Image Description: Text: from self care to community care with LSPIRG [on dark background with stars]

Why do we need to move from self-care to community care?

Currently, mainstream conversations around self-care often revolve around things such as taking vacation days, baths (ft. over-priced bath bombs), face masks, our favourite “junk food”, meditation (and other often appropriated and overpriced activities such as yoga) and “treating ourselves” (which seems to always involve a cost). Many of these examples of self-care can be out of reach for many folks or perpetuate harm through appropriation. It is plain to see that the mainstream form of self-care isn’t for everyone — It is just for those who are able to purchase it.

When it comes to marginalized populations, the concept of self-care can almost seem like a joke. Either it is out of reach or we are sold the idea that a bath and a good face mask can fix daily experiences of racism, queerphobia, transphobia, ableism, etc. The onus is put on the individual — “If things are overwhelming or feeling difficult, it is because you need more self-care, not because of widespread oppression or marginalization.” This is an inherently colonial and capitalist perspective that requires folks to adjust to their own oppression. It is no wonder that many of us don’t resonate with the concept of self-care or the ways it is currently being marketed to us.

Image Description: smiling, masculine presenting person in a bubble bath with their feet hanging out. Text: baths are great, but they can’t fix systemic oppression

Meaningful Self-Care

We want to be clear that we know self-care can be extremely helpful for us throughout our daily lives. We don’t want to deny the comfort that a nice bath or a cup of stress-relieving tea can bring at the end of a long day. And there’s also a lot of other examples of meaningful self-care too.

You may be familiar with the concept of “Boring Self Care” - a concept that was recently popularized by Hannah Daisy, an artist and mental health advocate. Her work illustrates how sometimes simply doing the dishes is a form of self-care. You may not enjoy doing it, but accomplishing a task or improving your surroundings may feel good — especially if just getting out of bed is feeling really hard. Taking care of yourself and your needs can also sometimes mean trying to make significant and difficult changes in your life.

What can meaningful and sustainable self-care and self-love look like?

Booking necessary healthcare appointments
Taking a break from screens to go outside for a walk
Taking medications on time
Switching to a job that aligns better with our needs (if you’re able to do so)
Dropping courses or programs or degrees (if you’re able to)
Taking some skills-based classes you've always wanted to (i.e. gardening, fixing your own bike)
Cutting out toxic folks in your life (if you’re able to)
Reaching out to someone you miss and haven't talked with in a while
Organizing your digital desktop
Cleaning or de-cluttering your physical space
Having difficult conversations about what your boundaries and needs are
Taking a shower
Getting out of bed (or staying in bed if it feels necessary)

Many of these things can be hard, or even straight-up boring (as Hannah Daisy says)! Self-care is so often marketed to us as something enjoyable — A treat. And while we might find enjoyment in some of these things (such as going for a walk), some days it can feel like the biggest chore in the world to do even the smallest tasks. It is important to see self-care as something that can also be difficult and can be impacted by where our mental health is at each day. Here is a great tool for if you are struggling and aren’t sure what you need right now.

Image Description: text: pod and community care. [pictures of a masculine and feminine couple with a young child, a group of four young friends watching together, and a queer femme couple wearing rainbow]

Pod Care & Community Care

Self-care, although it may be something that’s helpful for us, doesn’t often account for our friend/family circles (pods) or our broader communities. But what can community care or pod care look like during these difficult and powerful times we’re living in?!

“Pods” is a term that has been popularized by Mia Mingus, a disability justice advocate from the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective in Oakland. It has been used to refer to the people we are closest with (i.e. family, friends, neighbours etc.).

“Community” can be considered a broader population, potentially based on a shared identity (i.e. the queer community), a shared experience (i.e. the Laurier community), a geographical location (i.e. the Waterloo community) or shared ideas (i.e. the feminist community). It is important to note that Communities do not often have uniform ways of thinking things. For example, when we say”queer community” we’re referring to an enormous group of people with many different lived experiences. And often queer spaces are centred around white, cis queer folks - leaving out QTBIPOC folks, undocumented folks, disabled folks etc. What does it mean if we are not accepted as a part of a broader community?

Take a moment to consider the pods and/or communities you might be a part of.

Examples of Pod Care

Cooking some pre-made meals for friends
Listening if a friend needs to rant / vent
Offering to help a friend move / paint / clean etc.
Walking a friends dog if they aren’t feeling well
Sending your close friends care packages
Advertising a friend’s business on social media

Examples of Community Care

Food Not Bombs, community gardens and other mobilization to increase community access to food
Highlighting Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans etc. owned businesses on your social media
Healing Spaces, debrief spaces and other opportunities to come together collectively to heal
Collectively working towards alternatives to police / prison systems
Collective experiences of joy and healing (queer dance parties, yoga classes for Black Womxn)

What are other pod /community care examples that you can think of that relate to your own circles?

Image Description: Young racialized person holding a sign that says “defund police”. text: our community care movements need to be tied with our resistance struggles. and our resistance struggles need to be rooted in a deep care for ourselves and ou… — Image Description: Young racialized person holding a sign that says “defund police”. text: our community care movements need to be tied with our resistance struggles. and our resistance struggles need to be rooted in a deep care for ourselves and our communities.

Community Care and Resistance

Struggles for Black liberation, for Decolonization, for increased health care options for Trans folks etc. are inherently tied to community care. Anything short of system-wide justice and liberation is simply a band-aid fix on a system that will continue to target marginalized folks. Community care needs to work to dismantle the current existing barriers and make sure that we avoid perpetuating barriers as we move forward. In the words of Tricia Hersey from the Nap Ministry, “The opposite of violence is care”.

