{"id":9463,"date":"2020-11-18T05:48:51","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T10:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthewremski.com\/wordpress\/?p=9463"},"modified":"2020-11-18T05:48:51","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T10:48:51","slug":"the-embodiment-conference-and-beyond-a-trauma-aware-call-to-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewremski.com\/wordpress\/the-embodiment-conference-and-beyond-a-trauma-aware-call-to-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Embodiment Conference and Beyond: A Trauma-Aware Call to Healing [Guest Post]"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dr. Jess Glenny, Rev. Jude Mills, Dr. Theo Wildcroft<\/b><\/h3>\n

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We are\u00a0a coalition of elders in our communities of practice, who identify as neurodivergent and\/or as survivors of trauma. We call on you \u2013 the \u2018wellness\u2019\u00a0and \u2018embodiment\u2019 communities \u2013 to bear witness, to take personal and collective responsibility, and to commit to moving forward for the healing of ourselves, our communities, and those who have been damaged by the misuse of power; by individuals, structures, and institutions that claim to be promoting wellness. We also ask that this healing extends to those who have misused their power, for without the healing of all, there is no healing. This is a heartfelt prayer, invocation and invitation to you \u2013 the \u2018wellness\u2019\u00a0and \u2018embodiment\u2019 communities \u2013 to ask some difficult questions, and to move towards radical personal and collective change.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We have, in recent weeks, been bearing witness to the public \u2018call-out\u2019 of Mark Walsh and The Embodiment Conference, in the wake of much debated statements made by Mark on social media, that have been widely condemned as offensive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We understand and wholeheartedly support the ensuing reaction of hurt, anger and desire for reparation that is being expressed in online spaces.\u00a0However, we collectively fear that the public, social-media-fuelled fervour that builds up around these calls to action sometimes echoes the violence of the behaviours that we are collectively denouncing, and actually further harms those who have been harmed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As people who identify as\u00a0neurodivergent and\/or as survivors of trauma,\u00a0we simply cannot safely engage with this level of volatility. We experience this as a form of ableism that has repeatedly excluded us from spaces like The Embodiment Conference, and also from the online spaces where such events are debated and discussed.<\/b><\/p>\n

Some of us have seen warning signs and refused any involvement with Mark Walsh from the outset. Others have had varying levels of professional and personal involvement and have subsequently decided to remove our support and to cut off our ties and involvement with him and his work, having experienced professional and personal emotional and psychological harm by our involvement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our experience predates but resonates with all of what has been currently reported on Walsh\u2019s online behaviour. As survivors of trauma, and as neurodivergent practitioners, we knew years ago that we were unwelcome in Walsh\u2019s space, and that the commodification of \u2018embodiment\u2019 it represents was built, in part, on that exclusion, and on the denial of our lived experience. We fully acknowledge the intersectional nature of such experiences, but equally acknowledge that we can only legitimately speak to our own experiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are the ones who either were never invited to join the conference, or whose consciences would not allow us to sign up. In the wake of the online call to action, some of us with direct experience of Mark Walsh, have even been asked: why didn\u2019t we warn people, and how are we going to help repair the damage? We have been asked to take \u2018accountability\u2019.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The fact is, some of us did warn you, and you didn\u2019t listen. Others who had relevant information to share weren\u2019t consulted or even considered as relevant. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To be clear, we have not been silent; we have been silenced.<\/span><\/p>\n

What we feel needs to be said however, is that this is not just about one person and one event. These same dynamics have been experienced by many of us, in many organisational contexts. Mark Walsh and his behaviours are symptoms of deeper cultural and systemic issues that are culturally normalised. These are the issues that need to be addressed for us to move towards healing of a situation that will, otherwise, continue to repeat . The fact is, we\u2019re not sure that\u00a0you want to repair anything that we are really invested in.<\/span><\/p>\n

We believe:<\/span><\/p>\n