Sweet Water Alliance

Do you work in the fields of health and wellness?

Are you an aspirational leader who aligns your practice with the values of equity and justice?

Do you want to enhance your skills, knowledge, and grow your professional network?

Join us!

Named for “sweet water” spirits like Oshun that exist across all our cultures, the Sweet Water Alliance is a collaborative praxis group of over 40 health care practitioners & patients who are committed to supporting the Oshun Center, and re-envisioning health care — in our minds, our workplaces, and our communities.

"Today I found myself in a really challenging situation, in a conversation with someone I respected, and was voicing the importance of inclusion and support for ALL. I was shocked to hear she felt my views were "political", when I felt I was expressing the importance of learning how to best support all kinds of people (LGBTQ, BIPOC, etc). I focused on staying grounded, slowing down, breathing, and NOT saying something that would sever our relationship. I remembered your words about what we can do in relationship, and I actively tried to stay respectful, let her know I was hearing her, and also calm my nervous system down and not have a knee jerk reaction. We ended the conversation in a peaceful and respectful place, and now it is time for me to practice some scripts of what I will say when we resume that conversation. Anyway, I wanted to let you know just how soon it was that I got to use some of your teachings!"

-Shared with permission from a Sweet Water Alliance Member

For a monthly fee of $35 or $15 per month, members receive:

• The satisfaction of knowing that our financial contribution directly supports operations of the Oshun Center Clinic, and allows them to build an exciting integrative cultural healer training program in progress! Our funds provide a temporary bridge, as programs develop to provide more sustainable funding.

• Educational health equity resources, research and professional community to access as needed

• Option to join a monthly peer consultation group for discussing equity issues in the workplace, personal challenges, and support in staying engaged

Instant Resources

• 75 minute webinar with Guest Teacher Dr. Rebecca Dekker and Oshun Center Director Ihotu Ali:

  “The Evidence on Birth Justice: Anti-Racism, Solidarity & Protection in Healthcare” + accompanying handouts on case studies and ongoing practice

• Soul Meditation recordings with Guest Teacher Anna Andaházy for grounding and somatic awareness through hard topics

• Virtual resource library available on our private membership platform

Online Discussion Community

• Access to the membership page with ongoing educational materials - explore articles, books, webinars, and social commentaries at your own pace

• Connect with a global community of social justice-oriented health and wellness practitioners (we are medical professionals, massage therapists, birth workers, artists, mental health counselors, and more!)

• Monthly emails with insights and early access to our short and long-form content documenting our experiments and outcome data in community care models

• Opportunity to apply for a Sweet Water Fellowship and advanced training in group facilitation, systems, social networking and fundraising.

Are you interested, but concerned about your capacity or funds?

We have a wide variety of levels of involvement in the Alliance! Monthly peer consult group meetings are optional, attended by about half of the group as their weekends allow. Some members join especially for these meetings and support in addressing racialized issues that come up at work, or in their advocacy journey, while others enjoy the ongoing content and space for learning on their own.

Some simply choose to offer financial support without any other involvement, which in our opinion, is an equally helpful way to support the work - especially for those with limited time and energy. Your contributions help Oshun Center cover equipment and operation costs at the clinic, help keep us affordable for clients, and help us plan for future growth and an exciting integrative healer training program that we hope to begin next year! The Alliance is a temporary bridge as we build additional programs to fund the clinic more sustainably.

We notice that allies sometimes have a little extra time to give, or extra money to give, but usually not both! And sometimes, neither! In our book, showing up simply means offering what you can, when you can, and pushing back on perfectionism in your advocacy, as this is a part of white supremacy culture. We simply do what we can, and we try to not do nothing.

Our top FREE ways to get involved:

Follow @OshunCenter on Instagram, read and reshare our posts

Sign up for free emails from the Anti-Racism Daily and join 250,000+ advocates around the globe

Send our website, FAQs, or social media posts to friends, colleagues, funders, organizations, even press who might like to connect with us!

Thank you for your support!