Date of Award
Summer 5-5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Expressive Therapies
Major
Expressive Therapies
First Advisor
Meg Chang
Abstract
We live in a society that values rugged individualism and where success is defined by people who claim to rely solely on their own efforts. A hero complex erases the reality of our collective experience and negates altruism as a root of our survival. Healing circles and support groups serve as vital spaces that nurture shared personal experiences. This essay explores how healing circles serve as vital subspaces for Black women who experience unprecedented effects of systemic violence in our everyday lives. By rejecting the Western pathological models that define health, decolonized spaces become a liberatory change agent. Looking at the conditions Black women embody, we uncover imposed identities designed for labor and capitalism rather than wellness. This essay takes a critical look into literature and arts-based inquiry through a personal body of artwork that includes watercolor paintings and writing gleaned from moments during the research process. Research explores shadow work, inner child work, and collective dreaming as they live and serve as pathways to healing through the arts. Three parts of healing that take place in groups specifically for Black women are identified as unmasking, bonding, and reclamation. This dialogue aims to support the importance of communal spaces for healing to improve wellbeing that sustains the present moment.
Recommended Citation
wilson, almaz, "Contemporary Ceremony: Healing Circles & Support Groups for Black Women" (2026). Expressive Therapies Theses. 159.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_therapies_theses/159
