Why Community Care?

Sometimes healing requires us to step away from the scene and handle things away from the eyes of others.   But many more times, healing happens when we connect with other people on the same journey who affirm our story, purpose and feelings.  It’s unrealistic to think you can self-care away the collective stress, trauma, oppressions, dehumanization and degradation we all experience under capitalism and its cousin patriarchy.  There are levels to this ish, and one of the important level’s we must examine and invest in is the community level--the collective we.  Community care is about being in right-relationship with ourselves and the world around us.   Oftentimes when we are ill, it is because we are holding onto something toxic on behalf of the community.  The illusion is that the illness is ours alone.  You’ve no doubt heard folks say, when we move from I to we, we move from illness to wellness.  This is the real of it.  Community can be a powerful container for healing.  Community care is the process of caring for and being cared for by others who affirm us, remind us of our gifts, hold us accountable and with whom we co-create new selves, collectives and ways of being--i.e. real healing.