Around The Fire

Welcome!

A fire inside a crystal ball. Text: “Around The Fire” & “BIDWKB”

In May of 2022, my Caregiver and I teamed up with Kim Brown (from the  Burn It Down With Kim Brown show) to start a support group for Kim and members of her audience who are disabled..

If you don’t feel safe, you can not share what’s going on. Sharing is the main stay of this practice. If you can not share, it defeats the whole purpose of why we come together.

Kim opened up to me about her past experiences with support groups and even professional therapists. They all lacked elements of safety for her, a Black woman.

In this small group, as Kim was explaining her difficulties, other people chimed in with like experiences. Those groups also made no space for Indigenous nor Brown people.

I felt so moved by Kim’s honesty and everyone’s bravery. So I proposed an idea:

“Would we like to try a peer-led support group? We say where we want to go, and we set the pace.”

I made a promise to Kim that, first and foremost, ATF will be a safe space for Black women to participate. Everyone is welcome, but please be respectful of our mission statement.

Since our first sesh in May of 2022, we have been receiving all kinds of positive feedback! We meet every second Saturday of the month.

Caregiver Support is by request.

Additional Support Seshes are on the last Sunday of the month.

If you are a person living with disabilities, a caregiver, or a family member of a person with disabilities, we welcome you. (Note, we do not ask for paperwork here. We don’t care if the government thinks you’re “disabled.”)

If you are curious to learn more about fighting ableism, we welcome you.

A black woman holding a baby, abstract art. Text: "Our goal: to make everyone - especially black women - fee welcome, safe, and included."

Our goal: to make everyone – especially black women – feel welcome,  safe, and included.

🔥 Around The Fire 🔥

Support Seshes!

We are a peer-led support group who share our lived experiences around many types of disability. We strive to promote individual & community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources.

Disabled icon of a person in a wheelchair. The wheel says,  “Make it accessible or burn it down.” Buy a sticker here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdC4rf4WDHLjUNS1CXemEKZPBDEXesrZDJF-FYah21NeGQidw/viewform
Icon of a disabled person in a wheelchair. The wheel says,  “Make it accesible or burn it down.”

Buy a sticker here.

While here we ask that you remember:

(1) We are a multi-generational and diverse group. Please be brave enough to ask questions if you don’t understand something.

(2) Most of us are left of “The Left” on the political spectrum (if you’ve seen Kim’s show, you’d understand. Hence, the images we have chosen for this page). In fact, it’s hard not to be radicalized when you deal with health insurance in the USA.

This is a group that focuses on people who are mentally and/or physically disabled; people who have been dealing with health challenges for weeks, months, and sometimes years.

This is not a place to plan the revolution. We know one is coming, and we would appreciate people looking for our input – but – until you have trash, water, medications, and food figured out.. please keep the Revolution talk down.

The reason we ask for this is because people have had anxiety attacks when this topic came up. We are a place to talk about doctor visits, diseases and conditions, mental health, health tools, ableism, self-care, psychology, how therapy can suck, how therapy can save a life, and more.

(3) We are not qualified to diagnose any condition, nor will we suggest you alter any treatments that a medical doctor or psychiatrist prescribes. Please talk with your doctor before you change anything about taking your medications.


(4) Please respect the person who is speaking.

You can use:

— response emojis ❤️

— chat 🗨

— “raise hand” to indicate that you have a comment or response ✋️

Lastly, (5), please ask a fellow member if they would like any direct advice. Sharing your experience is fine, telling another person what they should do is not.

Main Group:

We usually start with a structured topic where we can share our stories and the information we’ve learned along the way.

If you need any special accommodations, like closed captions, please let us know.

Some people need more time to express themselves.. we are trying to accommodate everyone as much as possible. To this end, we can offer more time with the facilitators where you can talk with us privately.

In an effort to de-stigmatize mental health, we encourage discussion about trauma, but please remember that none of us are professional therapists. We are really good at listening, tho’!

Together, let’s make this a safe space with respect and dignity for all.

Love,

Anna, Kim, Lorraine, & Abby

❤️🧡💛💚

“Diversity is s fact. Inclusion is an act.” Buy a sticker here. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1137406179/equality-classroom-printable-poster?click_key=698d1c9f8f4b61631a60ec343c00750adea89f20%3A1137406179&click_sum=edbd4942&ref=lp_rv-5&pro=1
“Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is an act.” Buy a sticker here.

PS – If you are a member (or would like to be), please take a few minutes to fill out this survey and contact us for a link to the next group.

❤️ 🔥 ❤️