WELCOME TO THE HUB
Welcome to In-Sight Collaborative's Humanitarian Wellness hub. Here you will find a collection of tools that will help you better understand the concept of holistic wellness for anyone engaged in social justice work. These resources have been compiled by seasoned humanitarians and specialists in the mental health sector. These resources reflect current research and best practice standards and are designed to help promote better mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing, but are not intended to replace professional help. We urge you to seek help from a medical professional if you feel you need it.
If you would like to become a part of the network, contribute tools, collaborate on ideas, or make any other inquiries, please do so using the applications at the bottom of the page.
In-Sight Collaborative also oversees a network of volunteer providers that offer free counseling and coaching services to humanitarian workers through the Humanitarian Wellness Network. If you or your organization are interested in joining the network to utilize these services, please contact apply using the form at the bottom of the page.
Upcoming Wellness Sessions
In-Sight Collaborative offers free monthly wellness sessions to the general public. These sessions are designed to provided a supportive space for those who are on the frontlines of change, come together, process the world and our work, and heal. These groups are designed to create a space where individuals involved in humanitarian efforts can connect, share experiences, and process the emotional toll of their work through creative and hands-on means. It’s a place to share the challenges we’re facing, reflect on our personal journeys, and heal together in a supportive, like-minded community.
Monthly Journaling Club- First Fridays - 4pm UTC
Write it down. Let it out. Make space.
Join a community of changemakers, frontline workers, and quietly radical souls for a monthly journaling space rooted in reflection, wellness, and resistance. Each session features curated writing prompts that explore the systems we work in, the stories we carry, and the weight we hold. There will also be an optional debrief circle after we write—come be witnessed, or just sit in the softness of shared space.
Embracing the Power of Your Identity - July 23rd - 4pm UTC
In a world that rewards conformity—especially the kind shaped by whiteness, maleness, and dominance—how do you show up as your full self? Join us for a conversation on leveraging your identity in spaces that weren’t built for you, resisting the urge to shrink yourself to fit, and reclaiming the strength that lives in your uniqueness.
Humanitarian Rage Release - August 20th - 4pm UTC
Overworked. Underpaid. Held together with coffee, duct tape, and compassion fatigue. This month, we’re creating space to scream into the void—to name the grief, rage, and exhaustion that comes with doing good in broken systems. Come if you’re tired. Come if you’re furious. Let’s hold space, be held, and take a breath.
Sacred Grief - September 17th - 4pm UTC
Grief is sacred. So is your work. This month, we gather to honor the quiet sorrow that lives in our field—what we’ve witnessed, what we’ve buried, and what we’re still learning to process and understand. For those who hold stories of loss, cross borders with others, and carry more than what’s visible—this space is for you. Come breathe. Be witnessed. And remember: your heart is not a liability—it’s a compass.
Herbalism, Witchcraft, and Rituals - October 22 - 4pm UTC
Let’s tap into the indigenous wisdom of the natural world—through herbalism, ritual, and connection with the plants that nourish and protect us. We’re embracing our inner witches, reclaiming spiritual practices rooted in care and resistance, and remembering that healing doesn’t come from systems—it comes from the earth, community. Come curious. Come barefoot. Come ready to steep in something sacred.
Gratitude as Joyous Rebellion - November 19 - 4pm UTC
Let’s embrace gratitude—not as toxic positivity, but as radical presence. Let’s explore the power of positive deviance, finding beauty in the cracks, and practicing joy as defiance when the world feels like too much. Come gather, reflect, and rebel joyfully. Gratitude can be a form of resistance—and a way to keep going.
Wintering: Choosing Rest, Cultivating Warmth - December 17 - 4pm UTC
As the world quiets, we invite you to do the same. Join us this month to explore the practice of wintering—intentionally slowing down, creating space for rest, and gathering warmth in whatever ways you can. We’ll reflect on what it means to make space instead of pushing through, to hold stillness as sacred, and to let softness be a form of strength.
How do we Approach Wellness?
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We are all likely familiar with the concept of self-care. Exercise, get enough sleep, take care of your body, participate in activities or practices that make you feel refreshed and nourished… these are great habits that we encourage people to prioritize while participating in social justice work, activism, frontline humanitarian work, or even simply being a conscientious witness to global injustice.
That being said, we want to emphasize that you can not self-care your way out of illness or injury that is caused by a harmful system. Self-care places the responsibility of wellbeing on the individual, not the system. Self-care does not acknowledge the ways that structural violence can hinder us from staying healthy while participating in social justice work or even the intensity of surviving racialized capitalism. "Self-care" requires resources like time, energy, and usually financial or physical resources that some people do not have access to.
We choose a wellness and wellbeing lens to reframe our approach to "self-care" and "mental health." Wellness is a state of being physically and mentally well, while wellbeing is the emotional and spiritual sense of feeling well, safe, and supported by yourself and those around you. It is important to strive for a strong sense of wellbeing and a state of wellness. Having a strong sense of wellbeing can help us cope with periods of not being well such as illness, and having sound mental and physical health can support us when we are struggling emotionally and spiritually such as when we grieve. Are sense of wellness and wellbeing is in a constant dynamic between ourselves and the environment around us.