Our community care movements need to be tied with resistance struggles, and our resistance struggles need to be rooted in a deep care for ourselves and our communities. The work needs to happen, but it’s also important that we don’t burn out our communities with expectations of continuous labour.

Tangible Tips on Practising Community Care

Check-in before and after protests to make sure folks are okay. Debriefs for organizers can also be helpful (check-ins are also helpful before meetings, at the beginning of events etc)
Financially support the movement if you’re able to (i.e. legal costs after protests, individual fundraisers for folks impacted)
Hosting spaces to just to be together as a pod / larger community (i.e. community bbqs)
Check in with folks about access needs while putting together events or hangouts (i.e. food restrictions, physical accessibility, child care, transportation, etc)
Holding space for folks to be together after particularly difficult periods of times
Celebrate our collective wins. Even if they feel small. Even if they ARE small. We deserve to celebrate them. We deserve to congratulate ourselves!
Join or start mutual aid collectives such as Food Not Bombs or CareMongering during COVID in your area
Support and amplify the work of others (going to events, sharing local makers pages, sharing community supports available etc)
If you are part of an organization or institution, find ways to provide money to folks doing grassroots organizing and community support
Improve, create or dismantle policies

Literally this list could probably go on forever. Community care can look a million different ways! Take a moment to come up with some other examples of what community care could look like in your specific circles.

Image Description: femme-presenting person holding a grocery cart. Text: overworked and underpaid essential workers deserve more than being called heroes. They deserve fair payment, benefits, and safe working conditions. Not just under situations li… — Image Description: femme-presenting person holding a grocery cart. Text: overworked and underpaid essential workers deserve more than being called heroes. They deserve fair payment, benefits, and safe working conditions. Not just under situations like COVID19 - but always.

Community Care and Capitalism

The idea of caring for our community can, and often is, co-opted in order for businesses to make a profit. For example; businesses putting rainbow flags up during Pride month while they do little to support the queer community. Or a company making a statement about supporting its marginalized staff but doing nothing to address racism, transphobia etc. in the workplace.

In the context of COVID19, I’m sure we’ve all seen posts and signs calling essential workers “heroes”. Grocery store workers, custodial workers, nurses and doctors etc were all given this label. However, this language wasn’t followed up with any increased supports. In fact, many folks have been - and continue to be - placed in highly unsafe work conditions while continuing to be underpaid and overworked. And many folks are not choosing to continue working while we are in a global pandemic. Instead it is mandated by employers and workers risk losing their positions if they refuse. Our community care cannot just consist of vague acknowledgments or solidarity letters without any follow through on the real needs of our communities.

Image Text: lack of community care at Laurier (and some good examples too)

Lack of Self-Care and Community Care at Laurier

There are many incredible individuals who work at Laurier but at an institutional level, Wilfrid Laurier University often does not care for its students, staff and faculty.

Some examples of Laurier’s shortcomings in practising community care:

Lack of BIPOC, Queer and Trans staff (including counsellors, faculty, support staff etc.)
Onus is put on students to address their concerns with self-care. For example, if you’re overwhelmed during exam time, it’s not because the workload is unsustainable (especially for students who are having to work multiple jobs are support family), it is simply a lack of your own self-care practices.
Policies that actively harm students (i.e Sexual Violence Policy, Free Speech policy that allows far right wing speakers to attend campus and spread hateful messages)
Wellness workshops etc. that push students to reflect on their own practices as a source of stress or anxiety instead of acknowledging the systemic situations that result in higher levels of stress and anxiety in marginalized populations (and cannot be fixed with a tidier calendar / bedroom / workspace or a trip to the gym).
Publicizing the Student Wellness Centre as the place to go when students need care, without addressing wait times or hiring enough qualified, diverse staff

Examples of Community Care at Laurier

There are also so many ways that folks care for each other at Laurier. Here are a few examples:

Student advocacy (e.g. student-led advocacy to provide free menstrual products to all menstruators on campus)
Peer support on social media (e.g. when many disclosures of racism were shared on Spotted at Laurier, students overwhelmingly responded with care, solidarity and rage)
Student groups, clubs and LSPIRG action groups recognizing a need in the community and responding to it (i.e. Food Not Bombs increasing food serves during pandemic, community gardens, CSEDI holding Black healing spaces)
Climate activism at Laurier that is addressing the need for Laurier to divest from fossil fuels and bringing students together who are dedicated to protecting the land

Image description: group of three from behind with arms around each others shoulders, femme individual doing a yoga pose, a dad giving a ride to a child on his shoulder, a group of 4 friends talking and dancing, a picture of two friends video chatti… — Image description: group of three from behind with arms around each others shoulders, femme individual doing a yoga pose, a dad giving a ride to a child on his shoulder, a group of 4 friends talking and dancing, a picture of two friends video chatting, and a group of three friends from the front with arms around each other shoulders

The Power of Community Care

Pod and community care is such an amazing and powerful thing to do. It has real implications on our lives and builds connection as we go! Here are other final points we encourage folks to keep in mind:

Caring for ourselves and each other is not a waste of our time. In fact it is a very impact aspect of sustaining ourselves and our movements
We have the capacity to impact our communities
Intentionally asking and thinking about what the folks around us need improves our relationships
If we already know what our pods need in a crisis, it can make responding to the situation much smoother
We have the power to support each other. Particularly marginalized communities have had to depend on this for a long time.
We deserve moments of rest and joyfulness. Both individually and as a pod or community. Even though we are fighting for better futures and we may not be there yet. We deserve those spaces to feel good in our bodies and in our communities. We don’t have to wait until the work is done.
Our capitalist society convinces use that anything we do just for fun is unproductive. Or that work we do to support our pods / communities isn’t a priority. But what could possible be more important?