Commentary, Opinion & News

This section contains blog-posts, podcasts and articles by activists working in social justice and human rights, discussing their experiences with, and the importance of self-care and collective care, holistic security, healing justice and finding hope and resilience within their work.  
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This article explores how 4 different activists practice self care to inspire readers to practice self care as they see fit. ​
This article outlines some activists’ tips on how to keep morale up in the midst of the fight for human rights. ​
“It is never easy to create change. As we are currently witnessing with the civil rights, PRIDE, and BLM movements to see a positive change in our world, one must take action to create a movement. This is not an easy task, and there are bound to be obstacles that need to be overcome. Thus, there may come a point when even the most hardworking individuals feel overwhelmed in their efforts.”
This article discusses the importance of self-care in activism to prevent burnout and how to spread this idea of self-care throughout the activist community. ​
This article highlights how to start your activism work, but more importantly, how to sustain your work through self-care.
“2020 has drastically altered our daily lives and as an activist it’s easy to put your mental health and wellbeing on the back burner, while you get on with other hugely pressing priorities. On top of this, LGBTI activists can suffer from particular mental health stresses that stream from discrimination, LGBTIphobia, and the uphill battle that working to secure our rights and equality can be. To mark World Mental Health Day, this blog brings you some tools to help you cope with challenges that come your way.”
This article specifically addresses activism burnout among Black racial justice activists. ​
This article explains burnout and trauma that is commonly experienced in the activist world in order to help detect signs among family, friends, or oneself. It also links to a short guide and slides that can be used in training or workshop settings.
This article outlines some practices that may be useful for young adults in the human advocacy space to practice self-care. ​
This author interviewed a wellness coach, Yasmine Cheyenne, about how to sustainably practice self care in order to find personal wellbeing. ​
This author, a licensed professional clinical counselor, explains self-care as a way to remain present in order to fight burnout. ​
This article seeks to help readers by introducing ways to sustain the work of human rights advocacy when overwhelmed. ​
This series, presented in partnership with The Wellbeing Project, India Development Review, and The Skoll Foundation explores the important but often overlooked connection between inner well-being and effective social change. Contributors include researchers, funders, and practitioners from around the world who share strategies and actionable steps that leaders and others working in social change can implement to foster well-being at the individual, organizational, sector, and societal levels.
This article helps readers understand how burnout happens, how to detect warning signs, and then how to build resilience from their experiences. ​
In this article, “prison abolitionist Shandre Delaney explores the necessity of self-care for activists through a series of interviews with other advocates.”
This article discusses the importance of self-care for frontline human rights defenders and regards self-care as a precondition in this field in order to keep their work sustainable. ​
“Human rights violations harm people’s minds and their bodies, and addressing both can help to heal trauma and allow people to move forward in a more whole and empowered way.” 
“Activism can be as rewarding as it can be mentally and emotionally draining. The instant gratification of modern technology means it’s easier to stay in constant communication with someone and, simultaneously, never fully be “off.” The news cycle can be unrelenting — social media can spread information faster than news outlets can churn out articles. For activists, the burnout can be imminent if self-care is pushed to the sidelines. The work of an activist demands an immense amount of selflessness, empathy and compassion in the face of adversity. While unquestionably admirable, consistently tapping into these traits to the benefit of the greater good can leave a person emotionally exhausted.”
The authors discuss the urgent need to better understand the mental health risks faced by human rights advocates, and to increase the availability of tailored mental health resources suitable to this population.
A blog series that examines a range of critical questions and issues relating to the mental health and wellbeing of human rights activists. Topics discussed include research on the mental health impacts of human rights work, obstacles to advancing mental health and well-being in this field, as well as innovative approaches and strategies to prevent and alleviate the harmful effects of human rights work.
This deep and incisive article by a folk healer discusses the need for black communities to focus on healing, rather than self-care, as way of restoring (rather than maintaining) their well-being, after having experienced generations of trauma. The intentional healing requires a process of consciously adopting practices, naming harms to uncover harmful coping mechanisms, working on creating supportive interpersonal relationships, and focusing on public spaces have to be changed to foster healing.
This article by the Director of Healing Justice at Black Lives Matter discusses the importance adopting a healing justice framework which can heal both the personal and the collective trauma faced by people (in the present, and historically), to ensure the resilience of the movement for Black lives - “we heal so we can act and organise”. It also unpacks the concept of healing justice.
Hoggett and Randall explore the importance of managing emotions in activism. They draw from their research conducting interviews with activists in the United Kingdom. From their research, they discovered emotional challenges activists face, such as binary thinking and the potential for despair. However, they also found that the newer generation of activists were developing a more emotionally-intelligent culture around their work.
In this article, Pozner discusses the importance of self-care in making resistance work sustainable. The article identifies a number of ways in which leaders of Multiracial Movements for Black Lives engage in self-care. Pozner takes care to reinforce that self-care looks different for every person; it can be something as simple as spending time alone, or something more formal such as seeking counseling.
This article refers to four critical resources for “when the trauma won’t stop,” which provide practical advice for helping you disengage, ensuring self-care, and ways to protect yourself in spaces with “unaware people”.
This blogpost by Cara Page, a black queer healer who has previously worked on documenting southern healers from the U.S., discusses the work done around healing justice at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in 2010. Through the creation of two spaces: the US Social Forum Healing Justice Practice Space, and the People’s Movement Assembly, she discuss how people of color can reclaim notions of wellness, and the role of healing justice as a political tool.
In this online dialogue, human rights practitioners discuss how activists can sustain their mental health and energy. Participants in the discussion discuss the necessity of self-care, and share approaches and resources they find useful.
This podcast by Soros Equality Fellow and former director of SAALT, Deepa Iyer contains interviews with activists and organizers talking about their experiences with working within solidarity frameworks. Episode 4 deals explicitly with trauma and resilience. ​
Inclusion of resources does not constitute an endorsement.