Today is the summer solstice. A day that represents a threshold as the midpoint and longest day of the year. A day to be in ritual in whatever way serves you as we welcome our shadows to be illuminated and supported with the power of immense light.
As I reflect on the first half of this year I recognize a theme of embodying ideas, concepts and goals more fully. Less emphasis on doing or performing, and more on being with and co-creating. I have been immersed in literature, conversations and practices that share anti-colonial frameworks, and I have remained curious on this path of deconstructing colonial consciousness. I sense, see and trust a deep rhythm that manifests as breath, energy levels, day and night, highs and lows, expansion and contraction, and I feel guided and in awe of these opposing forces that collaborate as synchronistic waves. Today I will be devoting myself to diverse movement, opening myself to nourishment that awaits in flow, and enjoying sweet moments of rest, listening and honoring what has become clearer within me over these past several months.
Before I shift gears into the flow of the day, there is something I have been playing with and exploring that I feel compelled to sit with, write about and share. My understanding of mental health has been shifting as I have recently learned about a new (to me) concept called sanism (or mentalism). Sanism expands the focus from the individual who suffers with mental health issues to look instead at the systematic perpetuation and marginalization of individuals who are diagnosed and pathologized within the medical health system (MacPhee & Wilson Norrad, 2021). As an ‘ism’, it cannot be separated from the interlocking systems of oppression that collide and amplify based on intergenerational trauma and aspects of an individual’s identity that are deemed as “other” within the dominant Eurocentric ideology. As such, I cannot attempt to Universalize what anti-sanism, or what a lived experience of sanism, looks like. For me, anti-sanism is an embodiment of self-compassion and relationality as it requires we step out of a deficit-lens, blame or dualistic categories of well/un-well.
Relationality is a core concept within many Indigenous paradigms (Wilson, 2019) and the more I open myself to the wisdom of relationality, the more I understand non-dualism and a path forward that is radically inclusive and inherently healing. To be relational with myself and others reminds me that how we listen, engage, and relate with each other can lead towards learning and understanding (for all involved) or can further the harm and internalization of oppression (Johnstone, 2021). There is a tendency within the mental health field to rely on diagnoses, categories, medication, individuation, and self-development to “fix” or “cope” with the hand we have been dealt as individuals. I am all for self-empowerment and development, and when we expand our perspective to recognize the way historically and present-day society (i.e. norms, expectations, meta-narratives, etc.) impact our individual mental health, we see that focusing on the individual to create solutions is not enough.
An example of sanism that I found to have a far-reaching relatability is how grief is described within the medical model as a sequence of emotions that lead towards a resolution with indicators of what is deemed “normal”. This template creates eligibility criteria for those on bereavement leave, and substantial exclusion of other stories of grief that do not fit this meta-narrative (Johnstone, 2021). People experience grief in multiple ways, and we add suffering to this experience when we categorize it, compare it, and judge it on a scale of normal to abnormal.
For me, I have sat with the concept of anti-sanism and my desire to embody it as a quality or verb rather than strive for it as an external and future destination. This brought me to the exploratory sentiment that self-compassion is embodied resistance to sanism. Self-compassion asks us to be relational with ourselves, to empathize, validate and soothe our own internal experience by normalizing and welcoming it. It leads us to ask our suffering what it needs and listen to our body rather than force or ignore it. Self-compassion guides us to see there is no part of ourselves that is inherently “less than”, to question what/how we view “difference”, and to pause to see more perspectives. Self-compassion guides us back into our bodies, a place that can be more than just uncomfortable to inhabit fully. Yet it is this path of embodiment that connects us more fully with our ability to see a broader perspective and take action against systems that seek to keep us distracted.
Referring to mental health stigma keeps the focus on the individual and misses the fact that there’s an entire Industry that benefits from us being distracted talking about stigma. We must talk about the impact of intergenerational trauma due to colonialism and oppressive systems that continue to impact our individual and collective mental health.
How we participate in the system matters. The process of unlearning sanism is riddled with discomfort as we see ourselves, others and the world perpetuating a narrow and capitalistic driven medical model approach to mental health (which inherently erases the experiences of many). As we shift our individual and collective consciousness, we will be increasingly disruptive, yet in loving and inclusive ways. As we do this, we engage in less othering and blaming, and work towards banding together, united as human beings who deserve to live in an equitable society.
And so I begin to end my thoughts here for now. I venture out in my day with the energy cultivated from putting these thoughts together to share with you, and I choose to lean into the practice of self-compassion as embodied resistance to the systems that seek to keep me (us) in a contracted and distracted state. I choose expansion. I choose to lead by example by modelling self-compassion internally and reflecting it externally. I choose to see the light and dark with a welcoming and spacious lens. I choose to take action with love, understanding and the wisdom of a resilient heart that holds us all in our highest light.
Happy Solstice
xo
References
Johnstone, M. (2021). Centering social justice in mental health practice: Epistemic justice and social work practice. Research on Social Work Practice, 31(6), 634–643. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497315211010957
MacPhee, K., & Wilson Norrad, L. (2021). Learning and unlearning: Two social workers’ autoethnographic exploration into mad studies. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 33(1), 40–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2021.2007456
Wilson, S. (2019). Research is ceremony: Indigenous research methods. Langara College.