Reintroducing: Monthly Peer Networking Support Spaces 

As Synergi enters a new cycle, we would like to reintroduce our Peer Support and Networking Space. It’s a space open to anyone working at the intersection of mental health, racial justice and abolition, so whether you’ve received funding from Synergi or not – here’s what our group is all about and how it could benefit you! 

Sessions take place every second Monday of the month, and are facilitated by Almas and Matthew. Here is a bit about them:

Almas (she/her)

I’m Almas (she/her) and I’m an activist based in Bristol. I’m part of a Synergi funded group called the Abolitionist Healing Collective. Through the group, and more generally in my work, I like to think about how decolonising and abolition are central to understanding our own and others’ distress and can help us build better communities of care. 

Matthew Heyse-Moore (he/him)

I’m Matthew Heyse-Moore (he/him) – I’m a facilitator and musician based in Gloucestershire exploring some of the ways collective care, deep imagining, grassroots organising, dreaming and deep rest can support those most marginalised by supremacy cultures. I’m seeking to learn more about how to reweave community care that has been fractured by the capitalist medical industrial complex and how to imagine what other forms of care look like and could look like. 

The group operates on intentional peer support principles, which means that we all decide the topics that will come up, direct the conversation and define the specific purpose for the space together.  

Who is the Peer Support space for? 

Let’s start by making sure we’re on the same page about some key words: 

• User-led – groups or projects that are led by people who have lived experience of the themes we are interested in (here, those themes are mental illness/distress/trauma and racism) 

• Mental health – this includes any and all experiences of distress, trauma and madness 

• Racial justice – this is any work that contributes to anti-racism and dismantling white supremacy  

• Abolition – to be working towards dismantling harmful practices that punish and contain people, for example prisons, detention under the Mental Health Act and the Prevent duty 

You can also have a look at NSUN’s “The language of the mental health lived experience landscape” glossary, to get an idea of how people define these words.  

Our peer support space is basically for any Black people and people of colour (BPOC) involved with running groups that range from reading or education groups to interest and support groups. The key is that they’re user-led and the themes that they deal with fall at the intersection of mental health and racial justice, with (or a desire to build) abolitionist values. 

To see what groups working in this space can look like, have a look at the groups that Synergi funds. 

What’s the purpose of the space? 

Working towards liberation is an ongoing act of collective imagination and sometimes we try to do things with no framework or templates. The peer support space allows us to share information and experiences around organising so that we can work out the best way to do things together. 

Question that may come up include: 

• How do I get funding? 

• Is my group accessible to those who need it?  

• How do I navigate conflict in my group?  

The monthly meeting doesn’t provide clear cut solutions, but gives space to process, gain confidence or rethink the tentative ideas we already have. This is an opportunity to decompress from any expectation of automatically knowing how to solve problems and we think this is crucial to the sustainability of our movements. 

We also encourage building networks and connections so that the conversation had in our groups can extend beyond it. We hope the dialogue from our groups can take on a life of its own, maybe even resulting in exciting new work and collaborations! 

When does the group run? 

Our groups run on the second Monday of every month from 12-2pm on Zoom. Please take a moment to read through the registration process. People can sign up until 12 noon the Friday before the group and you can expect to receive your confirmation email by the evening before the meeting or the morning of, at the latest. Early registrations will be processed sooner. 

 It’s useful to note that we close the meeting 10 minutes after the start to make sure the space is not interrupted, so try to allow yourself enough time to join before then.  

I’m not sure if I have anything to bring to the space – can I come along? 

You don’t need to have a particular topic that you’d like to discuss, and you can speak as much or as little as you want. Some people do come along to just listen and absorb. Our attendees often find that questions and thoughts come up organically as the conversation flows. Our community guidelines lay out the expectations for the group – you can read them here.  

Ultimately, if you’re BPOC and you meet the criteria mentioned in the first question, then you are welcome to the space! If you’re still confused about whether you’re appropriate for the space, feel free to email synergi.info@nsun.org.uk.  

Fannie Lou Hamer said “nobody’s free until everybody’s free”, so let’s come together and learn from each other to build stronger movements that work towards the liberation of all of us.