Life isn’t getting any easier.
Over a year into a pandemic, amidst ongoing social crises and trauma, many of us continue to struggle with profound changes in our lives. Our new Support Spaces, created and facilitated by the WIF Help Line, are 8-week virtual support groups for WIF members grappling with difficult issues, with a special focus on the impacts on women working in the screen industries.
Join us for Survivors in Community: WIF’s Sexual Harassment Support Space, a free, 8-week virtual support group for WIF members who have experienced sexual harassment and misconduct in the screen industries. Ashley Merriman, ASW, psychotherapist and WIF Help Line Advocate, will provide space for peer connection and community, as well as psychoeducation and emotional support. This confidential and healing space will be an opportunity for women and non-binary folks to process their own experiences in community with others who are also grappling with the psychological and social impacts of workplace abuse and discrimination. Participants will explore how life at work continues after experiencing sexual harassment, how to work towards accountability for abusers, and how to build resiliency.
The Black Member Support Space is an 8-week, virtual support space for Black women and persons of genders underrepresented in the screen industries, to have a comfortable and safe place to explore and discuss challenges, concerns, and issues, including but not limited to: their experiences of racism, sexism, and other systemic biases in the screen industries. Participants will also be given space to explore how they have internalized and been impacted by these biases, as well as strategies to manage emotional and/or physical symptoms of stress.
This space is co-facilitated by Ashley Merriman, ASW, WIF Help Line Advocate and anti-racist social worker, and Dr. Mary Jayne Sims, PhD, psychologist and consultant. To join the waiting list for future sessions and find out more information, complete the interest form below.
WIF’s COVID-19 Support Space is an 8-week therapist-led virtual support group for WIF members. Facilitators—Ashley Merriman, ASW, WIF Help Line Advocate, and Ilana Giannini, LCSW, psychotherapist—provide space for peer connection and community, as well as psychoeducation and support around issues of loss and grief, social isolation, and collective trauma, with a special focus on how women working in film and television are being affected by the pandemic. To join the waiting list for future sessions and find out more information, complete the interest form below.