When you want support through something scary or rough, and help pulling yourself together and getting through, this is the place.
Forum rules
We ask that users looking for general, ongoing emotional support post in this area of the boards, and that you use this space to both ask for, give and receive that support primarily from each other, rather than from our staff and volunteers. As a staff, we simply are often too overextended with all we need to do in running the organization and its services to do that for extended periods of time, and one of our main aims of our community at the boards has always been to facilitate peers to better be there for each other.
Users often report that they have no in-person peers they can talk to or seek support from: we want this to be a space for online peer support and somewhere everyone can get some practice asking for, getting and giving support so that doing it with people in your lives feels more doable.
Please remember that neither staff, volunteers nor your fellow users can provide or replace mental healthcare when that is something you need. Users struggling with issues like anxiety, depression, abuse or physical health issues are strongly encouraged to seek out qualified, in-person help with those issues in addition to peer or staff support.
This is a space where non-Black allies (including non-Black people of color) can discuss amongst each other ways that we can support and show up for the Black community during this time. Feel free to share article, book, or movie recommendations, resources on anti-racism, or stories about recognizing your own privilege or using it to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it. -Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully
A few friends and I have joined up to create an accountability pod with each other so that we can all be sure to start or stay doing things on this list as an ongoing practice and habit. I highly advise doing something similar with your friends/family (especially those who are not BIPOC) as well.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead
Oh, that is a really helpful document! I was having a conversation with someone yesterday about these kinds of "stages" but without a nice framework like this to refer to; I am going to save this as a good resource to share with the person I was talking to!
I loved the essays by those writers. Difficult on my heart to read, but so important. Has anyone been able to find anything specifically for non-Black people of color? I haven't quite had the time to look around for good ones that explore anti-Blackness in non-white communities.
Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it. -Special Agent Dana Katherine Scully
Same here, al. I'm a non-Black POC, and I've been having a hard time figuring out where I fit in to all of this (more complicated because I'm biracial, half of which is of European Jewish descent). Anti-Blackness in non-white communities is definitely complex because it's likely that that group faces racism under white supremacy while also contributing to anti-Black ideologies (I hope that made sense).