On October 17, the Free Belarus Museum will host the “Roots and Wings” psychological festival — an event for everyone interested in mental health and looking for inner sources of support while living in exile.
How do you learn to spread your wings when your roots have been torn from your native soil? How can you turn the past and your experiences from a burden into a resource for a new beginning? Psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and other specialists will seek answers to these questions in their talks.
The festival’s topics cover a broad spectrum, from neurobiology to the sexuality of Belarusians. Over the course of one day, participants will be able to learn when it really is time to start taking antidepressants, how to cope with family crises in exile, what is happening with Belarusians’ libido, how to regain strength through their own voice, and try various self-help techniques on the spot.
“Roots and Wings” is also a community of people who understand one another. For psychologists and psychotherapists, the festival will be an opportunity to meet colleagues and regain a sense of solid ground beneath their feet. The program includes a separate discussion on how professionals can remain resilient and continue helping others when they themselves are struggling.
Today, it may seem that there is no need to leave home: ChatGPT can provide any information, while a random TikTok video can replace psychotherapy. But strength does not emerge in isolation. At the festival, participants will be able to gain new knowledge and make new connections, or simply exhale and feel the presence of others.
How can those whose profession is supporting others preserve themselves and find their own resources? Practicing therapists with different professional and personal backgrounds will take part in the discussion. Everyone interested will be able to join the conversation.
Practical self-help tools for restoring a sense of safety through contact with the body, which participants will be able to try on the spot and later use independently.
Emigration changes not only us, but also our relationships. Is divorce inevitable? A lecture on the transformation of family roles, hidden conflicts and the possibility of turning a crisis into a resource for growth.
When is it really time to seek antidepressants and make an appointment with a psychiatrist? Pharmacological support without stigma, the neurobiology of adaptation and the impact of relocation on the brain in cases of anxiety, PTSD and depression.
Belarusians have sex. Even in exile! The results of research into our desires, satisfaction and shame, and how to talk openly about all of this with a partner.
How fear shapes our lives on both sides of the border and where, in today’s reality, there is still room for hope.
Working with stress and the nervous system through one’s own voice and psychoacoustic traditional singing. Rusya will share her experience with festival participants.
Time and place: October 17, Free Belarus Museum (Foksal 11), Warsaw.
More information about the event is available here.
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