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September 2017 Newsletter
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Donations by check, addressed to "The Healing WELL," are also welcome. Please mail them directly to:
The Healing WELL
c/o Community Initiatives
354 Pine Street, Suite 700
San Francisco, CA 94104
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.
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We have opened our new home! (Please read about us in
Tenderloin Talk
.
) To
thank all the people who have sustained us through this long journey would be impossible - but we want to offer a "shout out" to our contractor, Selvin Guevara, for his hard work, steady commitment and generous smile and to Suheil Shatara, our architect, who both designed our space and manuevered us through “the system." Architect Pam Goode donated many hours of consultation and work, as did Contractor Joves Mac. Wellness friend and colleague Sally Rosen offered artistic vision that helped make our new home beautiful. During the months of construction, Faithful Fools provided us office space, and the members of TNDC’s Kelly Cullen Community housed and embraced our programming. The Northern California Community Loan Fund provided us with a Nonprofit Space Stabilization Program grant. That award, coupled with donations from generous supporters, allowed us to cover our construction expenses. We are profoundly grateful. Please join us at our Open House to celebrate our new home.
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Please Join Us:
Open House
Wednesday,
September 27
4:00pm - 7:00pm
476 Eddy Street
(at Hyde)
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Thanks to Rocco's Cafe on Folsom Street, and our friends who provided delicious dishes, we feasted with 100 neighbors and friends on the day of our opening.
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EVOLUTION OF AFTERNOON PROGRAMMING
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Dear Healing WELL Friends,
At a recent community forum we asked participants to name attributes and qualities which have helped them take positive steps forward in life. Answers ranged from creativity, buoyancy and resilience, to love, empathy and compassion. We consider how we can enhance and evoke these qualities even further in the development of our new afternoon programming.
The approaches to healing and wellness which we utilize in our programming - movement, stillness, creative expression and community - are derived from solid evidence of success. We are informed by such pillars as Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk, considered by many to be the world’s leading trauma expert. In his New York Times bestselling book,
The Body Keeps Score; Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Dr. Van der Kolk writes about how imagination is critical to the healing process. It allows people to get out of their lived experiences. “Imagination gives us the opportunity to envision new possibilities – it is an essential launch pad for making our hopes and dreams come true," We are rolling out a few new ways for people to express their imagination including a writing workshop, jewelry making on a regular basis, art, and one-on-one yoga.
Dr. Van der Kolk also notes, "Restoring relationships and community is central to restoring well-being.” Our weekly community afternoons will be filled with games and conversation and just being in the presence of one another. We are so grateful for the opportunities that our new home on Eddy Street offers us!
Warmly,
Sarah, Program Manager
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DISH Housing Community Fair
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Last month Anne Marie and Emily staffed the Healing WELL table at DISH's "Feel Good Fair." DISH provides supportive housing at six residences in the Tenderloin and Mission. It hosts an annual fair featuring wellness services and programs to benefit their residents. In addition to spreading the word about The Healing WELL, Anne Marie "
really enjoyed interacting with the people, meeting new folks and doing something positive with my peers."
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Continuing to promote wellness throughout the commuunity, The Healing WELL just completed a two month Tai Chi class with Trans Thrive, a drop-in center for the trans population at
API Wellness. The class was led by Healing WELL teacher Janet, and supported by our weekly volunteer Micaela,Tai Chi instructor Amalia, and community member, Gigi. The responses to the class were very positive. "We
were happy to try something new and different - which used movement but not in an intimidating way" refleted one participant.
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Welcome Mercy Volunteer Corps
Welcome Mercy Volunteer Corps to San Francisco! In August, five women moved here from around the country to enter into relationship for a year with people who are economically poor and marginalized. The pillars of their service are compassion, social justice, spirituality and simple living. Pictured here, clockwise from the bottom left striped shirt, are: Nicole (at Faithful Fools), Emily (at The Healing WELL), Myranda (at St. Peter's Elementary School), Sandra (also at St. Peter's), and Miranda (at Mercy Retirement and Care Community.) We'll feature Emily in our newsletter next month.
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Participant
Expression: Poetry
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A recent Poetry circle unleashed some wisdom and clarity for one of our participants, "J."
"Now bear in mind that this is the first poetry class I've had since high school. In the group we read a poem by David Whyte,
"What to remember when waking."
As part of this exercise, we were asked to highlight the sentence or phrase that jumped out at us. For me, it was the line "To be human is to become visible."
For SO long I have felt invisible. Invisible in my own life, behind a false façade I created, and behind my own eyes. An empty vessel. I don't feel that way now. I see how that lack of self-care and self-understanding was feeding my addiction and everything else I've done in my life that has been harmful to myself and others."
J's poem is featured on the right.
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Presence
Today is.
I am.
Wandering thoughts meander
through unchartered territory
There is no future that is not now.
Today I am here.
I am alive and I am breathing.
And I will commit this day to celebrate
the joy of joy.
To know true joy is to know true pain
To know heavenly beings is to be heavenly
To be heavenly one must know hell.
I love hell.
Hell is.
I am not in hell because I know hell,
and this is not it.
I don't know heaven, and I may never get there.
Ahead is unchartered territory.
Being unmoored from hell, I am the journey.
I am the way.
I am the path, the car, the plane, and the train.
I am the vehicle
today, tomorrow and even yesterday
I am alive and I am breathing.
But,
In this moment, I just am.
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The Healing WELL is a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Initiatives
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