On Kinship and Indigenous Approaches to Flourishing

• Online Conversation
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How do we cultivate happiness? When facing the monumental challenges of our world, it can feel natural to tune out the bad news and focus on our mental health. Indigenous scholar and author, Dr. Yuria Celidwen teaches that attending only to our own state of mind is precisely why so many of us struggle to be happy. Dr. Celidwen offers that what is missing is the Indigenous perspective, the understanding that individual happiness is not enough—we must expand our view to include our kinship with others—from our neighbors to the living Earth.

Join Dr. Celidwen and Rachel Bryant for an illuminating conversation exploring mental wellness through the lens of Indigenous wisdom for collective and sustainable happiness. While recognizing the gains made by Western positive psychology, mindfulness, and neuroscience, Dr. Celidwen’s research shows the tremendous benefit of integrating Indigenous approaches into our well-being practices.

Sharing insights from her latest book, Flourishing Kin, she identifies seven key principles found in Indigenous cultures worldwide that embrace virtue, ethical living, and spirituality. Each principle reveals how we can overcome isolation and despair, nourish healthy relationships with our communities and environment, and build strong foundations of well-being that elevate our life choices.

Join us for this thoughtful, nourishing exploration of the rich principles found in Indigenous cultures and how these principles can enrich your well-being.
 

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Yuria Celidwen, Ph.D., is of Indigenous Nahua and Maya lineages. Her scholarship centers on Indigenous forms of contemplation, examining self transcendence and its embodiment in prosocial behavior (belonging, planetary flourishing, ethics, compassion, awe, love, and sacredness). She calls this work the Indigenous “Ethics of Belonging” rooted in honoring Life. She emphasizes the reclamation, revitalization, and transmission of Indigenous wisdom and the advancement of Indigenous and planetary rights. She lives in Berkeley, CA. For more, visit Dr. Celidwen’s website.

 

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Rachel Bryant, M.A., is an educator, leader, and healer with more than two decades of experience in public and community mental health. She serves as Vice President, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), where she has helped teach, mentor, and launch the careers of hundreds of emerging mental health clinicians from diverse backgrounds. With a pedagogical and therapeutic orientation in Black, Indigenous, and Liberation Praxis, Rachel is dedicated to working alongside others to heal the soul wounds of poverty, violence, and addiction in our communities.

After receiving her Masters of Counseling Psychology degree with a concentration in Community Mental Health from CIIS, Rachel became an adjunct instructor in the Masters of Counseling Psychology and Undergraduate Studies programs at her alma mater. From 2009 to 2017, she was the Director of the Mental Health Services Act Project at CIIS, a program funded by the City and County of San Francisco to recruit and retain graduate students underrepresented in the mental health workforce. In this role, Rachel was instrumental in seeding the Wellness, Resiliency, and Recovery model throughout the institution’s pedagogical framework. Skilled in group facilitation, strategic planning, program development, fundraising, and evaluation, Rachel has experience winning and managing six- and seven-figure grants from state, county, and private foundation partners. She has administered behavioral health services and programming at the Alameda County Public Health Department and the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, where she championed the peer provider model of behavioral healthcare.

With roots in South Berkeley and East Oakland and a background in community-based radio broadcasting, Rachel self-identifies as Blaxican and believes in the innate wisdom and intelligence of all people to heal themselves and others. She serves as a board member of the Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness, which provides culturally responsive health and wellness services to San Francisco’s Black communities, and as a Core Member of the Healing Clinic Collective, which promotes ancestral ways of healing and healthcare for traumatized populations in the Bay Area and beyond.
 

We are grateful to our Bookstore Partner

Marcus Books is the nation’s oldest Black-owned independent bookstore celebrating its 60th year. Marcus Books’ mission is to provide opportunities for Black folks and their allies to celebrate and learn about Black people everywhere. Learn more about Marcus Books.

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Accessibility

If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu at least one week prior to the event. For more information, explore our Accessibility web page.

Important Event Information

Access to the livestream event is limited to registered guests. Registered ticket holders will receive the link to watch the livestream, will have access to chat and Q&A, and will have an ad-free watching experience.

Recording Policy

Ticket holders will have access to an ad-free replay of the event for one week after the live event. A replay with ads will be released on our YouTube channel one week after the livestream. Portions of the audio will also be released on our podcast. Only registered ticket holders who choose to watch live can participate in the chat and Q&A.

Refunding Policy

All tickets and donations for this event are nonrefundable.