It is often the healers who are pouring their energy into care for others but lack the time or resources to do it for themselves. Some of the practitioners at the Reparations Clinics have shown up with consistency and joy to be of service to community even with a scant budget. I realized it isn't about the monetary gain for them but the opportunity to be in reciprocity, co-create the wellness space that they desire, and be imbued in collective healing.

To express my gratitude, I organized a free retreat for 6 of the healers at one of my best friend's grandparents home in the Berkshires. This was ultimately possible because of the seeds they have been planting to shift their family's perspective around ownership. It affirmed the shapes reparations can take beyond money, access to free spaces have been essential to sustaining the clinics and this retreat.

Each person was invited to share an offering over the weekend, we indulged in delicious plant-based food, yoga, sound healing, reiki, ceremonial cacao, acupuncture, and a lot of rest. Serendipitously the retreat was during a full moon lunar eclipse so Saadiya facilitated us through a beautiful water ceremony rooted in her Nigerian ancestry. 

The reality is, some of the healers invited could not attend because they couldn't afford to miss work. I hope that at the next retreat we can offer stipends to those who can't join due to financial barriers. With all the turmoil in the world, it is imperative for us to cultivate spaces for healers to heal, the ones who we consult to transmute pain.

This retreat from the city allowed us to reach new depths of peace and connection with self, each other, and nature. We dreamed about what it could look like to create a collective of the network of Black holistic healers we are weaving in NYC.

We are so grateful for the people that gift their time, energy, and resources to sustain the clinics. We know that community emerges and sustains with consistency, we are currently seeking financial support so that we can have a steady cadence of clinics once a month next year.