The Biascend Collection™

Bias & Equity Trainings

Uncover Implicit Bias, Elevate Awareness,

& End Discrimination Through Inclusive Action

The Biascend Collection is a dynamic training and consulting series designed to uncover explicit, hidden, and implicit bias, identify the discrimination they produce, and unravel the complex intersections of identity, bias, and systemic inequity.

This collection empowers employees, educators, and nonprofit and corporate teams to ascend their bias awareness—from simply knowing about bias to taking meaningful action that drives equity.

Participants will explore how bias shapes self-perception, impacts interactions with others, and fuels the policies, systems, and cultural norms within their organization.

It’s more than education—it’s a launchpad for equity-centered transformation.

The Biascend Collection™

Foundations

Explore our core trainings on implicit and explicit bias that unpack how they form, how they can lead to discrimination, and how to effectively interrupt them.

The Biascend Collection™

Perspectives

Explore our trainings on equity and fairness that define what fairness means, examine the relationship between equity and bias, and provide strategies to remove barriers to equal treatment and opportunity.

The Biascend Collection™

Identities

Explore featured trainings from the CivilRise™ Collection and other CircleUp offerings that center implicit bias, equity, and the intersections of systemic fairness & identity at their core.

Biascend™ Consulting Solutions

Expert Guidance for Complex Bias Challenges

Biascend™ Consulting supports leaders, managers, and HR professionals in navigating the complexities of implicit and explicit bias in the workplace. Whether you’re facing escalating tension, unclear accountability processes, or the impact of discrimination, we help you make sense of the situation and move forward with confidence and care.

Our team brings deep experience in detangling bias-related challenges—helping you:

  • Prevent issues from escalating

  • Clarify roles and responsibilities when harm has occurred

  • Strengthen your culture of fairness and accountability

  • Create clear, equitable action plans grounded in restorative values

This consulting service is designed to bring clarity where things feel stuck, offer strategy where systems fall short, and build momentum toward lasting equity.

The Biascend Collection™

Foundations

The Biascend Collection – Foundations includes CircleUp’s core training series on implicit bias, stereotypes, and microaggressions. These sessions introduce essential concepts like how bias forms, how it operates beneath the surface of our awareness, and how it can lead to unintentional discrimination—even by kind, well-intentioned people.

Participants will explore how bias is a natural part of how our brains process the world, and how cultural patterns can shape our assumptions in ways we don’t always recognize. But awareness is only the beginning: these trainings provide practical, empowering tools to identify, interrupt, and transform those automatic responses—so we can align our actions with our values, reduce harm, and build more inclusive, respectful workplaces.

MindTrench™

Unearth the roots of Implicit Bias & Explicit Bias and how to Interrupt Them in the Workplace.

  • MindTrench™ Unearthing the Roots of Bias and Discrimination in the Workplace

    What are biases? Where do they come from? Why do even the most well-intentioned people sometimes act in ways that cause harm?

    MindTrench™ invites participants on a powerful learning journey to explore these questions—digging deep into the foundations of implicit bias, explicit bias, and stereotypes, and how they show up in real-world workplace interactions.

    This training is a refreshed and reimagined version of CircleUp Education’s most popular course, Diversity Uncovered, and remains one of our most sought-after and celebrated sessions. Rooted in clarity, simplicity, and empowerment, MindTrench™ breaks down complex concepts into accessible and engaging learning moments—without sacrificing depth.

    Participants will learn:

    • What implicit and explicit bias are—and the difference between them

    • How our brains form automatic associations that can lead to unintentional harm

    • Why bias is not a moral failing, but a natural part of being human—and how recognizing it can lead to powerful change

    • How well-meaning actions can still reinforce inequity, exclusion, or discrimination

    • How bias affects relationships, decision-making, and trust in professional environments

    With a focused exploration of explicit bias and workplace stereotypes, this session helps participants understand how conscious and unconscious bias can influence behavior, shape workplace dynamics, and create barriers to inclusion. Participants will also walk away with tools and language to help them identify bias in themselves, challenge bias when they encounter it, and begin removing explicit barriers to equity in their teams, culture, and systems.

    Using real-world examples and case studies, MindTrench™ also examines how bias plays out across social identities—including race, gender, disability, age, and class—and the ways it can subtly and overtly impact opportunities, interactions, and perceptions in the workplace.

    By the end of this session, participants will not only understand what bias is, but will also have the confidence and tools to recognize it, talk about it, and begin the work of preventing it from causing harm to those they serve, support, or work alongside.

