Hey yall, I hope you’re talking some time for you this week. This post will likely come after National “You Name It!!” day lol. So I hope you were able to enjoy the holiday if you celebrated or at least used the time for some rest.
I wanted to share some details about an experience I had over the last month as well as an awesome summation activity.
If you don’t know, I like to use experiential therapy practices in my work with clients. To define, Experiential therapy is used to help clients recognize how their body experiences their feelings. For the last few weeks, I’ve been in a group that I’d say was “For Us, By Us”. It allowed me to do 2 things: revisit my background in African American Studies, & think about what it means to operate within a community that typically shies away from mental health. I didn’t realize how much work I had ahead of me as a Social Worker, but I wouldn’t change it. (Sidebar: I believe that faith without works is dead. Periodt. You can pray and do something to change your situation)
Anywho, The Onsite Foundation facilitated a virtual training and support workshop called Haven for Healers. Listen, when I tell yall there are some really AMAZING healers in the black community. I mean that! Each and every week I learned something new about myself. It was really such an honor to be in that space. Onsite is also where my mentors for this specific type of practice were educated, so it was definitely a full-circle moment. Gonna put it in the atmosphere that I’ll be traveling to train on the ranch in the next 3 years.
So, back to the summation activity.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. During the workshop, we learned about all the parts, good and bad, that make up the Black Healing Space. We were also given the opportunity to create a Kintsugi collage as a way to remember the important things that stood out to us.
Now, one thing I remembered about the goal of the actual pottery repair is to remember that there’s no such thing as a “perfect edge”. It’s all about embracing imperfections and realizing that you can still be whole, even with imperfect pieces. In doing this activity with the group It gave me a recharge I didn’t know I needed and reminded me that even when things get difficult or don’t go my way, I’m still whole… The cracks and bends just add character. I’m still whole.
In spite of it all, YOU are still whole. Don’t forget that and let no one make you believe otherwise.
As always, If something resonates and you decide that you want to access services, please reach out using the information on the Contact page or click schedule to request your free 15 min consultation. I am actively accepting clients in NC. Until next time, Take Care, Beloved!
