Support BIPOC Healing and Wellness Centre

Hello!

My name is Reena Samra and I am the founder of BIPOC Healing and Wellness Centre. I am so full of awe, gratitude and appreciation for all of the support and positive reception that the centre has received from the community so far.

In March 2023, I started BHWC as a new specialized service tailored to provide anti-racist, decolonizing, intersectional feminist and culturally-informed therapy to individuals, couples, families and groups who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour), with a physical in person location in central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; and virtual services that span across Alberta and are now expanding to many other provinces in Canada.

Our centre was born on the idea that racialized folks need and deserve access to healing and wellness supports that are representative of our unique lived experiences, cultures, societal barriers, systematic oppression and marginalization. We here at BHWC are passionate about offering safer spaces for BIPOC folks to gather and receive mental health support. These spaces provide opportunities for BIPOC to express ourselves freely without fear of judgement or prejudice, to speak our truths, share our racial and/or cultural experiences, and to find support and solidarity with others who may share similar experiences. Our vision is to foster a sense of belonging, community, healing, growth, authenticity and empowerment. We want racialized people to feel seen, heard and valued in the wholeness of who we are.

We specialize in therapy for BIPOC mental health, BIPOC grief, intergenerational trauma, racial trauma, healing from experiences of racism and discrimination, racial-identity issues and identity-based trauma, as well as newcomer, immigrant and refugee mental health. We work from an inclusive, holistic and accessible lens that integrates race, culture and/or spirituality into the therapy room. We are for BIPOC, by BIPOC. We also recognize that racialized people are not a monolith; our communities are diverse and therefore our supports are diverse and come from a foundation of cultural humility.

In founding the centre, I knew there was a need for this kind of support; this was informed by my decade of experience working with racialized and immigrant folks as a social worker and therapist. This was also informed by my own lived experiences as a racialized woman with many intersections of my identity and oppression that I have faced in my life, as well as intergenerational racial trauma that myself and my family members have experienced.

What I didn't realize though, is how immensely supportive the community would be of this initiative and how many requests I would have coming in for folks who were looking for this support, or wanting to provide this support to others. I did not realize how rapidly this initiative would grow. I am absolutely blown away and inspired by this response, and trying my best to offer supports that are tailored to the community's needs in the ways that will spread hope and healing for those who have been underrepresented for so long. A lot of the feedback I have been getting is that many people have never had the chance to receive this kind of BIPOC specific support before. And that these spaces are much needed, sacred, and offer a new level of safety.

In achieving this mission, I am humbly and graciously asking for mutual aid support from the community so that our organization can continue to expand, grow, and deliver these services to those who need them. As a BIPOC owned business, we are finding there are a lot of systemic barriers to being able to attain business funding sources, especially within our colonial systems. As a child of immigrants and someone who grew up in poverty without generational wealth, starting a centre was never something that I ever thought could be possible for someone like me, especially a centre that is tailored towards people who look like me and have similar experiences. It has not been easy to get this centre running, and there are many challenges to securing sustainable funding. As an organization, we are working as hard as we can to raise as many funds as we can from applying for grants, awards and other resources available to us. However, these systems were not designed with the needs of BIPOC folks in mind and we continue to face barriers. While we also work on securing ongoing funding, we are introducing this GoFundme Campaign to raise funds that we can utilize to continue to operate and provide much-needed services for our community members.

Any funds raised in this campaign will be utilized for the following expenses:

-paying our rent for our centre

-increasing hours that we can afford to pay our admin assistant

-paying for office supplies, comfort items, therapeutic tools, and other office necessities for our practitioners and clients

-offering paid opportunities for our volunteers

-building our website, marketing our services

-providing low cost, sliding scale or free therapy for individuals, couples, families and groups that are unable to afford therapy otherwise

-providing low or no cost group sessions or workshops

-continuing to deliver free content on our social media

We are working hard to provide specialized services needed for our clients and to ensure financial barriers are not an issue when seeking therapy and healing supports. In doing so, we also need to ensure our sustainability as an organization so we can continue to serve our community. If you are able to, please consider donating and any amount counts. Your financial help will be utilized towards making a difference in the lives of our community members

Thank you for taking the time to read this message and consider supporting our organization. We appreciate everyone who is working alongside us in our fight for liberation from oppression and a move towards social change.