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Customization Available:
    This training can be tailored for specific industries, roles, and identity focus areas—including race, gender, disability, and class—and adapted for audiences such as:

    • School staff and educators (K–12 and higher ed)

    • Nonprofit professionals and service providers

    • Regional Center staff and service coordinators

    • Healthcare providers and medical teams

    • Managers, leadership teams, or general staff

Mirage™

Reveal Illusions of Implicit Bias & Microaggressions — Learn to Self-Interrupt Before They Cause Harm

  • Mirage™ Revealing the Illusion of Implicit Bias and Learning to Self-Interrupt Before Harm Occurs

    Understanding implicit bias—how it lives in our minds and subtly shapes our actions—isn’t easy. In fact, one of the most difficult concepts to grasp is that we can hold biases that we aren’t even aware of. Yet those hidden assumptions can deeply impact how we see others, how we make decisions, and how we treat the people we serve.

    Mirage™ is designed to make the invisible visible—to help participants uncover the elusive, often unconscious nature of implicit bias and understand how even well-intentioned people can unintentionally reinforce discrimination. This training doesn’t approach the topic with blame or shame—it uses clear metaphors, practical tools, and brain science to bring clarity and insight to an otherwise fuzzy and misunderstood subject.

    Participants will explore:

    • What implicit bias really is—and how it differs from explicit bias

    • Why implicit bias is so difficult to detect, even in ourselves

    • How hidden assumptions shape workplace interactions and service delivery

    • The real-world impacts of unchecked bias, including microaggressions and unintentional harm

    • The difference between intent and impact—and why understanding this matters

    A cornerstone of this training is the introduction of the Self-Interruption Tool™—a simple but powerful technique that helps participants pause, reflect, and disrupt unconscious bias in real time. This tool can be used daily to reduce the likelihood that hidden attitudes shape behavior and outcomes, especially in client-facing, caregiving, or team environments.

    Mirage™ brings compassion and clarity to the conversation around bias. It equips participants not just with knowledge, but with the self-awareness and skills to interrupt internalized patterns before they cause harm. Rather than trying to “fix” people, this training empowers them to understand the psychological processes that lead to bias and to take mindful, proactive steps to create safer, more equitable interactions.

    This session is a refreshed and elevated enhancement of CircleUp Education’s most popular training, Diversity Uncovered—informed by years of field-tested feedback and refined to leave a lasting impression.

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Customization Available:

    This training can be tailored for specific industries, audiences, or focus areas, including but not limited to:

    • School staff and educators (K–12 and higher ed)

    • Regional Center teams, service providers, and case managers

    • Healthcare professionals, nurses, and support staff

    • Nonprofit organizations and direct service teams

    • General workplace staff and managers in public or private sectors

    • Emphasis options: Race, gender, disability, age, class, language, or intersectional identities

The Call-in Card™

Disrupting Bias & Clarifying Questionable Behaviors Using Conscious Conversions

  • The Call-In Card™ - Disrupting Bias & Clarifying Questionable Behaviors Using Conscious Conversations

    Over the last decade, one question has come up more than any other in our implicit bias trainings:
    "What should I do if someone says or does something that feels discriminatory, but I'm not sure?"

    In the workplace—and in life—these moments are all too common. A coworker makes a comment that sounds like a compliment but lands uncomfortably. A client says something that feels off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Or you witness a behavior that could be biased or discriminatory, but calling it out feels risky, confrontational, or unclear.

    The Call-In Card™ was created for these exact moments. This practical, skill-based training teaches participants how to engage in what we call a Conscious Conversation—a structured way to pause, seek clarity, assume best intentions, and explore what’s really going on when behaviors or statements feel questionable, confusing, or potentially harmful.

    Rather than jumping straight to calling someone out, this training focuses on calling in—an approach that brings more awareness, curiosity, and compassion into moments of tension or misunderstanding. Participants learn how to:

    • Recognize when a comment, behavior, or action may stem from implicit or explicit bias

    • Pause and reflect on their own perceptions, emotions, and intentions

    • Engage in a conversation that promotes mutual understanding without escalating conflict

    • Use the Conscious Conversation Protocol to navigate sensitive situations across teams, departments, and client relationships

    • Interrupt bias in a way that’s constructive, respectful, and de-escalating

    This training empowers participants to build brave, inclusive cultures without fostering shame or fear. The goal is not to accuse—but to understand. It’s a tool that honors the reality that even well-intentioned people sometimes make mistakes, and that honest conversations can prevent misunderstandings from turning into division or harm.

