In January of 2021, Sabrina (Brini) Ubben first experienced a break with consensus reality. Modern western society would label her experience as psychosis. Other cultures have used less sterile terms for sudden shifts in perspective of what is reality, such as “a dramatic re-ordering process,” a “Spiritual Emergency,” or “Psycho-Spiritual Crisis.”

 

No matter what you call it, it was scary for those who love her. In the course of her experience last year she went missing from her home in the dead of winter. Her apartment door was found open and her home was in a state of disarray. Friends, family and community activists combed the streets for an entire day before finally being notified that she had been picked up by city police and taken into psychiatric care. After a few weeks under inpatient care, Brini was released and a new page in her life began.

 

 

The past year for Brini has been full. It has been a refinding of identity, strength, outlook on life, and spirituality. It has involved processing, therapy, and difficult conversations, and above all it has been a workshop in love, friendships, and art. There has been struggle, and there has been growth. Through it all , it is clear that this human is smart, creative, beautiful, and brings joy to those around them.

 

Six months ago, Brini moved into community artist and activist house "Saint Cat’s" to be around other creative, passionate, and empathetic souls. When Brini’s perspective began dramatically shifting again at the beginning of this month, her friends, family, and roommates at Saint Cat’s understood a little better what to expect than we did last year. And when Brini began experiencing “hypermania” and “psychosis” again, her mother, sister, brother-in-law, roommates, and other friends and community members held space with her, shared tea and soup, conversation and spiritual debate, calm and love, for days. For as long as we were able. Only when we were deeply concerned for her safety and/or the safety of those around her did we bring in an outside mental health intervention team.

 

Brini is currently an inpatient at a psychiatric facility, and it is unclear when she will be released but it is unlikely she can come home for some weeks or a month. We can visit, but we cannot understand what she is going through moment to moment. The best we can do is discuss and discover what support might look like. For Brini, and for anyone else that has experienced an event like this before, or might one day. What could support look like for you? Or for me? Conservatively, one in five people experiences a mental health crisis in their lifetime. We are all dynamic, and emotional, and in search. We are not here to judge ourselves or others when they experience something unfamiliar. No one person gets to decide what is a “right” way of viewing the world or a “wrong” way.

So how do we help one another? There are many ways, but here is one - rent is due now in Brini’s community house, Saint Cat’s. It's not possible for her to pay right now, and her roommates alone cannot afford to cover her. Without her share, this community house will be late on rent, and if that is not resolved, we could face late fees followed by potential eviction. We want to hold the space for Brini to come home to when she is ready,  and to sustain the community house that is a safe space for creatives like Brini, and for all kinds of art, music, healing and radical community building.

$900 covers Brini’s share of rent for the coming 60 days. Any additional funds raised will go directly towards a disability lawyer who can help Brini have a more stable financial situation and a reliable home base moving forward. We hope for $300 to put toward that end.

 

Please help support Brini and her community now! Show that we WILL come together when one amongst us cannot do it alone.