This network provides mental health support free of charge for folks who are facing burnout and other mental health effects of engaging in anti-oppression work.
If you have any questions or comments please reach out.
Email resistence.resilience1312@gmail.com
How this all came about
So many folks who had spent significant time in resistance spaces in so-called Canada experienced a wide variety of trauma. Most return to their home communities feeling lost, alone and broken.
A needs assessment research project was initiated that spoke to people who had been part of many struggles, looking to see what the main barriers to activism are.
Not surprisingly, the overwhelming issue was the state of our mental health. So the Resistance Resilience Network was born.
the mission
Empire functions in a strict hierarchical fashion. They learn over time how to defend colonialism and capitalism from those who would oppose it. Land defense and colonial resistance movements are often built on a different set of leadership criteria.
When the effects of extreme state violence and the communal pressures of activist life make it unbearable for us to continue the work, we leave these spaces. The harm to our mental health can be so severe, that some leave for good. Worse still, some folks, years later are still deeply and negatively effected by their experiences, and continue to suffer.
When we lose people, even temporarily, we lose with it all their experience and leadership. This can weaken our movements and give the state the upper hand.
This site and its resources are meant to help support and heal those who have fought so hard, and those who are still fighting, so we can build resilience, creativity, care and joy in these spaces, all of which Empire cannot have.