The healing power of emotional emancipation circles will be the subject of a lecture on Friday afternoon by renowned clinical psychologist Dr. Erika McInniss.
The public is invited to attend and participate in Get Up Stand Up! Stand up for your Rights! on Friday at 1PM at the Human Resource Conference Room at Government Headquarters in Brades.
Dr. Clarice Barnes, the organiser of the event said slavery lasted 400 years and while we often hear that it was a long time ago, we have not been emancipated 300 years yet. “We need to give ourselves the time” to work through the legacy of slavery. She believes that the methods practiced by Dr. McInniss and developed over 50 years ago by the Association of Black Psychologists in the US holds some of the keys to working through this legacy.
“The Emotional Emancipation Circles were developed by ABPsi leaders in association with the Community Healing Network. They’re becoming a global movement of safe spaces where black people work together on self-healing and emotional emancipation. Initially, they started as a response to help the community heal emotionally from human-made disasters such as unjust deaths of black people when interacting with law enforcement services and the uprisings which were often a way of the community expressing its hurt. Now, rather than waiting for problems to occur – and we know they inevitably will – the circles work on developing resilience skills pre-emptively.’ What do they consist of? ‘People telling stories, dancing, singing, practising African rituals. We practise mindfulness/resilience tools and share coping and wellness strategies, as well as learn more about how historical and social forces affect our relationships and emotions. It’s critical that people feel safe in these circles, and also that they feel completely comfortable with saying what they want to say in front of other members. They are therefore black-only spaces.” McInniss is quoted as saying in The Psychologist.
The event is free and open to all.
