A person struggling under the weight they are carrying, lots of empty speech bubbles, some of which fall around them. Illustration by Algozy.
Our next peer support meeting is Sunday April 19th at 3pm, we'll meet for 90 minutes on zoom to speak about our experiences with suicide, the big and little things that we want support with, we'll share resources and solidarity with each other. Places are available:
www.notthevoid.uk
Also I wanted to thank Sage Stephanou. They offered supervisor time to guide me in getting to the roots of what I really believed about safeguarding and what harms I caused that I avoiding looking at.
www.theradicalqueertherapist.com
Credit to Maslaha for sharing this copy of the Radical Safeguarding workbook by Alex Johnston and Latifa Akay. Also check out Maslahas excellent resources on Islamophobia, Muslims in prison and talking with schools about Palestine.
www.maslaha.org/project/radi...
It's taken a while but our radical safeguarding policy is finally up on our website. Our co facilitator team will be reviewing it as it was created a year ago. Big thank you to members and peers who proofread it so closely, it meant a lot to me to have your input.
www.notthevoid.uk/resources/ra...
I'm still rooting for you, I am here if you want company in the depths.
Our wonderful past facilitator Nancy will likely be involved in facilitating these and you'll be in safe hands with the PAUSE team, they have a gentle structure and compassionate ethos. Not the Voiders have found these circles helpful.
are non-interventional spaces. People living with suicidal ideation experiences are welcome. Please be aware that the space for shared listening is not set up for experience management."
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"Listening Spaces are free, monthly, welcoming spaces for open sharing about personal experiences with suicide (attempts, loss, suicidal ideation, caregiving, etc.) and /2
PAUSE Intl (People Addressing and Understanding Suicidal Experiences) are holding monthly free online listening circles over the Summer, from April to August. 12pm EDT is 5pm BST.
www.eventbrite.com/e/listening-...
Our next meeting is on Sunday 5th April at 3pm GMT, if you would like to join our welcoming group for a confidential, compassionate, non clinical conversation about your experiences with suicide, you can contact us here for the registration link.
www.notthevoid.uk
• talking about with UK researchers of suicide about what we mean by risk assessment, safeguarding and connecting as people over what we have in common, with Discovering Liveability's team.
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• creating a draft Not the Void UK strategy and mission statement, planning to bring it to the group.
• organising a potential NTV UK Spring workshop.
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This week different members of our co facilitator team have been:
• at a seminar on AI and the utility of 'AI psychosis' as a label.
• learning about Roots Up new S.H.A.R.E approach to peer support around suicide.
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A pale blue glass tealight holder with a snowdrop on it, glowing. A purple card text says 'The part of me that feels judged is the part of me that desperately needs to feel seen and loved.' A keyring tag with text 'sometimes you forget you are awesome, this is your reminder.
We meet in half an hour so the candle is lit to mark all our precious loved ones who we've lost to suicide. The candle burns to honour all the vulnerability and mutual care that we bring as we meet to talk about our experiences with suicide, and our solidarity with everyone who feels suicidal too.
Not the Void draws strongly on the Alt2sui model, Heather is an accredited facilitator and several members have taken intro level workshops, which has allowed our group to develop what we've learned.
The Wildflower Alliance are giving an intro seminar on the Alt2sui group model and VCVC creator Caroline Mazel Carlton will be speaking. 12-4pm EST, sign up here:
wildfloweralliance.org/event/altern...
Thank you to our members for aharing their expertise and the resources they have found. Thank you to everyone making good quality resources around suicide, self harm, healing, advocacy, rights advice, health social money and housing issues. /4
It's a beautiful thing when two people who may not have met otherwise (who may even have cameras off and don't see each others faces) connect over a resource that one person shares. There's a solidarity that develops between us. /3
After Sunday meetings, members on our mailing list will get a round up email of any links, book recommendations and other resources suggested. We also add them to a proton drive members can dip into. /2
Not the Void UK has a no fixing ethos, we strive to be a place for people to talk without being flooded with unsolicited advice or well meaning platitudes. That said, members do share general resources on health and advocacy and that's part of our community power. /1
A translucent blue snowdrop glass candle holder with the glow from a tealight. A card from Kimberly Tsans Heart Align deck says 'I allow myself to take up space and fully exist as I am.' A notebook of starry galaxies in blue snd purple is the backdrop.
We're about to meet, the candle is lit to solidarity with everybody who has suicidal experiences of their own and everybody who has lost time, dreams, their loved ones to suicide. A better world is possible for us all, we're imagining it together.
Image designed by Domo Illustrator. A man sits at a computer, he has a mug by him and he looks comfortable. The computer has a soft glow coming from it.
Our next meeting is Sunday 8th March, our US friends will be in daylight savings time, we meet at 3pm GMT. We'll be gathering to have a conpassionate, non clinical, confidential conversation about suicide. You can join via www.notthevoid.uk
We talk about the big things: crises, feeling stuck, existential questions and also the small things: the things you wonder if anyone else understands, the mundane stuff that makes life feel unlivable.
www.notthevoid.uk/peer-support...
Image designed by Domo Illustrator. A man sits at a computer, he has a mug by him and he looks comfortable. The computer has a soft glow coming from it.
Our next meeting is Sunday 8th March, our US friends will be in daylight savings time, we meet at 3pm GMT. We'll be gathering to have a conpassionate, non clinical, confidential conversation about suicide. You can join via www.notthevoid.uk
Our facilitator team is looking forward to this event and what we can learn from it. AI comes up in conversation and often in relation to a lack of relational care and community in people's lives but also around wanting to understand ones own experiences.
'The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.' James Baldwin (August 2, 1924–December 1, 1987) from Nothing Personal (public library) — his 1964 collaboration with the photographer Richard Avedon,
The Saturday night before a Sunday NTV meeting, I take a minute to think of everyone registered for our meeting, everybody who has ever joined an NTV meeting and I feel grateful that even in our most hopeless, weary, confusing moments, we find ways towards each other.
Thank you so much for sharing out skeets, we appreciate it.
A beautiful handmade bowl from Wavering Pines with a pink card and a holo heart that says you are not a burden. Shells and rocks by a navy blue beeswax candle, behind a print of Wendy Copes poem the orange, text reads 'I love you, I am glad I exist.'
Our Sunday meeting is starting soon so the candle of remembrance is lit for everybody and everything we've lost to suicide, and to the bright spark of hope, stubbornness and spite that we draw on to survive.
You are not a burden. You are not alone.
