Support Healing for Sick & Disabled BIPOC

We are calling in our allies to help us fund an 8-week healing group for some of the most marginalized and most beloved members of our community: sick and disabled BIPOC.

We would in particular like to invite white people (especially white therapists and white people with access to therapy), non-disabled people (including non-disabled BIPOC folks), and people with extended health benefits to donate.

For sick and disabled BIPOC living in the context of ableism, racialized capitalism, transphobia and homophobia, healing is both ordinary and revolutionary work. We are thought leaders, changemakers, and revolutionaries who push our movements forward and make our communities stronger, safer, and more resilient. And yet, the multiple systems of oppression that target us leave too many of us depleted and suffering in isolation.

This group is an offering towards our healing and our wholeness, to build space for the individual and collective change we’ve been longing for. To confront what has been and dream into what will be, together.

Too often social justice communities ask already marginalized community members to donate their work for free or at low cost. We, the facilitators of this group, have met this ask for long stretches in our independent therapy practices, at significant cost to our own bodies and wellbeing.

In turning to crowd-funding, we hope to offer accessible rates to sick and disabled BIPOC participants, at the same time as being paid a fair rate for our work. We believe in a practice of Disability Justice that includes us, and invite our wider community to join with us in building alternatives to capitalist payment structures, and ensuring that all members of our community are supported and cared for.

If we meet our fundraising goal, this group will be offered free for participants. All funds donated will directly decrease costs for participants.

The facilitators:

Fayza Bundalli (she/her) is a chronically ill cis queer femme of South Asian heritage. She is a parent to a toddler, a teacher with Generative Somatics, and a somatic therapist and bodyworker. She is a settler living and practicing on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh territories. She works primarily with folks who are queer and BIPOC, supporting them to heal from the impacts of trauma and oppression, and to lead more liberated lives.

Premala Matthen (she/her) is a chronically ill cis queer woman of colour, and a settler living and working on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories. Her experiences of violence and oppression led her to seek change, for herself and others. She is a therapist in independent practice, the co-creator of SEEN: The Podcast, and the co-founder of Healing in Colour. Her work sits at the intersection of counselling and activism, firmly rooted in the radical possibilities of QTBIPOC spiritual and emotional healing.

Participants:

Twelve sick and disabled BIPOC based in what is currently known as British Columbia. Priority will be given to Two-Spirit, queer, trans, Black, and Indigenous folks.

The funds we are raising will cover:

• Fees for both facilitators for 8 sessions
• Facilitator prep and debrief meetings prior and post each session
• Debrief calls for participants
• Curriculum development
• Admin, including: developing applications, reading submissions, and email communication with participants prior to and during healing group.
• GoFundMe Fees

Donate to subsidize spots in this healing group for sick and disabled BIPOC who would otherwise be unable to access these much-needed services. Participate in paying beloved queer chronically ill WOC community members, who are counsellors and labour to support our communities, to be paid fairly for our work.