feel comfortable being themselves and speaking openly. A significant part of day one in the ASIST workshop is building connection and helping participants feel grounded before engaging with difficult material. They spend time sharing personal stories and reflecting on how their beliefs about suicide may influence their responses. It is remarkable to witness how quickly a safe space can shift the way a group of strangers engage with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have also observed how psychological safety is more evident in some of my work settings and less so in others. In my experience on mental health and psychosocial support teams, people tend to engage and share more openly. This reflects research suggesting that critical reflection is encouraged through open dialogue within teams (Hyde, 2021). As Edmondson (1999) defines it, psychological safety is \u201ca shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking\u201d which supports asking questions and offering different perspectives (p. 354). However, this safe space is not always present in other team environments such as operations or program management meetings. In those settings, I have found that interactions are generally more task focused and there are fewer opportunities for all voices to be heard. One approach we introduce in training to address this is the \u201cSenior Silence\u201d rule, drawn from Robert Chambers\u2019 concept of the power to empower (Green, 2012). By limiting senior voices, it creates space for broader participation and supports psychological safety. This made me think of Burgess\u2019 webinar. It not only challenges power dynamics but also the idea that participation is defined by speaking and other forms of engagement that privilege extroverts. These examples have reinforced for me the importance of designing and facilitating with psychological safety in mind across both learning and team environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Note on writing process:<\/strong> References<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Burgess, M. (2026). Rethinking Participation: Neurodiversity and Inclusion in Digital Learning<\/em> Communities<\/em> [Webinar]. Royal Roads University. https:\/\/bit.ly\/VS2026Burgess<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. In Administrative Science Quarterly<\/em> (Vol. 44, Issue 2, pp. 350\u2013383). Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. https:\/\/web.mit.edu\/curhan\/www\/docs\/Articles\/15341_Readings\/Group_Performance\/Edmondson%20Psychological%20safety.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Edmondson, A. (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. John Wiley & Sons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Green, D. (2012). Robert Chambers on the fifth power (the power to empower).<\/em> From Poverty to Power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyde, B. (2021). Critical discourse and critical reflection in Mezirow\u2019s Theory of Transformative Learning: a dialectic between ontology and epistemology (and a subtext of reflexivity mirroring my own Onto-Epistemological movement). Adult Education Quarterly<\/em>, 71<\/em>(4), 373\u2013388. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/07417136211003612<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the main ideas I took away from the webinar \u201cRethinking Participation: Neurodiversity and Inclusion in Digital Learning Communities\u201d was the intentional creation of psychological safety in learning design (Burgess, 2026). This was evident in how Burgess facilitated the… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":332,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru316\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
This reflection was refined with the support of AI for grammar checking and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n