2024 Healing CLINIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Carla M. Pérez (she/her/ella) is a dedicated mother, community organizer and priestess of Mezo American and Spanish heritage residing in Oakland, and in 2013 founded the Healing Clinic Collective (HCC). Carla is also a co-founder and collective member of Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project (MG), and prior to this spent 10 years as an environmental justice organizer in the Bay Area.
Carla’s hard work is done in dedication to her parents, her daughters and to the Spirit of Creation.
Samantha Garcia (She/Her) is a student of the Ancestors. She knows that to share her indigenous wisdom is to heal intergenerational ancestral wounds. Samantha is currently the HCC’s program coordinator and serves as a mentor in the HCC x CIIS Integrated Wellness Fellowship program.
adélàjà simon (they/them or he/him) Raised in Baltimore MD, adélàjà simon is a first generation U.S.er of Yoruba, Ayisyen and Arawak/Taino descent living and offering a deep exploration of the question, ‘What does a truly regenerative, purposeful and place-based human lifeway, rooted in ancestral praise look like, feel like, and take to create and sustain?’
The process of chewing on this question is bringing forth the work of emergeazurescens, integrating modalities of bodywork, somatic healing, dream work, Holistic healing, grief work, Permaculture, ancestral arts, and processes for mapping the human psyche and framing the stages of human development.
adélàjà lives in Oakland CA bringing forward this practice, working with the Growing Together Project, and building community at Nafsi Ya Jamii.
Christhmus Presence (she/we/soul) has woven with the HCC as an in-person and online provider, supported the social media team, and is currently a mentor at HCC x CIIS's inaugural Integral Wellness Fellowship for 2024. She enjoys being in water, ritual, expressive joy, and movement
Katherin Canton (they/them), based on occupied Nisenan, Maidu, and Miwuk land (Sacramento, CA), was raised on Yelamu (occupied Ramaytush Ohlone land/San Francisco) and Huichin (occupied Lisjan Ohlone land/Oakland). Katherin is detribalized GuateMayan, on their reindigenizing journey, a student death and spiritual herbalism, a spreadsheet and checklist enthusiast, a facilitator of magic.
Valentina Salazar Hurtado (she/her) is a Colombian, bilingual, interdisciplinary artist and Expressive Arts therapist in the making.
Valentina is currently a program manager in the Center for Black and Indigenous Praxis at CIIS, working in the Integrated Wellness Fellowship, a CIIS and HCC partnership initiative to support the integration of psychology with cultural and ancestral healing practices, and has been collaborating with the HCC since February 2024.