    Whether you're working in education, social services, city government, tech, or healthcare, the Call-In Card™ can be applied across roles and sectors. With thousands of participants calling this one of CircleUp Education’s most transformative tools, it remains our #1 skill-based training for workplace inclusion, respectful communication, and everyday bias interruption.

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Customization Available:

    The Call-In Card™ training can be tailored for specific industries and focus areas, including:

    • Client or community engagement for service coordinators, social workers, and outreach professionals

    • Peer-to-peer scenarios for school staff, administrators, and city teams

    • Leadership and HR applications for managers, DEI officers, or executives

    • Healthcare communication between providers, staff, and patients

    • Public-facing environments like retail, hospitality, or utilities

    Training scenarios and role-plays can be custom-developed to reflect the unique dynamics, challenges, and frequent points of miscommunication in your organization—ensuring that learners walk away with tools that feel directly relevant, immediately useful, and easy to apply in real-life conversations.

The Biascend Collection™

Perceptions

Exploring How Bias and Equity Shape Our Systems, Services, and Sense of Fairness

The Biascend Collection – Perceptions is a dynamic training series designed to help organizations examine how implicit and explicit bias—alongside evolving definitions of equity—shape our perceptions, systems, and interactions with others. This collection brings to light how unconscious assumptions can influence not just how we view individuals, but also how we design programs, enforce policies, and decide what fairness looks like. At the same time, it challenges participants to define and apply real, actionable equity—not as a vague ideal, but as a measurable standard that requires us to recognize and respond to disparities. Whether you're navigating person-centered planning, building team processes, creating protocols, or making policy decisions, this collection offers both analytical tools and transformational mindsets to help you move from intention to impact. This is not just a training series about seeing bias and equity—it’s about reshaping what we do because of what we now see.

Equity-ish™

Exploring the Hidden Layers of Equity, Equality, Bias, Fairness, and Access in the Workplace

  • Equity-ish™ - Exploring the Hidden Layers of Equity, Equality, Bias, Fairness, and Access in the Workplace

    What does it really mean to treat people fairly? Is giving everyone the same support truly enough? And how do our unseen biases shape our understanding of opportunity and access?

    Equity-ish™ invites participants to rethink what equity actually looks like—not just in theory, but in the workplace, in services, in team dynamics, and in how we make decisions. While “equity” and “equality” are often used interchangeably, this training explores the nuanced, and often misunderstood, differences between them. Participants will learn how bias, assumptions, and invisible barriers impact what we perceive as fair—and how those perceptions can reinforce real inequities.

    Participants will explore:

    • The difference between equality and equity, and why sameness does not always equal fairness

    • How implicit and explicit bias act as invisible building blocks that create or maintain disadvantage

    • The importance of recognizing how access, starting points, and privilege influence outcomes—even when policies appear neutral

    • How systemic or structural norms may favor some and exclude others

    • How our mindsets and professional practices can either reinforce or help remove bias-based barriers

    The training also provides critical insight into how misguided approaches to equity—such as lowering standards or applying identity-based quotas—can violate the spirit and intent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and even cause harm. True equity work doesn’t bend the rules for some—it seeks to remove the obstacles that never should have been there in the first place. This distinction is essential for anyone working in public service, education, hiring, policy, or people-facing roles.

    Participants will leave with:

    • A clear, grounded understanding of what equity is—and what it is not

    • Tools and language to identify where fairness may be distorted by bias or perception

    • A deeper awareness of how bias contributes to structural discrimination

    • A mindset shift that supports more ethical, inclusive, and legally sound approaches to equity in the workplace

    Whether you're a service coordinator, educator, HR lead, or team member, Equity-ish™ offers a powerful framework for seeing what’s often missed—and for shifting toward solutions that are both just and sustainable.

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Equity-ish™ can be tailored to meet the unique needs and realities of your organization or team. Customizations can include:

    • Emphasis on specific social identities (e.g., race, gender, disability, age, language, class)

    • Focus on particular relationship dynamics, such as:

      • Staff-to-client or provider-to-community relationships

      • Peer-to-peer or employee-to-employee interactions

      • Manager-to-staff or leadership dynamics

    • Application of the training through the lens of your organizational systems, processes, or practices, including:

      • Service delivery

      • Hiring and promotion

      • Communication practices

      • Program design

      • Policy and protocol review

    Whether your goal is to explore equity at a systemic level or improve interpersonal dynamics through a bias-aware lens, this training can be customized to make the content directly relevant and actionable for your context.

