Solidarity Healing September

A Workshop for Psychiatric Survivors
On Blackness

I am honored to participate in Solidarity Healing September in cooperation with Black Healing October, projects of Reclaim UGLY. The main idea for Solidarity Healing September is that there will be a variety of (online) events taking place this September for a multiracial audience that should/could help along with examining, understanding, and uptimately healing and learning to live against rather than through anti-Blackness and white-supremacy. Participants of these events will be kindly asked for donations. These donations will be used for Black Healing October, an all Black space, where Black healers, artists, educators will offer a variety of healing sessions (online) in October for Black people and will be paid for them, while participation in these events will be free of charge. This is how I would quickly describe Solidarity Healing September and Black Healing October in my own words, but please check out this video by Reclaim-UGLY founder Vanessa Rochelle Lewis to get a fuller sense:

My workshop will be a space to think about Blackness and anti-Blackness in relationship to psychiatric survivor experiences, positionalities, and organizing. I believe that solidarity must have a basis in an understanding of how we are situated in the world and in relation to each other. The workshop gives an introduction to important concepts by the Black radical thinkers Frank Wilderson, Hortense Spillers and Alex Weheliye. These concepts include: captive, free, Black, Slave, Human, flesh, body, person. I will then attempt to situate psychiatric survivorhood in relation to these concepts. I will also share how I learned about these concepts, and how my story of learning is related to my story of psychiatric lock-up. I welcome participants to contribute their knowledge as well. No specific prior knowledge is required or expected – just an openness to thinking and learning.

I ask for donations from non-Black participants, which will go to Black Healing October. I suggest a donation (for non-Black participants) between 3 and 60 US-Dollars / Euro. Please decide on an amount in that range (or above), depending on how much money you have available. Many psychiatric survivors are poor, and if you do not have much or any money available and are interested in the workshop, please join anyway. But if you have (more) money available, please donate generously.

Where? The workshop will take place online, probably via Zoom.

When? The workshop will take place on Saturday, September 26, starting 9am (yes, in the morning!) Pacific Time. That would be 12 noon Eastern Time, or 6pm Central European Time, to name but a few time zones. It will go for about two hours.

For whom? The event will be for psychiatric survivors. Maximum 15 participants.

Do you want to participate? Please sign up via the SolidarityHealingSeptember Eventbrite Page.