"We are going to talk about what happens when movements start running on empty - how trauma, burnout, and dysregulation can shape our organizing, and what it takes to sustain ourselves and each other in a moment of crisis and emergency. We'll be hearing from Aaron Goggans, the Steward of the Pattern at the WildSeed Society. Aaron is also a contributor to our new book, Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis."
"Aaron has years of experience supporting activists during moments of upheaval, and his insights feel especially urgent right now, as people around the country resist the violence of Trump's mass deportation campaign, and organize for collective survival in a moment of precarity and deprivation. This isn't a moment we can white-knuckle our way through alone - but it is one we can navigate together. This conversation is not medical advice, but is offered in the spirit of collective care."
Trauma, dysregulation, and burnout undermine movement capacity and decision-making during crises. Nervous-system regulation is a political strategy that sustains collective action and resilience. Neurodivergent organizers hold essential knowledge about pacing, sensory needs, and different rhythms of engagement. Rest, ritual, mutual care, and shared infrastructure must be deliberately built into organizing to prevent exhaustion. Relying on a 'push through' ethic reproduces harm and depletes communities facing sustained threats like mass deportation and fascist violence. Collective survival requires practices that restore capacity and honor boundaries. Movement strategy and care practices are interdependent and necessary for long-term resistance.
Read at Truthout
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