“Trauma is impacting our community; this is not up for debate!” The first annual “Liberation Healing: The Voices of Therapy Conference.”

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

It has been so hard for you to complete your daily tasks; simple things like getting dressed, brushing your teeth, and even bathing has become a taxing experience. You have friends, who want to hang out, but you have not been in the mood; all you want to do is stay home and be by yourself.

While you were out shopping last week, another customer in the store happened to hit your cart, and you surprised yourself when you cussed her out. You were embarrassed by your own behaviour, but lately, you have not been able to get out of your head. To add to all of that, you don’t feel like eating, your sleep patterns are off, and the slightest discomfort brings forth a flood of tears…

If you read that and identified with it, I want you to know that what you are experiencing is normal, especially with what we have had to deal with in the last two and a half years. What you might not want to admit is that you might just have been dealing with a mental health crisis, triggered by something that has happened recently in your life.

High levels of stress, worry, anxiety and depression are impacting this generation like never before, and being in denial about it is not moving our community any further when it comes to our collective or individual healing.

I was introduced to the From Invisible to Visible team, a group of African-Canadian therapists who culturally understand the threats that our community experiences daily. Daily they offer 50-minute counselling sessions and 30-minute non-emergency check-in sessions. It is how this group of powerful individuals have decided to help the Toronto community by providing services to individuals who may not be able to afford a therapist.

Last weekend, the From Invisible to Visible team had their first annual “Liberation Healing: The Voices of Therapy Conference.”  The focus of the conference was to support People of Colour to take control of their inner world using effective healing strategies and supportive therapy solutions. The From Invisible to Visible Team believes it is important that we continue to provide our communities with useful tips and strategies to help them on their wellness journey.

The conference was held over two days: Friday, October 21^st, and Saturday, October 22^nd, 2022. I had a chance to sit down with Carole Sandy (Founder, From Invisible to Visible), and we discussed the impact of this puissant initiative.

“This started when God told me to leave my position at a private organization. As soon as I left, the idea of a pop up came up at the beginning of 2020. I heard request after request for Black therapists, so I thought of a way to provide that service. We did our first pop up at a beautiful office space located at Yonge and Eglinton. It was 40 minutes and attendees paid whatever they could.

The pandemic hit, and we had to start building our team virtually. I thought to myself, how do I provide therapeutic help to the community? We want to look at trauma and healing through our eyes. How do we recognize our trauma, and then how do we heal ourselves? 

We can follow this up with a list of other questions: how do you support yourself from day to day? When you grieve, how do you grieve and how do you bring your ancestors into your grieving? We were very intentional in how people see themselves in therapy, and how they see their mental health. How can you ask yourself good questions about your mental health history?

Racism impacts all of us, not just the Black community. It is not just our responsibility. Racism has impacted White people as well. All of our bodies have been impacted. It is why when we speak about racism with White people, they often seem uncomfortable. We have to sit in the discomfort first, and then talk about how we can all heal together. This is why liberation healing is important. It is a give and take. This is not a solo project. You can’t put all of the weight on an individual.

What was beautiful was talking about our ancestors; how do we celebrate them? It brought such warmth to the room. We could bring stories of hurt into the room, without it going too deep. There was a freedom to discuss trauma, and how we remembered our elders. How do we heal through breathing? How do we heal through drumming and dance? There were so many moments to sit in the peace of who we are without edits.

We doubt ourselves, we doubt our experiences, we have to show up strong, and as prototypes that are not necessarily who we are. There are so many different ways we as Black people show up, and we have to welcome all of us. Blackness is so rich and diverse. This way of seeing ourselves sometimes gets blocked.

We are trying to work with more organizations to open up more opportunities to discuss therapy, and mental health. We are intentional about educating people about therapy, especially those who have never considered therapy.

Therapy is something we have to create for ourselves, how it looks like, how it feels like. It is not for everyone, but we want to make sure that we are visible in spaces. I do a lot of healing circles, which are effective for those who have experienced similar trauma.”