ASHFIELD — The Ashfield Police Department is sponsoring a community discussion about diversity and cultural awareness on Thursday, April 13, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Ashfield Town Hall.

“I want people in the town to be able to be OK with each other,” said Police Chief Beth Bezio. “I want them to understand we are all different and that doesn’t make us bad.”

The discussion will be led by the Springfield-based nonprofit Potter’s Wheel Community Services. CEO Natasha Mitchell and her co-facilitator, Brian Mitchell, have offered these “ripple effect” workshops across the state. The workshops foster a dialogue about race and differences while also considering healing and restorative justice.

As part of their process, the Mitchells create a community needs assessment ahead of each workshop so they that can tailor the discussion specifically to the needs of that community.

“We hope to leave individuals understanding cultural awareness and being willing to stand in opposition to harm,” Brian Mitchell said.

Bezio attended a workshop facilitated by Potter’s Wheel Community Services that focused on crisis intervention teams and decided to bring the nonprofit to Ashfield to lead a workshop.

“The Potter’s Wheel presenters are absolutely fabulous,” Bezio said. “It was completely non-judgmental and informative. It opened information up to us as police.”

Bezio explained that while Ashfield may be more homogenous than other towns in Massachusetts, there are many Indigenous and transgender people, as well as different races and cultures, represented throughout town.

“We have a lot of different cultures here,” she said. “In order to better communicate and understand each other, I thought this workshop would be a good idea.”

“We hope the information is received and can create avenues to put these things into practice to ask the questions and be willing to do the work,” Natasha Mitchell said.

A second discussion is scheduled for Thursday, June 22, at 4:30 p.m.

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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