When we think of healing and therapy, we often rush to the idea of diagnosing and fixing. But for some of us, the simple witnessing of our full selves, with space to feel physically what we are experiencing emotionally, our agency and ability to actually live in a way that serves us best, grows exponentially. In this episode, Dr. Jenn talks with Chiara Francesca about the power of accompaniment, witnessing and somatic practice. They also talk about the powerlessness that uterus having people often face in the healthcare system when dealing with issues like fibroids.
Originally from Italy, and currently residing in Chicago, Chiara is a queer disabled artist, writer, organizer, acupuncturist, immigrant, and former teen mother. They are committed to building collaborative spaces for community care and moving toward collective embodied liberation in and out of movements for justice.
Chiara has been deeply involved in gender violence prevention, practicing healing justice, and creating politicized art for over two decades. They have written and spoken extensively about disability justice, politicized healing, and using art as a cultural tool for structural change. They are a politicized somatics practitioner in the lineage of Generative Somatics with a focus on generative conflict, childhood trauma recovery, and breaking multigenerational cycles of harm. In 2022 they published their first book, "We Will Build a New Compass: Magic Moments of Seeding More Just Worlds.
Connect with Chiara Francesca on Instagram - @Chiara.acu https://www.instagram.com/chiara.acu/