Emotional First Aid Working Group

Mission Statement

Our intention is to support the emotional well-being of the Occupy SF movement.

We are committed to creating alternative responses to the standard stigmatization and scapegoating that often occurs against those with mental illness, as well as to the standard institutional and systematic approaches. The hope is to create broader community accountability within Occupy SF to the entire community, to everyone, especially those who have been relegated to the very bottom of the bottom of the 99%. We do not want to become the “fixers” of all things seen as mentally broken or problematic, and instead choose to be present with people, show our hearts, share information, teach technique, educate and foment change within this unique container of intentional community.

We define “mental health” to mean any of the following: processing trauma, stress relief/coping with burnout, conflict mediation, drug use problems, compassionate listening, anger management, domestic violence, institutional violence, racial and cultural injustice, information on professional resources, dealing with hurt, sad, or angry feelings.

We originally grounded our work in counseling in the Emotional First Aid tent. Now that we no longer have a tent, we are focusing our energy on:
-Offering post-traumatic emotional support at actions
-Organizing actions that focus on public health/public mental health issues
-Providing trainings on issues such as stigma, as well as in alternatives to the standard responses to crisis