Root Cause Collective

Last month, we gathered in Oakland with participants in Dream.Org Oakland Area Green Reentry program, which connects justice-impacted people to green career training and job opportunities. 

Over the program’s eight weeks, Root Cause founder AW Shields led virtual wellness workshops and group coaching, where participants dug into emotional boundaries, impostor syndrome, and balancing reentry, work, family, and personal wellbeing. 

To close it out, the group came together in person for an identity-based ritual honoring each participant’s journey through the program. They reflected on the gifts they bring to every community they’re part of, and how to care for their own wellbeing in the midst serving others. 

Mental health tools should feel practical, accessible, and connected to people’s real lives. This is especially true for folks stepping into new roles, environments, and chapters. Sharing this space with participants as they closed one chapter and opened another was an honor. 

Shoutout to the entire Dream.org team for the intentionality they brought to every detail, from program content to the folks in the room. We can’t wait to work together again. ✨ 

Our team touched down in San Juan, Puerto Rico for Galaxy Gives’ Leader Fellowship Gathering and left with our spirits full. ✨ 

While there, AW Shields moderated “The Conversations We Avoid: Child Sexual Abuse, Community Safety, and New Possibilities for Change.” This was a courageous conversation about accountability, healing, and prevention without relying on punishment or prisons, because holding someone accountable and recognizing their humanity isn’t mutually exclusive. 

José Humphreys and Chalice Overy also hosted the first in a series of Galaxy Fellows wellness sessions, “Lead Free: Nurturing Our Light Through Personal Transformation for Collective Liberation.” This session invited fellows into reflection, ancestral connection, and what it means to care for ourselves while leading with purpose. 
Meeting in Puerto Rico, the site of Galaxy’s inaugural fellowship convening, and the oldest active colony in the world, added weight and power to it all. The island’s culture and resistance were the backdrop for real connection and healing. 

This is the kind of work we love doing – facilitation, wellness design, and space-holding rooted in liberation. If your organization is building something similar, visit the link in our bio and let’s chat. 

Last month, Root Wellness Center attended the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 29th Biennial Session. And we walked away so full. 

The theme was Revive. Reset. Resist., and we felt every word of it.
 
Toni Davis, led two sessions: a deep dive into our Whole Body Health program, which supports older adults through movement and nutrition, and a morning movement practice intentionally designed to be accessible and affirming for all bodies.
  
AW Shields facilitated a conversation that brought four generations — Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z — into the same room to speak, listen, and genuinely be heard.

What we didn’t anticipate was just how much the event would feel like a homecoming. We saw old friends who’ve become family and new faces that felt familiar. This was truly a space where Black Disciples could exhale, celebrate, and be in community. 

We are deeply grateful to National Convocation for holding that kind of space. It was such a gift to be in attendance.  

Earlier this month, we had the privilege of supporting Dream.Org first ever Green Reentry Incubator. 

The program breaks cycles of incarceration and opens doors to the clean energy economy. We led our Lead Free mental health and wellness workshop for graduates stepping into green jobs and environmental justice careers and led an identity based ritual that honored participants’ journey through the 8‑week program.  

We explored the realities of balancing employment, re‑entry, family responsibilities, and personal wellbeing. We also shared simple, practical tools for managing stress, and staying motivated and confident while approaching unfamiliar tasks or environments with curiosity, self‑advocacy, and grounded decision‑making. 

Mental health tools should feel practical. Accessible. Connected to people’s real lives, especially folks stepping into new roles, environments, and chapters. That’s what we came to do, and the room confirmed we were on the right track. 

Shoutout to the entire Dream.org team for the intentionality they brought to every detail, from program content to the folks in the room. We can’t wait to work together again. ✨ 

We’ve been quietly building something.

Our Ancestors’ Garden is officially accepting applications for our inaugural cohort.

This is a free, 12-week caregiver and child wellness program. It was built for parents and caregivers raising children ages 3–12 wanting to teach their children earth-honoring values, rooted in Black spirituality and Afro-Indigenous traditions.

If you’re drawn to liberation-centered approaches to raising children, or if any part of your family has been impacted by incarceration, this cohort is a great fit for you.

To learn more and apply, visit the link in our bio!

Applications are open for Our Ancestors’ Garden, our inaugural caregiver and child wellness cohort rooted in Black, Ecowomanist, and Afro-Indigenous healing traditions.  

This is a free, 12-week program for families raising children ages 3–12 in or near the Raleigh-Durham Triangle. If incarceration, trauma, or gender-based violence has touched your life, this space was specially built with you in mind. 

Spots are limited. Applications close July 12. 

✅ Link in bio to apply or learn more. 
✅ Tag or send this to a caregiver who needs it. 

In April, AW, Toni, and Khayla presented “Holding the Line: Maintaining Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Strength While Leading in Revolutionary Times,” a workshop series of the Rooted Capacity Project, for criminal justice leaders across the country. The Rooted Capacity Project is a collaboration between the Root Cause Collective, Capacita, and the Ayni Institute, brought together by Just Impact Advisors to strengthen the criminal justice reform ecosystem of leaders, organizations, and movements. 

In this clip, AW names something we don’t say enough: joy and choice is not a luxury, it is an act of resistance. When systems work to dehumanize us, insisting on our full humanity, our rest, pleasure, relationships, and creativity are how we push back. She challenges the romanticization of martyrdom and calls us into something harder and more honest: actually, living liberated, not just working toward liberation for everyone else. 
This is what we mean when we say healing happens in community. It’s not theoretical, it’s practiced, embodied, and shared. 💚 

Our team is available for workshops, webinars, and retreat support. Visit the link in our bio to work with us. 

Last Month, AW, Toni, and Khayla presented “Holding the Line: Maintaining Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Strength While Leading in Revolutionary Times,” a workshop series of the Rooted Capacity Project, for criminal justice leaders across the country. The Rooted Capacity Project is a collaboration between the Root Cause Collective, Capacita, and the Ayni Institute, brought together by Just Impact Advisors to strengthen the criminal justice reform ecosystem of leaders, organizations, and movements. 

In this clip, Wellness Coach and Certified Personal Trainer Toni Davis flips the script on how we think about movement and nourishment. She introduces the body wisdom journal, not a calorie log, not a tracker, but a practice of noticing how food and movement make you feel before, during, and after. And she offers a reframe that hits differently for those of us in movement work: move based on sensation, not obligation. Ask your body what it wants, not just what it needs. That distinction is intuition in action. 💪🏾 

Toni is available for wellness coaching, workshops, and retreat support. Visit the link in our bio to work with us.