Our Mental Health Awareness Month series consisted of “Objects & Stories of Well-Being” workshop with Nikiko Masumoto, “Creating Care Teams“ workshop with Audrey Kuo, and “Navigating With(Out) Instruments: a reading and conversation on queer intersections, creative mapping, and mental health” with traci kato-kiriyama. The goal of our May programming was to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, share resources with one another, and most of all, offer a virtual space to be vulnerable and speak truth to our experiences with mental health struggles.
We started off the month with Nikiko’s interactive virtual workshop where we were given various terms related to nourishment and care, and were prompted to gather items from around our homes that remind us of those themes.
In Creating Care Teams, Audrey shared a variety of resources and tips in creating support groups, specifically for when a loved one (or yourself) is experiencing a mental health crisis, or in need of organized support post surgery. You can view the various tools through our Resources page here.
Finally, traci shared excerpts from their book, “Navigating With(Out) Instruments”, and reflected on themes of grief, finding deep joy rooted in both biological and chosen family, queer love, and having permission to create as an artist. Their poetry and short stories are an excavation of memories lost and new dreams and worlds, visualized. Copies are available here, make sure to keep an eye out for their various book tour events.