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With the underrepresentation and systemic exclusion of young equity-deserving voices within all spaces, in particular the environmental movement, mitigating activism burnout is essential. Our team has facilitated numerous mental health revitalization programs for equity-deserving individuals that centre community care and uses storytelling as a creative and healing tool. We engage organizers in anti-colonial healing work through the creation of community-safe spaces enabling conversations for horizontal learning and through outdoor gatherings. Throughout this deliberately ‘slow activism’, all participants are also given time to work on a climate-justice-related passion project that they otherwise would not have time to dedicate energy towards (written work, podcasts, videos, Op-Eds, art). Following the retreat, these creations can be co-amplified across the cohort to perpetuate the sense of community connections beyond the retreat environment.
Our Rest, Recovery and Resistance (3RS) retreats aim to:
(1) provides a safe space for young leaders to learn and grow, and harnesses their collective expertise for the benefit of others through knowledge co-generation activities,
(2) provide youth organizers with opportunities to centre rest and reinvesting in their own well-being as a form of long-term investment towards their continued work on climate justice, and
(3) increase the representation of equity-deserving folks outdoors.
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These programs are funding and partnership dependent and we have learned over time in facilitating such engagements that they work best when participants are able to meaningfully co-design the itinerary, activities and learning opportunities. We also are aware that a significant amount of funding is required to reduce barriers for participation & meaningful rest— as we do not wish for these retreats to feel like ‘work’. They are meant to be spaces for transformative change and creative solutions inspired by radical rest.
If you have an interest in hiring our team to help design and facilitate a 3RS retreat for your team, would like to support this work more broadly and/or have any related inquiries,
please email 3rs@shakeuptheestab.org.
In the meantime, we encourage folks to practice our 3RS outside of a retreat setting, and we hope the resources below help give you a good start!
