tea & honey blog
“Care' is also a social capacity and activity involving the nurturing of all that is necessary for the welfare and flourishing of life. Above all, to put care centre stage means recognising and embracing our interdependencies.”
― The Care Collective, The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence
MAY 2022: Mental Health Awareness Month
I met up with The Honeycomb’s resident mental health therapist Dorian for lunch at “Nellie’s” restaurant on Division St. in early January of 2020. I had met her a little over a year earlier when she asked to meet with me to discuss a possible collaboration for the passion project I was a co-founder of at that time called “Books, Brunch & Botánica”. We connected almost instantaneously on our values around wellness for BIPOC and the inaccessibility of care for our community. We also connected in our dismay of the socio-political issues we faced as a diaspora and our critiques of the cultural incompetency of modern western therapeutic practices when treating BIPOC patients.
This time in 2020 we met so that I can propose an offer. I told her I had just acquired a space and wanted to bring her on in partnership as the resident therapist. She had just left the organization she was practicing at and was trying to decide her next move. I had no solid game plan or strategy on how to make it work but I knew out the gate that an on-site bi-lingual Puerto Rican femme therapist was exactly what needed to be solidified as a rooted service at The Honeycomb. I loved Dorian’s practice of F.L.Y. (First Love Yourself) radical therapy inspired by liberation, feminist and multi-cultural psychology. This approach that acknowledged the systemic impact on the mental and emotional bodies of Black, Indigenous, People of Color including all sexualities and genders in a real way was the gap I felt needed to be filled. Especially in the communities we served and the work we were embarking on.
To my excitement she said she was down for the challenge and freedom of running her own practice within our vibrant walls. Of all of the community members I approached initially (and there were quite a few) offering a partnership within this newly acquired space to do work in, she was the one who said yes and showed up from day one, committed.
Dorian has been a major player at The Honeycomb for two years now. We had no idea just how important having mental health accessibility would be, especially when two months after acquiring the space we were plunged into a global pandemic and shut down across the country.
During the pandemic Dorian hosted virtual therapy, workshops and poetry circles still going on today. She also co-founded and piloted a young adult wellness program called “The H.E.A.L (honey, education and love) Unacademy in 2021, an initiative that aims to center BIPOC youth and young adults to learn wellness education and practice that expose young people to not only emotional, physical, and spiritual wellness education and tools, but also cultural, community and financial wellness.
True to our pattern and form, early this year Dorian came to me again, this time with a different announcement that not only was she returning to The Honeycomb after having her first child, but she was expanding the practice.
Allow us to re-introduce our resident mental health therapist Dorian A. Ortega + Team
CONTACT DORIAN HERE: EMAIL
Special Letter from Dorian:
“In early 2020, I started a private practice named F.L.Y. Radical Therapy, housed within the Honeycomb Network located on Paseo Boricua in the heart of Humboldt Park. F.L.Y. stands for First Love Yourself and the practice takes a radical approach to therapy that involves loving yourself while understanding how systemic oppression impacts mental health, as well as getting to the roots of healing.
When I finalized the paperwork and began the practice, I did so right before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant re-creating a healing space with virtual offerings. The Honeycomb Network is a beautiful, blooming, collaborative, creative, and spiritual space.
Opening a practice of radical healing to transform and re-think therapy for this community has been a dream for me. Two years later, the growth of the practice, the support from community relationships, the intentional outreach for a decolonized therapy approach, and the opportunity to have a wider audience is incredibly heartwarming.
I am honored to introduce three new therapists to the practice who will be growing, learning, and continuing to spread radical healing to communities that are seeking an intentional transformative experience.”
INTRODUCING OUR NEWEST THERAPISTS ADDED TO THE TEAM!
READ JESSICA’S FULL BIO HERE: BIO
READ NAYESHA’S FULL BIO HERE: BIO
READ MIMI’S FULL BIO HERE: BIO
CHECK OUT OUR ADDITIONAL WELLNESS OFFERINGS AND RESOURCES FOR MAY HERE:
MAY 2022 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
“PLANT MEDICINE FOR MAY DAYS”
A love letter of plant allies to lean on in these times from our current resident herbalist Peregrine Bermas:
READ HERE
We are doing our best to curate intentional tools and practices for our collective care and hope you will be able to find something you can redeem, learn or make that supports your flourishing.
In radical love and FLY reflections always,
Denise
She/her/ella
Founder/Director, The Honeycomb Network
It me ;)