Hello June, Happy Pride Month!
Good evening friends!
It’s Sara here from Conscious Counselling and Wellness. I’ve wanted to start a casual blog for the clinic on our new website for a while now, but kept letting perfect be the enemy of good! As a result, it hasn’t been started until now even though we switched from Wix to Squarespace months ago to divest from companies that were directly investing in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Opportunity to donate to Doctors Without Borders right here.
This month we wanted to share a bit of what we’ve been up to with the clinic itself, our client work, our social justice work, and what content we have super-loved consuming in order to contribute to our own wellness!
Clinical Updates
Staff Updates: Who is Moving? Coming? or Going?
In May we sadly said goodbye (in-person) to one of our absolute favourite therapists, Rebecca Pearson, as she moved her journey and career to Truro, NS. However, we certainly count ourselves the lucky ones… because she has decided to stay on virtually with CCW! This might mean some team road trips to the ocean, yes?
Already in June we are saying hello to the newest member of our team, TN! Her full name and details to be announced VERY soon. STAY TUNED!
Lastly, our valued and long-time team member, Anna Larmer, is moving her office to the third floor of our building to a larger space so she is able to begin hosting larger sessions with families as well as mindfulness and yoga classes! We are so excited Anna will have the opportunity to lean into what she does best in a new space.
Who is Accepting New Clients?
Anna Larmer - Accepting couples counselling clients in-person and virtually.
Maria DiCarlo - Accepting occupational therapy clients in person and virtually.
Brittany McEachern - Accepting new low-cost counselling clients in-person and virtually.
The rest of our therapists are navigating waitlists - if you see a therapist you’d like to work with on our team page, please reach out to referralccw@gmail.com regardless! They may have room on their waitlist, or a cancellation that would allow you to get in sooner.
Trauma-Informed Yoga
We’ve now officially run two trauma-informed yoga sessions this year! These sessions are four weeks long and hosted by yours truly (Sara Mackie). You can learn all about trauma-informed yoga here. Our sessions have gone so well this year and our hearts are absolutely full. We will resume sessions in September or October after a short summer break!
Social Justice
We do care about the equitable division of resources in our society, and we don’t like it when our beloved fellow human beings experience harm due to their social positionalities. As a result, we try to engage in communities that help advocate and celebrate various social identities all through the year, and at different capacities!
Gaza
In the last few months CCW has made financial donations to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Islamic Relief Canada to contribute toward the distribution of life-saving humanitarian aid to the civilians of Gaza who are undergoing a devastating bombardment and genocide. We have also divested from using Wix.com which is a company that has made direct donations toward military efforts contributing to the genocide of the Palestinian people.
As always, we stand strongly against any form of anti-Arab and anti-Semitic rhetoric. We deeply encourage doing your own research to understand the ongoing conflict in the regions of Israel and Palestine, to open your heart to new knowledge, to hold space for nuance, and to avoid seeing one another as the evil-other. We need to call out and stand up against systemic violence in order to eventually coexist as humankind on this one sacred earth. It is not too late to stand up for our fellow human beings in their time of need. Ceasefire now.
You can find much more information and events at The Fredericton Palestinian Society facebook group.
Pride Month
HAPPY PRIDE! Our team is full of some pretty awesome queer folk! We love to celebrate our teammates and our clients. We love supporting our local communities by attending events, drag shows, rallies, and by amplifying queer voices in our clinic and on our social media pages! You’ll find pride and trans flags and pins all over our clinic when you come in. We want all folks to feel safe and welcome.
Last month, Jocelyn (@joceandersonmsw) and I attended the Rainbow Equality Rally here in Fredericton hosted by Imprint Youth and ALT Acadie. The purpose of the rally was “to amplify our voices and encourage elected officials and governments at all levels to take concrete actions to combat growing hate and promote equality for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in Canada.”
As Pride season gets underway in Fredericton, NB, we are going to be attending as many of the Fredericton Pride events as possible! See the festivities here.
National Indigenous Awareness Month
At CCW we are committed to both unlearning faulty white-washed history we have been taught in schools, and relearning the often true and tragic history of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (known as Canada). All of our therapists take regular continuing education seminars and workshops in cultural humility and three of our therapists are currently covered by Non-Insured Health Benefits which covers counselling and mental health services for Indigenous clients. We have various working partnerships with local Indigenous communities such as St. Mary’s First Nation, Kingsclear First Nation, and Tobique First Nation, as we humbly embark on healing journeys alongside our Indigenous friends.
In May we opened our hearts to the updates and ongoing search for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In June we acknowledge National Indigenous Awareness Months and we hope to see your face on June 21st at the Legislature building for the National Indigenous People’s Day Gathering.
What meditations are we loving?!
Tara Brach’s Disarming Our Hearts with the Bodhisattva Path
Description from Tara Brach: “If we realized how profoundly our chronic judgment creates separation and blocks the flow of love, we’d dedicate more deeply to disarming our hearts. Drawing on practices from the Bodhisattva path, these two talks explore the process of disarming—bridging divides with those close in, and opening our hearts to those at a distance who we consider a ‘bad other” or enemy. As we cultivate the capacity for true disarming, we experience a growing sense of belonging, Oneness and the freedom of an awakened heart.”
What social media accounts are we loving?
For PRIDE MONTH we want to amplify Rebecca Minor’s account called @gender.specialist, as well as Candice Holloway’s account @vadacounseling! Give them a search and enlighten your mind!
An extra special shout-out for our local favourite, gender-affirming therapist, Shane, at @rebelheart_counselling!
