What Happens in a Healing Circle for Change?

It’s not as difficult or complicated as one might think. We gather 10-15  people together, ideally, just after their participation in a program, event, or action for social justice. They may be at different levels of commitment and degrees of activism, but are concerned enough to have engaged in a collective event in order to learn and contribute in some way.  From attending a lecture, volunteering for a cause, marching in a protest, or committing civil disobedience, the person is interested in making a difference. Ideally, diversity among participants further enriches the experience. 

Healing Circles for Change facilitators will then guide the process, within set time constraints, inviting each person to introduce themselves and share responses to selected questions.

Group members are asked to listen with empathy and presence. “Empathy” is the ability to listen to someone’s story through their eyes and their feelings, without judging or making assumptions. “Presence” is the ability to listen with full attention to the speaker. In this way, the listener is a mirror for the speaker. After each person shares their response to the questions, participants are encouraged to describe their own experience to the stories from a place of honesty, empathy and presence. 

What are the anticipated outcomes from participating?

Sharing across different walks of life, across different forms of oppression, is a rare experience for most of us. There are, of course, no universal outcomes that can be guaranteed, but when we are in a safe place, protected from judgment and blame, the recipients of empathy and presence, our personal healing begins. What is reflected back to our fractured selves, is a community of wholeness, a caring presence that understands our pain, our family’s suffering; with this, our life energy can begin to shift from self-preservation to social activism. When we stand up for each other, speak out for each other, we gather up the splinters to build a community.  This extraordinary sense of community gives us hope so we can move from  collective trauma to collective empowerment.

What is the story behind Healing Circles for Change?

“Healing Circles for Change” emerged organically following each one of our Tsuru for Solidarity protest actions in Texas and Oklahoma. Rather than “shout and part”, we found that bringing disparate protest groups together to share our stories of grief and hope brought an extraordinary sense of shared empowerment, a deeper understanding of one another, and a strengthened commitment for future joint actions. We found that sharing our personal stories with each other, across historical, racial, religious, cultural boundaries and barriers resulting from the trauma of oppression, ignited a sense of solidarity many of us had never experienced. We learned that by the simple act of listening with presence, a human connection can be made, commonalities shared, and differences appreciated. We have witnessed a healing from the fractures and splintering that has divided our communities and found that speaking up for one another and standing with one another in the face of injustice can be one of the most powerful tools for social change.