At CommunityBuild Ventures, we recognize that in order to truly move forward from the systemic racism that has affected many BIPOC, we must first heal individually. To have the energy, stamina, and headspace necessary to dismantle oppressive systems and ward against racial bias and injustices, activists need to first focus on healing their mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical traumas first. We put a strong emphasis on self-care and healing both before, during, and after fighting the good fight.
What Is Mental Self-Care?
Mental self-care is best described as the practice of becoming aware of and creating systems and checkpoints to ensure the overall psychological and cognitive well-being of an individual.
Often, CBV is approached by organizations asking for guidance in creating racial equity-centered practices. Our primary goal when working with such organizations is to help them understand that the “work” required actually resides in healing and self-care. They must be invested in inner work, and that’s why CBV has made self-care a part of every facet of our services.
Why Focus On Self-Care?
We believe that in order to actualize and build a community that is continuously pushing towards true liberation, we have to be able to show up as our fullest, most authentic selves. Black people are resilient, but that resiliency shouldn’t come at the price of our own self-care and mental health. It’s time that we focus on healing the collective and individual trauma that we all carry within ourselves so we can boldly march forward.
How Does It Work?
Rather than making self-care a separate effort that we offer services for, we’ve decided to embed it in everything that we do. In every service and engagement that CBV is a part of, self-care and healing are now woven throughout it because all BIPOC have experienced racialized and/or caste-based trauma. Since this trauma has permeated our culture for so long, it’s crucial that everyone is healed from the inside out.
We start healing by investigating what an individual needs on a consistent basis and then investing in practices of care to meet those needs. This is done without apology or the need for justification. Healing is personal, and an individual’s needs should never have to be explained. As a part of our approach to “understand, embrace, and embody” racial equity, we work with leaders and organizations to be intentional about allowing an individual to process and heal in their own way.
A New Way To Thrive
Racial equity has always been the primary focus and effort for CommunityBuild Ventures. We believe that the best way for BIPOC to thrive is by focusing on the healing that needs to take place within their own being so they can then go out and help enact change in others. It’s impossible to do the racial equity work that’s still deeply needed in our communities without first beginning with self-care and healing. That is why self-care is now the main component of our business services, from start to finish.
