Dignity + Respect = Self-Care

When it comes to self-care I need people and places that honor me and respect my dignity and worth as a woman.I found this in 2008 at Catherine Place in Tacoma, Washington.

Yes, there are Spirit and Leadership Circles at Catherine Place, Lovingkindness Meditation, an INSCAPE Poetry Group, Domestic Violence Prevention and Education groups, and a Healing Arts Studio where Reiki, Healing Touch and other modalities are offered.All of these programs and services are valuable and accessible regardless of a woman’s ability to pay.Yet, none of these activities are as valuable to me as the unconditional hospitality and love a woman encounters, regardless of her circumstances, when she crosses the threshold of this beautiful historic home.

You see, Catherine Place is really about building healthy relationships.It’s a space where I can speak what’s true for me, assess what I need and move from that place of understanding and empowerment.It’s a place where I can cry in the face of poverty, loss, violence, illness, exhaustion, discouragement, immigration, discrimination.It’s also a place where I can celebrate my large and small triumphs – even if my only triumph that day is showing up for a cup of tea.Time and again, I watched women from diverse backgrounds forge bonds and get stronger at Catherine Place – even strong women gotstronger. It'sa place that has the capacity to be both a community and a movement.

It has been more than three years -- and one very discouraging election -- since I moved away from Tacoma and Catherine Place to be closer to my family.I miss Catherine Place every day; probably never more than on the morning of Weds, Nov. 9, 2016.

Founded by the Tacoma Dominican Community in 2000, Catherine Place was fueled mostly on love and a firm commitment to women’s ways of knowing and leading for the first 16 years.It’s not a place that up to now has wanted to launch new locations in other cities.That makes me sad.I, along with the other 1,500 women that Catherine Place serves annually, know just what women in these communities are missing.Creating nurturing, supportive spaces for women who are suffering from what one social worker called“generalized trauma” would be a radical act of self-care and a revolutionary statement in our society.

Six thousand years of patriarchy is a lot to unravel.All my life I’ve watched women pour their hearts, souls and energy into their families, their jobs, their communities, churches, synagogues, mosques, their children’s schools, and volunteer organizations.Imagine what would happen in this country if just a portion of that powerful energy was redirected to create vibrant spaces of hope, healing and connection for women like Catherine Place across the nation.It’s clearly a task that we must get about quickly if we want to assume our rightful places in society and become healing agents for change in our stressed-out world duringour daughters’ lifetimes.

How to Get Involved

Visit www.catherineplace.org to learn more.