In the early days of the pandemic, our hearts swelled to hear crip wisdom guiding more mainstream ethics. We spoke of collective care and interdependence, of looking to sick and disabled folks for wisdom about how to navigate isolation and build more resilient communities. There was a recognition that the knowledge in sick and disabled communities could be a guiding light.
As things are opening up, some of us are returning or contemplating returning to more social lives, and some of us are continuing in the isolation we’ve long experienced. There will be pressures to forget all that the pandemic has taught us, to abandon the individual and collective changes we dreamed of, to chase after a “return to normal” even though that “normal” was killing us.
This group is a space to be with all of it: all of where we have been in the past year and a half, where we are, and where we’re going. We hold sick and disabled folks to be shapers of change (thank you Octavia Butler for this language, and adrienne maree brown for passing it down) in the past, present and future. We are thought leaders and contributors to culture. And much of what we know is through our bodies.
In this group, we will build space for the individual and collective change we’ve been longing for. We will work towards increasing a felt sense of safety in our bodies. We will share our dreams, reimagine our relationship to conflict, heal shame, and tend to our power. For sick and disabled BIPOC folks living in the context of ableism, racialized capitalism, transphobia and homophobia, healing is both ordinary and revolutionary work. In this group we take it out of isolation to be in it together.
Applications Open through to Sept 3rd, 2021. Apply here!
Details:
8 weeks: Wednesdays Oct 6 - Nov 24th 12:45pm - 2pm PST
Group held online via Zoom
Community Funded (thank you everyone!). Free for participants
12 participant spaces total, open to Sick and Disabled BIPOC residing in what is currently known as British Columbia. Priority will be given to Two-Spirit, queer, trans, Black, and Indigenous folks
Facilitators:
Premala Matthen (she/her) is a chronically ill cis queer woman of colour, and a settler living and working on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh territories. Her experiences of violence and oppression led her to seek change, for herself and others. She is a therapist in independent practice, the co-creator of SEEN: The Podcast, and the co-founder of Healing in Colour. Her work sits at the intersection of counselling and activism, firmly rooted in the radical possibilities of QTBIPOC spiritual and emotional healing. www.skeletonrising.com
Fayza Bundalli (she/her) is a chronically ill cis queer femme of South Asian heritage. She is a parent to a toddler, a teacher with Generative Somatics, and a somatic therapist and bodyworker. She is a settler living and practicing on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh territories. She works primarily with folks who are queer and BIPOC, supporting them to heal from the impacts of trauma and oppression, and to lead more liberated lives. www.fayzabundalli.com