Community
About
A space for liberation, emerging consciousness and ethical practices. Join us for support in your journey.
The South of Therapy project started out as a blog. Its purpose was to share knowledge and reflections that could help members of this profession, service users and clients, both feel seen and understood in their experience, as well as offer a direction for further unlearning/learning and development. We need more therapists who are knowledgeable and aware of how power and oppression impact on people’s mental health as well as on our work. We need people skilled in working with these issues openly and as safely as possible in the room.
But knowledge is not the only thing we need. We also need therapists who are courageous in developing their emotional capacity to be non-defensive and to hold themselves while working with these issues. Therapists who commit to their own journeys to dismantle internalised oppression. This new initiative will welcome people who want support to do this beyond what mainstream mental health practices and EDI spaces are ready to offer.
The therapeutic field is not neutral which is why these spaces will focus on liberation practices and anti-colonial thought. Learning and growth with a commitment to anti-oppressive principles include the need for support in challenge and experiencing joy together. I can’t wait to offer spaces for like-valued people to connect. If this sounds interesting to you, keep reading for more details…
Monthly Resources
Through a monthly curated newsletter, gain access to resources and reflective guidance to help you in your personal and professional development journey. These can include readings, podcasts or videos with accompanying reflective prompts.
Community Forum
All membership tiers will give you access to a mailing list where you’ll interact with other members. You can support each other, go through the newsletter content and reflective prompts together, or share other resources you find.
Regular Meetings
Higher membership tiers will also gain access to regular community online meetings, held via zoom. Meetings and Reading groups will be a space for in-depth delving into topics related to anti-oppression and community building.
Our values
Integrity: An unwavering commitment to anti-racism, anti-colonialism beyond mainstream EDI.
Ethics of care and abolition: accountability and supportive ways of relating instead of seeking blame and punishment for mistakes.
Collectivity: we will work together to uphold our shared values in our work. We will support and challenge each other as a shared responsibility.
Aims
To develop anti-oppressive praxis, aligning our work with our values.
To build community practices of mutual care and supportive challenge.
To share resources that will prove helpful in this process, and to promote discussions.
To creatively generate safe alternatives in our work.
Community Tiers
Different tiers will cater to different financial possibilities and time commitments. All tiers give access to the mailing list where you can interact with other members. The community will take a break in August and December. During those months, there will be no newsletters or meetings and payment will be paused. Some examples of available tiers are:
Newsletter Only
Liberation Letters
Monthly newsletter
Access to mailing list to communicate with members
Access to past webinar recordings for free
Community
Starter
Monthly newsletters
Access to mailing list to communicate with members
Access to past and future webinars for free
Regular community meetings
(January, May, September)
Community Builder
Monthly newsletters
Access to mailing list to communicate with members
Access to past and future webinars for free
Regular community meetings
(January, May, September)
Regular reading groups (March, July, November)
Discount on workshops
1-to-1 reflective support sessions with Lucia
Topics
Topics covered by newsletters and meetings can include (but are not limited to):
- social change, anger and group formation
- power in and out of the therapy room
- a deep dive into Coloniality’s contemporary dynamics
- being a therapist/helper in the margins
- anti-oppressive perspectives on trauma
- resourcing and collective care
- disenfranchised losses and mourning
- the place of joy in our work
- colonialism and ontology (sense of being-in-the-world)
- spirituality
members are welcome to propose subjects and resources they would like the group to discuss more in-depth too.
Further Details
We are currently using Buy me a Coffee as a platform to run this community. It allows you to subscribe or unsusbscribe without having to go through me. It will automatically let you access the free content (webinars) on the BMAC shop, and the newsletters sent will be archived there for all to go back to.
A mailing list (using Gaggle Mail) will be linked to the BMAC welcome message so you can access it upon registration. You will need to click on the link and join the mailing list yourself. This space will allow members to exchange resources and hold discussions outside of the zoom meetings. Resources and events can also be shared there.