PersonCentrik™

BIAS

Applying Person-Centered Thinking Through an Equity and Implicit Bias Lens for Inclusive and Empowering Support Planning

  • Even the most well-intentioned service planning can fall short if it doesn’t truly reflect the person at the center—or if it unconsciously embeds bias into goals, language, or expectations.

    PersonCentrik™ is a practical, reflective training designed to elevate how service providers, coordinators, and support staff apply person-centered thinking in a way that is also equity-driven and bias-aware. This session helps participants understand how implicit and explicit bias can influence planning processes—from intake conversations to the details written in an Individual Program Plan (IPP) or One Page Profile.

    Participants explore how cultural assumptions, diagnosis-based stereotypes, or internalized social norms can unconsciously shape what we think someone needs or deserves. More importantly, this training offers strategies to interrupt those patterns, so plans reflect the full dignity, voice, and identity of the person receiving services.

    Participants will learn how to:

    • Define person-centered thinking and examine how it relates to identity, equity, and cultural humility

    • Identify points in the IPP and One Page Profile process where bias is most likely to appear

    • Understand the difference between “important to” vs. “important for” and how bias can disrupt this balance

    • Apply bias-aware planning practices that uphold each person’s lived experience, values, and communication preferences

    • Use reflection tools like the Floodgate Technique™ to check assumptions before they become barriers

    • Begin developing a lens to assess whether existing service plans or recommendations honor the person’s humanity—or unintentionally stereotype or erase it

    This training acknowledges that bias in planning isn't always obvious—it can show up in the language we use, the goals we suggest, or the way we define "safety," "independence," or "quality of life." By building in reflection, equity, and cultural context, participants can transform their planning practices into something more inclusive, collaborative, and impactful.

    Who Should Attend:

    • Regional Center Service Coordinators

    • Counselors, therapists, and restorative circle keepers

    • Direct support staff, paraprofessionals, and care providers

    • IPP writers, program managers, and behavioral staff

    • Anyone involved in planning or delivering person-centered services

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    PersonCentrik™ can be adapted to reflect your organization’s specific tools, service models, and populations. Customizations can include:

    • Integration with your existing One Page Profile templates, IPP documents, or person-centered planning frameworks

    • Focus on specific client communities (e.g., multilingual families, BIPOC clients, neurodivergent individuals)

    • Custom case scenarios based on staff-to-client, team-to-family, or peer-to-peer interactions

    • Incorporation of your agency’s values, initiatives, and compliance requirements

    Coming soon: A full 2-day PersonCentrik™ Certification Course, which includes continuing education units (CEUs). This extended training will provide a deeper dive into person-centered thinking and bias prevention strategies, offering learners a certificate of completion that affirms their readiness to lead equitable, identity-affirming planning processes.

The EquiScope Lens™

An Equity-Based Assessment Tool for Uncovering Implicit Bias in Policies, Processes, and Organizational Procedures

  • The Equiscope Lens™ - A Practical Equity Tool for Uncovering Implicit Bias in Policies, Processes, and Daily Practices

    Course Description

    Fairness isn’t automatic—it’s engineered.
    Even the most well-intentioned processes, systems, and supports can unintentionally create harm when implicit bias and starting point blind spots go unexamined.

    The Equiscope Lens™ is a powerful, practical tool designed to help people and organizations assess their current practices, policies, and procedures through a deep equity lens—to scan for bias, surface blind spots, and take meaningful action.

    This session is more than a training—it’s a hands-on learning lab. Participants learn the full Equiscope Lens framework and immediately apply it to a real policy, process, meeting structure, protocol, or decision-making practice from their work. Whether you're writing IPPs, designing programs, facilitating restorative justice processes, creating treatment or care plans, or reviewing hiring or intake protocols—this tool is for you.

