Beyond Mental Health: Imagining Radical Care

The Abolitionist Healing Collective* presents “Beyond Mental Health: Imagining Radical Care”. This is a workshop series designed in response to our experience of the mainstream Western Mental Health System and how it perpetuates the oppressive power structures of Capitalism and white supremacy. Together we will deconstruct the mainstream approach to addressing what gets called “mental health”, highlighting the harms and limitations of our current system. The second half of the series focuses on how we create communities of care and alternatives to the mainstream system. We will be using a range of creative, embodied and somatic practices throughout the series.

• Week 1: Introductions and History of the Mental Health System
• Week 2: “Mental Health” under Capitalism: Contextualising the Current System
• Week 3: Abolition, Disability Justice and Imagining Community Care
• Week 4: Dreaming and Practicing Radical Care

The event is free and for anyone aged 18+. Due to the nature of the workshops, we ask that people only sign up if they are able to attend all 4 sessions.

The sessions running in May at Wellspring Settlement will be our second cycle of workshops, specifically for people who identify as having experienced or supported someone experiencing distress/trauma/mental illness (whilst we identify with ‘distress’ most to describe our experiences, we acknowledge that people will use different terms to describe similar experiences, such as trauma or mental illness). We won’t be asking people to provide ‘proof’, people can self-identify. There are workshops taking place in March/April 2025 for anyone who would not identify in this way.

Accessibility: We want these workshops to be as accessible as possible and acknowledge that there may be considerations we haven’t made. If you’re interested in the workshops but would struggle to attend or access them, please do reach out to us. We can offer an extra ticket for a carer to attend with you, or discuss other ways to make it possible for you to attend.

Please note: We recognise that much of the knowledge in this space draws from the work and experiences of Black people and people of colour, queer, trans and disabled folk. So, whilst we’ll be accepting sign-ups on a first-come-first-serve basis, we will be prioritising people from these groups.

For more information, please see Eventbrite: Abolitionist Healing Collective Organiser Page or Instagram: @abolitionisthealing or contact the Abolitionist Healing Collective (Almas, Max and Tidrah) on abolitionisthealing@gmail.com

Please note: This event is organised by an external provider and is subject to change without Wellspring Settlement’s knowledge.