In Order of Appearance:

Dancing For Wellbeing, with Joanne Cuffe; An invitation to move in new ways, release tension, connect and have fun, through a variety of guided dance activities where each person chooses how they feel like moving and interacting. All abilities welcome; no dance experience needed; “two left feet” is no problem; there is no wrong move.

Joanne Cuffe facilitates dance programs with a dozen local communities, with people ages 3-103+ with diverse abilities, genders, sexualities and backgrounds. They have been teaching dance since 2003 and facilitating groups for 17 years.

Superqueero Community Counsels: Skills and Strategies, with Robert Birch; Rather than history’s scapegoats, what if we saw trans/queer and gender fluid realities as necessary to the well-being of all people and the planet? How then would we look to the skills and strategies embedded in our personal and collective stories for the sources of needed inspirations and actions? Our answers, to be explored in this counsel-workshop, may be found in what Radical Faery poet James Broughton had written on his gravestone: “Adventure, not predicament”

~birch plays in and appreciates the world as a Radical Faerie, a Reclaiming Witch and a doctoral student of the Social Dimensions of Health. He is currently researching how hosts navigate risk during Private Sex Parties (and in so doing potentially amplifying the field of pleasure). He lives on Saltspring Island with his farmer-man of 20 years, CrowDog.

Group Building Using Acupuncture, with Christina Chan Acupuncture is a traditional approach in the prevention of group “burn-out” (especially community, education, social work and public health fields) and helps to resolve tension and conflicts.

This session may address some of the following themes:

• Self-care and wellness in social, changemaker, activist work and its necessity in longevity and burn-out prevention
• The significance of group healing and decreasing social isolation
• Principles of Community Acupuncture as an alternative social health care model and social movement
• Includes 20-45 min of group acupuncture session (time allowing)

Christina Chan, M.Sc., R.Ac. is a Community Acupuncturist, educator, kung fu freedom fighter and lupus survivor. She has practiced her craft in a variety of settings including at the Vancouver Daytox, the Fernwood Community Centre, AIDS Vancouver Island and Camosun College. Active in the community, she is passionate about using acupuncture as a tool for positive social change through providing outreach, increasing accessibility and bringing the practice back to its traditional roots.

Safe Harbour – nurturing a sustainable base from which to live, love and change the world, with Metta; Metta will share some evidence-based themes of resilience (from qualitative research in Trans communities) along with some more generalized tools and strategies for healthy stress management.

Metta Settled on Salt Spring Island in 2003. After a lot of introspection Metta cultivated a deeper connection with nature, community, meditation and the practice of non-violent communication. While nurturing an increasingly gender queer identity Metta has become a Registered Clinical Counsellor in Victoria and is enjoying a place in the larger Trans community here.