We are resilient! We work. We are raising children. We are riding relationships. We are in search of healing. We are facilitating healing for others! These facts alone speak to our resilience as human and spiritual beings. Therefore, we have the ability to change how we live and how our children live moving forward. My mother's generation was the first generation of Black professionals that were highly educated and obtained jobs that were good enough to provide the financial security that...

I am saddened to hear about the death of another Arab young man in Marseilles, France. The reason I started this virtual community was to share stories and shed light. Let's travel to France.... After our time at the Ashram in India, my then 8-year-old son was insistent that we move to China. I had absolutely no intention of going to China. In his few short years he had become an avid martial artist and was determined to study Kung Fu in the Shaolin Temple. My limited adult mind thought it...

I walked away from my Western life to sleep on the floor of an ashram. Dissatisfaction had become a normal state of being. I was deeply embarrassed by this. As I canvassed my home I perused every object, and breathed its beauty. My thoughts were about how grateful I was to have a living museum in my house, what a treasure it was to live in a spiritual temple that I created. I was ashamed by my soul’s ambivalence, when it responded so what . Consciously, I counted each and every blessing. I...

In my culture, I was bestowed the title of Holy Mother . In traditional ceremony, my divined name is Mother of the Universe . I am a proud and powerful Mama, Big Mommy, Mommy and Mother. But, I need to talk about fathers. My Precious Little Daughter, was frequently the opening line to emails sent to me by my dad. Over a year ago my father, an African Medicine Man, realized that he only had a short time to live. He was desperate to get to my oldest son to perform ritual before joining the...

The level of aggression I witnessed while living in an Ashram in India was shocking and often funny! With my residual ACES anger often bubbling beneath my skin, my daily mantra became, "No matter what anyone does to you; you CANNOT, WILL NOT fight in an Ashram!" We don't realize that many spiritual communities are filled with ACES survivors from all over the world that have no other hope left for healing. These are courageous people who have sought help for their pain and anger and have...

We are RESILIENT! Once we learn to regulate an overactive stress response, ACES survivors are well experienced to work under stress, make sound decisions and overcome ANY and ALL obstacles. WE LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY!! We must learn to mitigate the harm and leverage our strengths! During the 2018 ACES Conference in San Francisco, I had the incredible opportunity to present my work on Historical Trauma. In our journey to healing Historical Trauma and ACES, we must use a Relational Approach...

Holly Figueroa and Steward Health Choice Arizona Cultural Competency & Tribal Services hosted an amazing conference and Native American celebration on November 16 in Flagstaff!! The program opened with prayers by Uqualla, a dynamic Medicine Man from the Havasupai Tribe. We heard from several keynote speakers on topics designed to facilitate healing among Native American communities. Albert Pooley of the Hopi and Navajo Native American cultures emphasized the importance of loving the...

RYSE Center in Richmond, CA was born of out of young people of color (YPOC) organizing to shift the conditions of violence, distress, and dehumanization in which they suffer, survive, succeed, dream, and die. We center the lived experiences of YPOC, we lead with love and sacred rage to cultivate healing and build movement, and we take risks as an essential part of transformation and justice, of liberation. We do this in a physical space that feels safe, welcoming, and affirming; that is...

This symposium will help bridge gaps between the diverse groups of agencies and nonprofits who have joined together for this important work. Our ultimate goal is to break down barriers that defeat our shared mission of serving Arizona's most vulnerable residents.

I LOVE the Salutogenic approach to healing. It puts the appropriate Western words on how many indigenous groups view the healing process. This model allows us to focus on resilience. Being fully engaged with my African community in the Motherland, I will always bare witness to trauma. The beauty is in how I am transformed by these experiences. " Healing centered engagement is akin to the South African term “Ubuntu” meaning that humanness is found through our interdependence, collective...

This is SO crazy to me in 2018! They really have no definitive answers as to why more Black babies die in the United States as compared to White babies. The part that is particularly mind-blowing to me is that the issue is NOT consistent with babies born in the United States from African immigrant mothers. I am quickly reminded of the Black woman's history in this country due to the Slave Trade atrocities. It is well known and documented that it was not uncommon for enslaved Black women to...

The topic of discussion in my son's Social Studies class had to do with creating the Constitution. In moving from the Articles of Confederation to the United States Constitution, the Northerners and Southerners had to come to an agreement on many topics. The 3/5 Compromise satisfied both parties: It stated that 5 enslaved people would be counted as the equivalent to 3 white people. This is a part of American history. I just wonder how it feels to be the only African-American in the class...