Train Communities in Trauma Informed Care

Across the US, the political, legal, and cultural landscape deeply impacts BIPOC, immigrant, queer, and trans survivors of trauma—many of whom are already navigating profound personal and generational wounds.

Times like these can shock our bodies into trauma responses—often referred to as “protective responses”—chronic fear, avoidance, or shut down—making it difficult to connect to our sense of agency, discernment, and power to advocate for a better world. And yet, these are also moments that dare us to lean into purpose and community.

Our team in the US has been working with educators, community organizers, immigrants, and children of immigrants to build resilience together through practices of collective care, art making, imagining, and conflict tending.

Healing Centered Approaches to Conflict

Set at Canticle Farms in Oakland, this retreat was the culmination of a year of skill building and healing for Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) teachers selected as Racial Healing Fellows.

Throughout the year, Healing Together supported fellows in exploring how trauma, family history, and cultural context shape our responses to conflict. Together, we practiced slowing down—learning to pause, respond versus react, and interrupt ingrained patterns. These tools help foster greater choice, connection, and care—for ourselves, our students, and our communities.

“RevitalUS” Educators’ Retreat

To close a school year marked by burnout, grief, and chronic stress, 30 SEL (Social & Emotional Literacy) educators from Alameda County gathered for a day of rest, reflection, and reconnection in Oakland.

Our team held space to slow down, feel, and heal. Participants danced, connected to childhood joy, dissolved written burdens into water, and shared stories that had long remained unspoken—reminders that healing isn’t about fixing. It’s about feeling seen and affirmed. Participants left the retreat with a shared sentiment: we need healing spaces like this.

As another school year begins, join us in sending gratitude and care to all the educators and youth workers. Your healing matters!

Centering Safety - Rooting in Purpose

We continue to offer dedicated healing circles and mental health workshops for survivors, organizers, and frontline communities navigating the impacts of an increasingly hostile political climate.

To honor their safety—and protect the integrity of our work—we hold these stories in confidence and remain unwavering in our commitment to center the safety of our communities.

What we can share, with honesty and humility, is that transformation is happening. Grief is being witnessed. Deep networks of community care are being built. And, survivors are remembering that we belong to each other.

As the need for our work rises—amid shrinking resources and mounting threats—we remain clear: Safety is non-negotiable. Healing is our lifeline. And the survivors we walk beside remind us every day—we already carry the medicine we need to build the world we deserve.