Ɛte Sɛn?
Ɛte sɛn? is Twi (Akan language) for ‘How are you?/How is it?’.
Too often, if asked at all, we don’t give or have space to honestly answer. In an existence where Black pain is ignored, this question is important to ask each other from an intentional, present space. We matter.
How are you, Fam?
How is it?
We are four Black, queer providers of care to primarily Black and Brown, trans, non-binary, gnc, queer, fat, disabled, polyamorous/non-monogamous, kinky folks and their families in the Bay Area. Three of us are non-binary. We have witnessed and experienced firsthand challenges in finding Black queer and trans providers that share our identities, experience, and knowing. In our provider communities, we have seen and experienced a consistent demand for Black providers to give support in the beautiful ways that only We can.
How it's going
To date, we've raised just over $70k to support Black trans and queer Bay Area licensed and per-licensed therapists! We are proud to have given 34 rest offerings to therapists over the past 3 years!
Goals & Outreach
Resistance, Resilience, Rest
Goal
We had a goal of raising $100K to provide 50 SF Bay Area Black trans and queer therapists (licensed and pre-licensed) with $2000 each, to support them in taking time off for self-restoration and to help prevent and manage burnout.
We aimed to support these therapists with a monetary offering to lessen the financial barrier to taking time away from work.
We aimed to build community with these therapists and share collective and community resources to support their health & well being while working, resting, and playing.
Organizers
Ella Ofori
They/Them
I am a Black/African, non-binary, queer, (small) fat mental health therapist. My private practice primarily serves Black and Brown trans, queer, and non-binary individuals and families. Most of my clients are providers, activists, organizers, teachers, artists that either do or are working towards understanding and embracing their roots. I work from a collectivist, Womanist/Black feminist influenced framework and hold the impact of intergenerational trauma and white supremacy in relationship to the challenges my clients face. I practice non-hierarchical support and center healing in community/relationship. I also provide a heart, value, and culture-centered framework for program evaluation, consultation, and storytelling/public speaking for colleagues, grassroots orgs and academic institutions.
I pull from my life experiences and in combination with my growing spiritual knowing, I use aspects of herbalism, divining, crystals, ritual, ancestor relationship and connection, storytelling, and spiritual relationship building to support myself, my friends, family, clients, and larger community in healing and movement towards freedom.
Rawiyah Tariq
They/Them
Black | Fat | Queer | Gender Non Binary
Rawiyah Tariq is a Black, gender non-binary, fat, disabled and neurodivergent artist and kink aware professional.
Their roots are in queer, poly-amorous, fat community.
Their tone is reflective of these roots.
Their work is informed by how these intersect with their Blackness.
Magic, massage, storytelling and performance art are tools they use to liberate, heal and reclaim space for marginalized communities. they believe in cohesive and somatic healing and holding practices that align body, mind and spirit.
Currently, they are living in the Bay Area while working on their book and their healing and holding practice A Sovereign Embodiment (ASE) . They provide ritual creation, divination, heart holding, graphic design, website creation and coaching.
You can catch them in the films Fattitude and Heavenly Brown Body. You can connect to them at asoverignembodiment.org and mammyisdead.com
Chris Watkins
She/Her
Chris started life in the South, bounced to the Midwest for young adulthood, sat for a quick second in the Northeast, and then finally started to root and bloom in the Bay Area.
Stories— listening to them, creating them, performing them, reconstructing them, connecting them— are a consistent thread in her life and work whether she’s creating art, providing therapy, or reading Tarot.
Whatever she’s doing, she weaving Womanist/Black Feminist, relational, and somatic perspectives with knowledge gained from her lived experiences, identities, and ancestors to bring new realities into being. She sees herself as a "Co-explorer" and strives to assist others in remembering how to hear and trust their own innate wisdom.
Thunderstorms and dancing bring her joy.
Joëlle Dussek
Joëlle Dussek (pronouns: Lï pronounced 'Lee') is an Androgynous Hybrid daughter of the Divine Feminine.
Being both Haitian & African American ascendant person who hails from two illustrious cities, New York and New Orleans. Joëlle’s blended cultural backgrounds inform li artistic & healing practice of storytelling, writing, divining, organizing, and weaving lost information within plain sight. Joëlle has a masters degree in Psychological Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies with a focus in Somatic Psychology and an African-Centered Transdisciplinary Epistemological.
Joëlle's background is within TV, film and podcasting as a producer and manager. These skill sets gave li an opportunity to understand the logistical side to media and creative industries.
Stepping away from behind the scenes of both the entertainment industry and academia Joëlle brings li mediumship or media to the light via platforms such as www.flowinthelight.com to express and concretize li work. Joëlles' use of media showcases the powerful impact of owning images, sharing stories, the power of memory, the power of imagination to transform community, heal, overcome and thrive.
Project Ɛte Sɛn & Black Resistance
It is more important than ever for us to take the intentional time to ask, “How are you?”. Our Black therapists have been asking and holding our big and complicated responses to this question without much reprieve over the past years and will continue to do so. Black providers that hold the hearts, spirits, and bodies of our community members deserve to have this question asked of them too. Black providers need to be held in their need for rest, reflection, and recovery.
Black therapists, specifically, have been voicing challenges in feeling able to take breaks from supporting others, even when they are in need of rest and self-care. We want to help remove some of the financial barrier of taking needed time to rest and support our fellow Black providers in making the needed space to take care of themselves. We are asking Black therapists, “how are you?”
Our Support Team
We appreciate non-Black folks that move out of the way and give their labor and access in support of us supporting Us. We thank you. The Body Political is our Fiscal Sponsor.
The Body Political
Fiscal Sponsor
The Body Political is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to confronting social myths about the body through personal stories of resistance and reclamation. The Body Political is the fiscal sponsor for Project Ɛte Sɛn? and your donations are tax-deductible. Tax ID Number: 82-2685177
