To Our Communities:

We at Healing in Colour have been transparent for a long time about how difficult our work has been - how much the growth of demand for our services has outpaced the growth of our capacity, and the impact this has had on us as BIPOC facing multiple marginalizations.

We have tried different avenues to make our work sustainable. This has included registering as a non-profit in order to become eligible for grants and attract donors. What we have found is that the colonial structures of the non-profit system have drained us; instead of directing our energy toward our mission itself, the vast majority of our energy goes to navigating systems that were not built by or for us. Despite applying, we have not received any grants and have found that few people within these systems care about our work or understand why it matters. We are deeply grateful for the community support we have received, but these grassroots donations alone have not been enough to sustain us. 

Most of all, we have found that operating within this system has deeply impacted our health and wellbeing. This is particularly true for Lala, our sole staff member, a disabled queer woman of colour whose health has greatly suffered as a result of the stress and weight of this work.

Under capitalism, the usual pattern is that the conditions are created for employee burnout and suffering, and when employees inevitably suffer and burn out they have to leave, they are replaced, and the cycle begins again. We decided instead to put our values into practice, and to change our conditions in order to support the health and wellbeing of our people.

After extensive deliberations, we have decided to leave the non-profit world and become a collective and a social enterprise. We will be sharing more about what this means for us and for you in the next few days. For now, we want you to know that our main offerings - directories of BIPOC practitioners with anti-oppressive values - will always exist and remain free for the public to use. 

We want to offer our deepest gratitude to all of you who have supported us throughout the years. You are the reason we will be continuing our work. We look forward to telling you more about the upcoming changes and how they will help us serve you better.