Facilitators: Colin, Judy, Rae-Dawne and Selly

Timeline:
November 2021 - 2023

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Reversing Scarcities of the Mind and Spirit presents a toolkit of alternative healing processes that provide connection, healing and rehabilitation opportunities for families, youth, as well as SVG-based NGO relief workers and grassroots volunteers. The programming is facilitated by six regional wellness, mental health, and trauma therapy experts and supported by a global humanitarian organisation.

After weeks of witnessing the social, economic and health impacts of the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano, we issued a call for professionals in mental health and arts recovery with an invitation to co-shape and co-create context-ready programming to aid in short and longer term psychosocial support. From that call, we were able to elicit six professionals, region wide and in the Caribbean diaspora with whom we have crafted five offerings to share their talents, insights and skills and developing an assortment of alternative modalities that provide connection, healing and rehabilitation opportunities for displaced youth and families in Bequia along with Bequia youth.

Below lists the programming offered and partners supported through this project.

Beacon of Hope

A creative arts therapy intensive workshop which will engage participants in an exploration of their emotions and thoughts around the issue of surviving natural disasters, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. This module is facilitated by Nicollette Williams, a Barbadian Creative Arts Psychotherapist.

Grenada Listening Project presents
Listening Circles

A virtual program that will help relief workers and grassroots volunteers on the ground in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to re-source themselves emotionally, physically, psychologically through providing Listening Circles. The Listening Circle will consist of four weekly online circles facilitated by Sobaz Benjamin and Maureen St. Clair, compassionate communication facilitators and trainers.

Move and Feel to Heal

A communal creative expressive space that will include movement, storytelling, drama, visual art, and dance and will culminate with a sharing/performance of the participants’ input/output/expression. This workshop will be led by Grenadian Judy Ann B. Antoine, whose work anchors in the psychosocial well-being of youth.

Indigenous Embodiment

Garifuna community leader and elder, Selly Patterson quotes Jamaican Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, “A people without knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots,” as a foundational tenet to continue the work of remembering our traditional knowledge.

In 1998, Selly and his friend Gilroy awoke this heritage, forming the Rose Hall Drummers. A decade later in 2008, the Rose Hall Cultural and Development Organisation (RHCDO) was founded as a registered nonprofit. The organisations works preserve the local culture and care for the environment, and was the first organisation to stage the ‘Vincy Homecoming’ and then the ‘Rose Hall Culture Fest’, which includes sack races, Maypole, Quadril, and more!

Selly believes that nonprofits, like The Hub and RHCDO, are essential to the community: “We are the groundworkers. We have eyes and ears on the ground. We see the problems in our communities. We address these issues. We nurture the people within our communities and bring them back to their roots. We keep the culture.”

Mindful Movement

It has always been a great desire for Rae-Dawne to make a substantial contribution to her country. After returning to St. Vincent, she founded Free Spirit in 2020. Free Spirit has become well-known throughout SVG, providing Vincentians with tools, like mindfulness and breathing techniques, to navigate through life’s challenges. Rae-Dawne’s focused collaboration has yoga, but more importantly, she is guiding them in discussions of holistic wellness, caring for oneself, and meditation.

“Exploring your boredom” is a firm belief of hers, and expresses that this is when creativity is truly reflected. She observed this notion with the youth and appreciates how many mediums there are to explore, from yoga to poetry.