KINSHIP
Caregivers Connecting In
chosen•kin is a space for Black queer & trans parents to build community through storytelling and art-making.
We center joy, rest, ancestral healing, and care as components of liberation for ourselves. We meet one another with mutual understanding, solace and solidarity. We hold space with and for one another, which supports in keeping our expanding community alive and well.
Our 2024 Cohort
In spring and summer of 2024, chosen•kin will gather in virtual and in person circle spaces. Activities will engage both parents and little ones. The group is primarily based in Philadelphia, but outside families are welcome to join!
At the program's end, chosen•kin will have a weekend retreat, where families are invited to dive further into collective healing.
Our kinfolk will also receive a participation stipend for their commitment to their healing!
Growing Together
In circles and workshops, we will explore themes of healing justice and Black queer and trans parenthood, including:
—reparenting and inner child work
—an exploration of our relationship to ‘home’
—artmaking as healing practice
—ancestral wisdom and remedies for liberation
—envisioning radical Black futures
We will close out out the space by dreaming up and co-creating an arts-based healing, liberation and care kit/ zine: for us, by us.
JOIN OUR VILLAGE
JOIN OUR VILLAGE
We’d love to be in community with you <3 Sign up today to be a part of the 2024 chosen•kin cohort!
~Meet Your Circle Keeper~
Shaé Smith (they/ them) is a decolonial therapist, visual artist, and writer who currently lends their passion work to a community based collective serving queer and trans West Indian, Afro-Latinx, and Afro-Indigenous communities; one that honors Black, queer, and trans parenthood; and a Black-owned therapeutic private practice. In these spaces, they lead circles to serve as a place for Black and Brown people to re-imagine their relationship intergenerational trauma, engage in art-making, and experience pleasure and joy.
Whether in creative process or circle practice, they often ask ‘what can / must we do to heal’ and answers by calling in narratives of ancestors through various mediums. Whether your craft encompasses storytelling, making medicines, or a thorough birth chart read, Shaé believes that in doing so, you are reclaiming space, glo’ing up, resisting, and healing.
Heal With Us
Heal With Us
Community healing is now in reach. Sign up today to be a part of the 2024 chosen•kin cohort!
FAQs
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The circle centers Black queer and trans folks moving through parenthood journeys! We hold space for the experiences of birthing and non-birthing parents, lactacting parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, co-parents, parenting polycules, folks trying to conceive and/or on the journey to parenthood.
The group is based in Philadelphia and New York City, so we prioritize parents that reside in the area. However limited slots are available for those who are out of state.
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The circle will meet biweekly online. There will also be some (optional) in person meetings happening in NYC and Philadelphia at community spaces.
The final meeting schedule will be determined and reviewed with cohort participants!
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chosen•kin is a FREE space! And we actually pay you - those who attend a majority of the sessions will be compensated with a stipend for their commitment to their healing journey.
Note: the optional retreat will be subsidized, but not 100% free.
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chosen•kin will has organized annual a group retreats for families to the Catskill Mountains in Upstate NY! The trip is an optional experience, and costs will largely be subsidized for those that join.
The 2024 retreat final details (location, dates, costs) are TBD, but will be announced at the start of the group!