~ A resilience & healing workshop for changemakers facilitated by Kate Werning & Shawna Wakefield ~

How have you been feeling since the election?

Like, honestly?

The future of our country and our world is at a tipping point. To transform the systems of extraction, exploitation, and violence that are destroying our planet and further harming the most marginalized communities, we need all hands on deck.

But we gotta still be here in order to make lasting change. Our own resilience is foundational to our strategy. Our psyches, spirits, and bodies must be cared for every step of the way, not sidelined until “after the work is done." We need you to be supported and in balance, so your nervous system can down-regulate from automatic stress response and create the space that is neurologically and biologically needed for creativity, stamina, and resilience.

Any of this sound familiar?

• Suppressing underlying anxiety, fear, rage, or grief through working harder or taking constant action

• Shame that turning off the news or social media, taking time off, or resting makes you complacent, privileged, or disengaged

• Martyring your physical health, relationships, or personal goals for the sake of the work

• Lack of patience and frustration at others who are not showing up in the ways you think they should

The good news:

We can totally work for change in a way that doesn't turn the evils of extraction, exploitation, and dehumanization in upon ourselves and each other.

You are invited to breathe, to inhabit your body, to imagine, and to be connected to a community of supportive peers in your changemaking work who see and care about you beyond the roles you play and the work you do.

What we'll do together:

• Create a space of mutual care to be honest about our emotional realities and not have to perform hope or rep our organizations

• Learn how systems of oppression are showing up in our our bodies, and what trauma and grief have to do with it

• Explore the boundaries and practices we'll need to interrupt oppression from passing through us into the work

• Share simple healing practices you can take with you: meditation, body scan, essential oils, & more

Best of all, you'll build a community of support with changemakers who share your commitment to wellbeing and liberation along the way.

Who this is for: This workshop sits at the intersection of social change, peer support, and internal transformation. It will serve a diverse group of organizers, activists, healers, wellness practitioners, and newer activists ready to dive into the work of inner and outer change. As facilitators we have anti-oppression and trauma-informed wellness and organizing training, and the workshop space strives to be inclusive and supportive of all gender expressions, sexual orientations, dis/abilities, racial identities, class backgrounds, and learning styles. Absolutely no previous experience with yoga, meditation, somatics, or anything of the sort is needed - come as you are!

Where it's headed: This workshop is a project of the Liberation School collective, a group of 5 organizer-healers launching the first cohort of liberatory leadership fellows this summer with a 5-day intensive and 9-month mentorship program. Learn more about Liberation School here - applications will open soon!

The deets: The workshop will be held in the supportive and cozy environment of Kate’s Community House in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. The only entrance to the house involves walking up 5 stairs.

Cost & Scholarships: Your $35 contribution helps support supplies (tea, snacks, essential oils, materials) & the sustainability of the labor of women organizer/healers who putting tons of time and heart into preparing this experience for you. It is part of our commitment to resisting burnout culture. If the price is a barrier to entry for you, please contact me at kate.werning@gmail.com and let me know what you can do. I am deeply committed to raising money for full and partial scholarships and would be happy to get your name on my list. Likewise, if you can afford more, please chip in to make this accessible to folks regardless of financial means.

Thank you!

- Kate & Shawna