Space to Be: 5th Sep

Date:

Friday 5th September, 10.30am - 11.30am BST (UK time)

What it is

Space to Be (Neurodivergent BIPOC) is a fortnightly peer social gathering online on Zoom...

specifically for adults of all ages who identify as both neurodivergent (wherever you are in your journey, whether you’ve been diagnosed as neurodivergent or just think that’s what might be going on for you) and BIPOC (identify as Black / Indigenous / as a Person of Colour).

Come along and be in a neurodivergent space, a BIPOC space, a queer space... where you don't have to explain everything, where you don't have to start from the beginning, where you can just be. Share what you're loving right now, connect with kindred folk, or just listen and be.

What to expect

Whether it's your first time here or you've been before, expect a warm welcome from the group!

There will be background music playing for a few minutes while you enter the space, to allow everyone a slow pace as we arrive and settle in together.

1. We begin with an optional check in – “Right now I’m feeling…” / "Right now I'm noticing..."

2. I offer a question or invite the group to share anything you’d like

3. People reflect / riff / share something new, and we pass our time together in this way (we talk about what we’ve been doing/making/reading/watching/enjoying, how we experience the world, rest, creativity, challenges, celebrations, nature, & anything else that’s present for people)

4. I will gently facilitate the conversation and hold space for all your connections

5. We close with a reflection and a check-in of how you’re feeling, and say goodbye

Why do we gather?

To support and be supported

To celebrate and be celebrated

To nourish and be nourished

To inspire and be inspired

To hold and be held

To witness and be witnessed

To hear and be heard

To grieve and yearn collectively

To remember

To co-create haven

To rest into community

To be.

What People Say

Gathering Agreements

This is a co-created space to model the world we yearn to live in through practicing together. By entering into this space, we agree to practice:

- Arriving and staying as our nuanced selves, naming what is present and trusting that it will be held with love, and being in choice throughout as to how/whether we participate

- Creating and allowing space & silence to feel into our bodies and process without urgency

- Inviting each other into consent, not making assumptions, offering content warnings where necessary, making loving requests, checking in with each other, allowing all that exists in the moment without the need for fixing, and only offering advice if it is asked for

- Relating to each other with respect, care, kindness and belonging, respecting confidentiality of each other’s shares and holding each other in our dignity

- Sharing our stories, playing together and finding common ground while honouring our individual capacity and our edges

- Going gently and celebrating the courage it takes to be vulnerable within a group

Pricing

Space to Be is a community offering. At the time of writing, I've facilitated 70 of these gatherings! I invite community members into a practice of donating in acknowledgement of the emotional labour involved in facilitating, by choosing the 'Community Support' ticket, when you are able. You can also choose a free ticket if that makes it more accessible. 

You can learn more about the ecosystem of Everyday Writes offerings here: 

About the facilitator

dia (they/them), aka Everyday Writes, is an Embodied Transformation coach and writer, holding space at the intersection of somatic remembering, fugitivity, queerness, neurodivergence, disability & music on repeat.

Everyday Writes spaces are anti-racist, anti-homophobic, QTIBIPOC-led, celebrating of trans people and people of all genders, value the lived experience of all participants, and aim to be actively inclusive and accessible. Please only come along if you share these values.

The lineage of this gathering

BIPOC Space to be Neurodivergent arose organically in 2022, when a neurodivergent space I was running happened to be only BIPOC people that week, and we all realised how much we needed that spaciousness of intersectionality. It’s been running fortnightly since then and now has members joining from all over the world.

My holding of space is sustained by my own lineage that includes: Lama Rod Owens, Prentis Hemphill, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, George Michael, Tracy Chapman, Bayo Akomolafe, Kai Cheng Thom, Camille Sapara Barton, somatic practices, seed-planting, my heritage, our Earth, and more music than I can name.

Each time we gather, we bring our own lines of magic and join them together, so that no two gatherings are the same. With a different combination of people every time, each bringing your gorgeous unique energy and whatever's on your mind, this is a space to feel, talk, laugh, share stories and resources, listen and relate.

What else you might like to know

• runs every fortnight - come along to one session or come along regularly
• takes place on Zoom -  I will email you with the Zoom link before the gathering date
• participants join from across the world
• for adults of all ages (aged 18+) who self-identify as both BIPOC and neurodivergent
• usually between 4-12 participants each time
• please arrive on time so we can settle in together. Please let me know by email if you're likely to be late. If you're more than 10 minutes late it interrupts the flow of the session if someone is sharing and affects my ability to facilitate, so you won't be admitted unless we've arranged beforehand
• quiet instrumental music will be playing when you first enter the Zoom room as we all arrive
• closed captioning always enabled
• gatherings are not recorded or shared
• choose whether to have your camera on or off
• designed to be introvert friendly
• no pressure to share, just come as you are on the day

Any questions?

Send me an email, I'll do my best to answer your question: info@everydaywrites.com