The following sections dive into some of the ways our wellness can be impacted when we experience injury by participating in the sector and tools and resources to become more resilient to those potential injuries.
Individual Wellness Resources
In-Sight Collaborative has an abundance of available resources for individuals to explore wellness and wellbeing. We offer free and pay-what-you-can wellness sessions and workshops, webinars, self-paced online modules, and workbooks for people from all backgrounds and levels of involvement in social justice work.
Free self-paced modules from In-Sight Collaborative
Wellness Webinars from In-Sight Collaborative
Thanks to the generously donated time and expertise from professionals in the mental health and humanitarian sectors, In-Sight Collaborative has a webinar archive covering a range of wellness topcis from moral injury to mental health considerations for forced migrants
Humanitarian Wellness Workbook
Our workbook is designed to support humanitarians through various phases of wellness and wellbeing that they may experience as a volunteer or career humanitarian in any capacity. It includes toolkits to create an emergency self-wellness plan, a rest plan, and plenty of journal prompts and other resources to promote wellness practices for individuals and collectives.
This workbook is available by donation on a sliding scale. Your donation helps us keep our programs and resources as accessible as possible and we appreciate your support!
Please input the email address where you would like to receive the workbook. A pdf of the workbook will be sent within 3 business days.
If you would like to collaborate with us using this resource, or you are in a region where PayPal is not available, please contact team@in-sightcollaborative.org
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Collective Wellness
Humans are communal creatures. We need other people around us to feel a sense of safety and belonging. As we said before, you can not self-care your way out of illness that is caused by the environment (including the people) around you. It requires a combination of individual and community care. We call this combination practice collective wellness. One of the ways we can promote overall wellness is by promoting healthier and more supportive systems and organizational cultures. Simply put, collective healing is the practice of healing collectively. Collective healing is important because it addresses the relational wounds that we may experience in our social justice work - the ones that heavily impact our emotional and spiritual wellbeing.
Relationship Module Series from In-Sight Collaborative
Maintaining healthy relationships is one of the most important elements of effective social justice work. Our relationships hold us accountable to ourselves and each other and they provide us with a vital sense of purpose and belonging. However, many of us struggle with relationship dynamics, especially when we the passions and tensions run high in humanitarian and activist spaces. Our four-part relationship module series helps participants explore the liberating power of strong, healthy relationships, the importance of setting boundaries, and resolving conflict within interpersonal and large group relationships.
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Relationships as Liberation
This module explores the concept of relationship-building as a vital form of liberation, emphasizing the importance of how we engage with each other in our personal and collective lives. In this course, we will examine how the quality of our relationships directly impacts the success of social movements and collective action.
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Positive Deviance for Depressing Times
This module explores the concept of Positive Deviance as a strategy for how to thrive individually and collectively in challenging and often discouraging situations. In times of societal collapse, Positive Deviance allows our communities to find innovative solutions to seemingly insurmountable challenges, emphasizing the power of small but impactful positive deviations from the norm.
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Introduction to Relationship Building and Organizing Strategies
This module is designed for anyone looking to build or participate in sustainable solidarity movements, whether they identify as humanitarians, activists, or just everyday people who want to learn more. This module is based on the belief that anyone, regardless of their background, has skills and experiences that can benefit community movements.
Social justice leaders are encouraged to make collective wellness a standard practice within their organizations and movements. Oftentimes, we forget that the simplest acts like sharing food and being in community have a huge impact on our sense of wellbeing. Our collective healing guide has practical prompting and reflective questions to go over with your team and community to encourage a deeper connection with each other and a healthier group environment. These reflections may also be helpful if a debrief following a major event is necessary.
Join the Network
If you are an individual or a representative of an organization that may benefit from the offerings of the wellness network, you can apply below. Before applying, please ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria:
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Individuals or organizations must be active in the humanitarian, activism, and/or nonprofit sectors in some capacity (remote volunteers/workers are welcome) or have returned from a humanitarian mission within the last 6 months - we accept applicants from all over the world, but please note that some of our providers are limited geographically for licensing reasons.
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Individuals and organizations must be committed to humanitarian response and not join the network in order to impose religions or political agendas. The support groups will be open to people from all backgrounds and participants are expected to be welcoming and accepting of everyone.
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Individuals and organizations agree to the network user code of conduct
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Individuals and organizations agree not to share the network page with anyone outside of the network. If someone you know would be interested in joining, you can share the application link with them.
In-Sight Collaborative views mental health, wellness, and wellbeing from a decolonial lens that embraces a wide range of healing modalities for individuals and the collective. We recognize the importance of ancestral wisdom, knowledge-sharing, and exploring alternative ways of promoting a sense of wellbeing such as activism, somaticism, art therapy, herbalism, and much more. We are open to applications from providers of various healing modalities that promote decolonization and collective liberation within the mental health and wellness space.
We are also open to accepting general volunteers to help with organizing, outreach, and co-facilitation - no previous experience necessary. If you are interested in volunteering but are not able to offer a concrete service, you can email madi@in-sightcollaborative.org.