Creating the Monarca Center for Healing & Justice

Just like the cocoon transforming into the butterfly, Monarca was birthed during one of the darkest periods in my life. In 2016, I was struggling with my mental health and decided to step away from my leadership role at a Arizona frontline organization. I chose to step away from work to prioritize my physical and mental health. I had been organizing for years while battling depression, burnout, and anxiety, I couldn’t focus on the movement it was time to pour into me.

At 26, I didn’t have the tools or the resources to know what was going on, or even afford therapy. Searching for professional care and resources seemed impossible, I didn’t know where to start.

It was my mission to survive and bounce back from my debilitating depression. This was my most important campaign, and  I was going to be my own advocate, my own organizer, my own human rights defender. I began to search the web for self help books to help me understand trauma and its effects, ancestral healing resources, education on grief, organizer burnout, holistic healing, and so much more. I also began to search for free to low cost counseling and bodywork services.

Although I had stepped away from my organizing work and the community that came with it, I knew community was (and still is) essential for my healing, emotional health, and survival. So I did what any organizer would do, I brought together a small community of women of color organizers, educators, healers, artists, and caregivers to meet quarterly and talk about our books club reads,  share resources and herbal remedies, and hold space for one another. I didn’t know it then, but the monarca center had already been created. Just like the butterfly, something so beautiful birthed out of darkness.

Access to mental health support and holistic care is essential to our wellness and survival. Having access to support is critical for organizers, healers, educators, and other frontline supporters- this care is the difference between life or death.

The work for justice and liberation is a multi- decade and multi-generational marathon. It’s essential we know how to care for ourselves mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Our movement building work and our own survival as freedom fighters depend on it.

Monarca Center serves to be a space to help educate, empower, and build the leadership of the next generation of frontline leaders. This is a center that is built by frontline movement builders for movement builders, healers, educators, and all the others whose mission is to pour in and transform our communities and our society.

Welcome to our center, we hope to work with you and your community.