    What Participants Will Learn:

    • How to apply a bias-informed, equity-centered lens to real workplace systems and practices

    • How to identify and challenge implicit bias and discrimination embedded in everyday actions and structures

    • How to define and use equity benchmarks to measure fairness

    • How to uncover and name starting point blind spots and group disparities

    • How to distinguish between maker and doer roles when assessing your sphere of impact

    • How to build SMARTER action plans for creating more inclusive, equitable practices

    Who Should Attend:

    This training is designed for anyone with influence over how things are done, including:

    • Service coordinators developing IPPs or guiding care

    • Social workers, case managers, and counselors supporting individuals and families

    • Restorative justice practitioners creating group agreements or conference plans

    • Community organizers and program developers working with diverse populations

    • City and nonprofit staff leading processes, drafting policy, or designing public-facing systems

    • Team leaders or managers seeking to review meeting structures, workflows, or performance policies

    If your role involves a method, process, structure, or system that affects others, this training offers the clarity and strategy to ensure it’s fair, inclusive, and bias-aware.

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Customization Available:

    The Equiscope Lens™ training can be tailored to reflect your team’s:

    • Industry or department (e.g., education, mental health, civic engagement, youth justice, HR)

    • Target population (e.g., disability communities, multilingual families, BIPOC clients)

    • Specific tools or frameworks already in use, including IPPs, One Page Profiles, behavior support plans, meeting protocols, and more

    Participants will leave this session not only understanding equity more deeply, but with a concrete, ready-to-use framework to help them become agents of change in their daily work.

The Biascend Collection™

Systems & Identities

Unpacking the Deep Roots of Bias, Culture, and Identity in Systems and Society

The Biascend Collection™ Systems & Identities takes a powerful, introspective, and systems-level look at how implicit and explicit bias shape not only how people are treated—but how they come to see themselves and navigate the world. This collection explores how bias intersects with culture, identity, and discrimination, influencing our values, traditions, communication styles, and even our sense of belonging. It asks: What happens when the world sees us through a distorted lens? And how do those distortions become embedded in systems, habits, and interactions over time? Participants are invited to examine how social identities—such as race, gender, disability, class, age, language, and more—are shaped by structural forces and lived experience, and how bias molds both personal self-image and professional perceptions. Through this lens, bias is not just an interpersonal issue—it's a cultural and systemic force that influences policy, access, and opportunity.

This collection includes some of CircleUp Education’s most popular and impactful courses, each grounded in deep reflection, real-world application, and identity-affirming practices. The Identities collection is ideal for teams and organizations looking to go beyond foundational DEI learning and build a more sophisticated, nuanced understanding of the roots of bias, the construction of identity, and the systemic nature of discrimination.

This isn’t just a training series—it’s a reckoning with the social forces that shape how we live, lead, and connect.

Crossed Culture™

Exploring the intersection of Culture and Bias: Uncovering the Hidden Costs of Misunderstanding

  • What happens when two cultures meet—but don’t understand each other? Crossed Culture™ explores that fragile and powerful space at the intersection of identity, bias, and belief. This training surfaces the invisible lines between tradition and assumption, curiosity and judgment, culture and discrimination.

    In workplaces and service settings, cultural bias often masquerades as values, preferences, or “just how we do things here.” But when unexamined, these deeply ingrained beliefs can lead to implicit exclusion, explicit harm, and missed opportunities for understanding. From misinterpreted behaviors to unconscious reactions, this training examines how cultural differences become misread, moralized, or even weaponized.

    Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how implicit and explicit bias are woven into cultural norms—sometimes invisibly, sometimes painfully—and how to notice when they or others are operating from cultural assumptions that distort perception, limit inclusion, or cause harm. Through reflective storytelling, scenario-based practice, and powerful tools for self-awareness, Crossed Culture™ helps teams build the emotional and intellectual capacity to work across difference—without crossing the line.

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Customization Options

    This training can be tailored for:

    • Cross-cultural teams, public service roles, or intergenerational dynamics

    • Specific sectors such as education, government, nonprofits, and healthcare

    • Teams needing support to bridge cultural divides, reduce conflict, or strengthen inclusion

    • Specific Cultures that exist in your community and their interactions with other cultures

    • Focus Group data can be used to adjust the training content to make it more relevant.

    Scenarios, stories, and content can be adjusted to reflect the cultural dynamics and day-to-day challenges of your team or service population.

BiasBlitz™

Creating New Implicit Bias & Equity Reinforcements To Enhance Training Efforts

    • Length - between 1.5-2 hours long

    • Format - Available in Live-online, In Person and Self-paced Format

    Customization Options

    This training can be tailored for:

Interested in bringing a Biascend™ training to your organization? Want to enroll multiple people in an upcoming Live-online course?

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Hours
Monday–Friday
7am–7pm Pacific Standard Time

Location
Oakland, California | & Your City!