Upcoming Events

Nothing on the calendar right now. Follow @healingspaceucsb on Instagram or connect with us to hear about what’s next.

 

Past Events, Workshops and Speakers

  • On October 26, 2025, Kindred and the NAACP Santa Maria/Lompoc Branch hosted Flourish and Flow: A Black Joy Beach Party at Goleta Beach, a free, intergenerational celebration of Black wellness, cultural connection and collective care. The day included art therapy, restorative yoga, meditation, a pier walk, storytelling circles and food from Momma’s Soul Food Fusion, with facilitators Vivian Storm, Amber Salik and Naomi Hutchinson. The gathering was covered by Noozhawk, the Santa Barbara Independent and KEYT News.

    Flourish and Flow continues as a Black joy and liberation initiative. If you’d like to partner with us on what comes next, email education-kindred@ucsb.edu.

 

  • Families gathered at Girsh Park in Goleta for food, fellowship and an introduction to the Raising Liberated Black Youth Parent Support Program, a spring workshop series for parents and caregivers of Black children.

  • Healing Space and the Santa Barbara Unified School District launched Raising Liberated Black Youth with an evening at the Marjorie Luke Theatre featuring Dr. Maryam Jernigan-Noesi, a licensed psychologist and expert on racial identity, culture and mental health. She spoke with parents, educators and community members about what it means to raise a liberated Black child and why race-related stress deserves attention at home and in school. The evening opened a series of workshops for families and educators that ran through spring 2025.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Flyer for Flourish and Flow: A Black Joy Beach Party, Sunday, October 26, 2025, Goleta Beach, hosted by the Kindred Collective with the NAACP Santa Maria-Lompoc Branch. Free and open to the community.
Flyer for the Raising Liberated Black Youth Meet and Greet for parents and caregivers of Black children, March 15, 2025, 1 to 3 p.m., at Girsh Park. Childcare provided.
Flyer for Raising Liberated Black Youth with Dr. Maryam Jernigan-Noesi, January 22, 2025, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the Marjorie Luke Theatre.

  • The Santa Barbara, Santa Maria/Lompoc and Ventura County NAACP branches came together for a free conference on Black women’s health, with experts and panel discussions addressing disparities in maternal health, cancer and mental health. Healing Space joined with a resource table.

  • Healing Space hosted a networking gathering at the Arts Fund for Black graduate students, postdocs, faculty and research staff at UCSB, with live music and food catered by Afrofusion.

  • Healing Space clinician Isabelle Fleury gave the keynote at the UCSB Mental Health Conference, sharing preliminary findings from her dissertation on how Black undergraduates experience racial stress and whether campus health providers should screen for it.

Portrait of Isabelle Fleury
 

  • Healing Space welcomed Dr. Thema Bryant for a talk, open to the campus and the wider Santa Barbara community, on decolonizing psychology and addressing the wounds of racial trauma, including African-centered and womanist approaches to assessment, case conceptualization and treatment. Dr. Bryant also held a closed session with Black and African American students in the Gevirtz School.

Flyer for Dr. Thema Bryant's online workshop, Decolonizing Psychology: Addressing the Wounds of Racial Trauma, April 19, 2022, 12 to 1 p.m. Pacific.
 

  • Healing Space and Healing Justice Santa Barbara hosted a virtual conversation with Tamara Cummings, M.A., Ed.S., NCSP, and Jazzmyn Ward, M.A., on recognizing mental health crises, supporting loved ones in those moments and knowing when outside support is needed. Download the presentation slides.