If you haven’t already, head over here first to read more on why collective care is core to our mission. On this page, we’ll share about ways we are taking our values outside The Gaia Center and into the wider community.

Our intention here is not to pat ourselves on the back or to create “good optics,” but rather, to model a minimum of what we hope other organizations in the wellness space can do to join us in addressing the need for collective care, and to hold ourselves accountable to maintaing consistency with our social justice work.

art by Elena Mozhvilo

art by Elena Mozhvilo

“Collective care refers to seeing [community] members’ well-being – particularly their emotional health – as a shared responsibility of the group rather than the lone task of an individual. It means that a group commits to addressing interlocking oppressions and reasons for deteriorating well-being within the group while also combatting oppression in society at large. It places an emphasis on joint accountability, with the aim of collective empowerment. These ideas originate from queer and Black feminist organizing, such as the Combahee River Collective, and disability perspectives.”
— Rushdia Mehreen & David Gray-Donald

Donations

The Gaia Center makes regular donations to organizations that are aligned with and accountable to our mission and values. Some are Nashville-based groups that do grassroots organizing and/or offer mutual aid + direct care services, while others are national organizations committed to social justice iniatiaves or increasing accessibility of mental health services, especially for marginalized/underserved folks. Below are some of the organizations The Gaia Center has donated to as an organization:

  • Healing in the Margins: (GC is part of the monthly Funding Family) a local nonprofit dedicated cultivate systemic change and foster healing by providing resources and programming in mental health spaces for the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities

There are so many great options of organizations that we look forward to donating to; if you have a suggestion or wish to nominate your work / organization to be a future donation partner, drop us a note at hello@gaiacenter.co.

Community Care Projects

We’re currently in the planning phase of our first community care project for summer 2023, and will share more details here soon!

“It is no longer appropriate to think only in terms of even my nation or my country, let alone my village. If we are to overcome the problems we face, we need what I have called a sense of universal responsibility rooted in love and kindness for our human [and more-than-human] brothers and sisters. In our present state of affairs, the very survival of humankind depends on people developing concern for the whole of humanity, not just their own community or nation. The reality of our situation impels us to act and think more clearly. Narrow-mindedness and self-centered thinking may have served us well in the past, but today will only lead to disaster.”
— Joanna Macy