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Showing posts from August 4, 2013

NYPH Chronicles: A Woman's Hope? [Co-created with an inpatient on her way out]

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Story 2: A Woman's Hope? Goddess rising...* * This is written in honor of a special woman on the unit who co-created this with me,  before she was discharged. Blessings on your journey, your seeds help bless others. I lead a group on the women’s unit called “A woman’s hope?” The unit team mentioned to me that a number of women are struggling with suicidal ideation. They are having a hard time with finding their sense of grounded-ness, their sense of hope. I decide to title the group, “A woman’s hope?” in order to create a space that is open and welcoming to feelings of hope and spaces of hopelessness. I bring my Indian gong and we start the group with a silent meditation. We then follow with reading the poem “And still I rise” by Maya Angelou. Literally as the poem is being read, women begin to sob. Lines about "did you want to see me broken. Bowed head and lowered eyes...?" resonate, seen in the eyes of many women. Other lines that resonate are “that I dance like