We're All We Got: Building Community From Alignment, Not Transaction

Village of Sound Mind creates healing-centered spaces for Black and POC women and all their intersections to connect, reflect, and grow. Our events offer community support, guided discussions, and practical tools for personal and collective wellness. Led by Philicia Ross, LCSW-C, a therapist specializing in trauma and identity exploration, we hold space for authenticity, rest, and liberation. Join us as we cultivate spaces where you can show up fully and reclaim wellness on your terms.

Philicia Ross, LCSW-C

A restorative Holding Space for Black women to examine what real community asks of us, release the transactions disguised as connection, and

<p>You've heard it your whole life. We're all we got.</p><p>And in a moment like this one, when so much feels built to wear us down, isolate us, and convince us to go it alone, that truth lands different. For Black women and women of color, community has never been a nice-to-have. It's how we've survived.</p><p>But survival-community and aligned-community are not the same thing.</p><p>So much of what we call community is actually transaction. Keeping a quiet tally of who owes who. Showing up out of obligation instead of desire. Giving until we're empty because somewhere along the way we learned that's what love costs. Being the strong one everyone leans on, while no one ever asks who's holding us. Connection that drains instead of fills.</p><p><br></p><p>This July, Holding Space is about the difference.</p><p>What does it mean to be in real community? Not the performance of it. Not the networking version. Not the version where your worth is measured by how useful, how low-maintenance, how endlessly capable you can be. The kind built on alignment. On shared values. On mutual witnessing. On the radical idea that you get to belong without earning it.</p><p>July is what the country calls Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. And the most honest thing we can say about mental health for Black women right now is this: we cannot heal in isolation. We were never meant to. We are each other's medicine, when the community is built right.</p><p>Holding Space is therapeutic, not therapy. The healing happens through being witnessed, not through tools or techniques. The container itself is the medicine. Whatever you take from this space, whatever clarity, whatever release, whatever permission, that's yours to make of what you need.</p><p><br></p><h2>WHAT WE'LL TEND TO TOGETHER</h2><ul><li>Naming the difference between community that depletes us and community that aligns us</li><li>Looking honestly at where transaction has crept into how we connect, often without us realizing it</li><li>Releasing the belief that we have to earn our place by being useful, strong, or easy to deal with</li><li>Exploring what it means to receive, not only to give</li><li>Honoring the people and circles that have held us, and grieving the ones that didn't</li><li>Imagining what aligned, non-transactional community could actually look like for us going forward</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>WHAT TO EXPECT</h2><ul><li>A guided grounding practice to settle into the space</li><li>Four reflection prompts with time for journaling and optional sharing</li><li>Facilitated witnessing centered on the lived experiences of Black women and WOC</li><li>Space for silence, breath, and honoring your nervous system</li><li>A closing ritual to honor yourself and the community you carry</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Holding Space is therapeutic, not therapy. It centers presence and witnessing, not tools or techniques. Those seeking frameworks or skill-building are invited to explore Philicia's workshops, which are designed for integration and practical application.</p><p><br></p><h2>WHO THIS SPACE IS FOR</h2><p>This Holding Space is an affinity space centering Black women, femmes, and nonbinary folx.</p><p>It is designed with the cultural, emotional, and systemic realities we navigate at the forefront.</p><p>Those who do not share these experiences are welcome to attend with the understanding that this space does not center them, and that listening, witnessing, and respect are required.</p><p>This is not a debate space, an educational forum, or a place to be centered if your lived experience differs from the group being held.</p><p><br></p><h2>COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS</h2><ul><li>Speak from the "I"</li><li>Witness, not fix</li><li>Honor confidentiality</li><li>Respect silence and pacing</li><li>Care for your nervous system (pausing or stepping away is welcome)</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>DETAILS</h2><ul><li>Date: Sunday, July 26th, 2026</li><li>Time: 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET</li><li>Location: Online (Zoom link sent via email)</li><li>Facilitator: Philicia Ross, LCSW-C</li><li></li></ul><h2>OFFERING</h2><p>This July session is <strong><strong>free</strong></strong> and open to the community.</p>

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We're All We Got: Building Community From Alignment, Not Transaction

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We're All We Got: Building Community From Alignment, Not Transaction

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