enBloom Crownsville Heals Individual Pain through Collective Progress

My father, known by most as “Eddie,” left this Earth before I think he learned how to thoroughly enjoy living on it. When he passed in January 2016, days after my 35 birthday, I realized that I mostly only knew my father as his pain.

Hoping to better understand my father’s life after his death, I began to learn more about the backdrop of my father’s upbringing -- America in the 1950s and 1960s. The many books and documentaries I heard gave words to what my mind, body, and spirit felt. I easily recognize the impact that institutionalized racism, inadequate mental health services, trans-generational trauma, and lack of resources, among other things, had on him during that time.

For the remainder of that year, I struggled to find my footing in every way. My future was foreshadowed by my father’s life and ancestors before him, but I couldn’t accept this fate as my own. I felt the urgency to finally end the cycle of intergenerational trauma and leave it in the past where it belonged -- for it was not mine nor my daughters’ to carry. In 2017, I began to manifest Freedom -- this was when my self-awaking began.