The Woods Collective was born from my experience as a trauma therapist witnessing the severe impacts of broken systems during the COVID pandemic. Like many healthcare professionals during this time, I experienced burnout while attempting to compensate for unsustainable systems. This led me to make the life-changing decision to leave my position at a major university and intentionally slow down.

In this period of reclamation, I began building relationships with my ancestors and learned from them how to create an abundant life centered on authentic healing—both for myself and others. Through this process, I've gotten clear on my purpose and priorities, and I strive to live them in fullness each day.

As a person recovering from religious trauma in a culture of spiritual racism, I’ve learned that our journey to wholeness requires a redefining of spirituality.

Spirituality, to me, is a reclamation of what was lost or distorted—a journey back to the sacred self, to the soul. It is the practice of opening portals to what's ancient, while integrating the wisdom of the present. It's about clearing the inherited barriers to divine connection, to power, and to self-sovereignty that colonial forces placed in the way of our wholeness. Modern spirituality for me is the act of remembering—remembering the joy, the rituals, the prayers, and the embodiment of our true, sacred nature.

This healing practice flows through my bloodline—I come from a long line of Black women who have spoken truth to power and served their communities with unwavering authenticity. Each day, I work to remove the thorns of dominant culture from my own being, knowing that personal liberation is inseparable from collective freedom.

I stand in a constellation of resistance, my light joining with other Black, Brown, Native, Queer & Disabled communities. Together, we're writing a new story of healing, one that honors our whole selves and our interconnected liberation.

V Woods (ve/ver)

I recognize that as a mental health practitioner, I am positioned within the medical industrial complex. However, I am committed to practicing in ways that challenge pathologizing frameworks and honor the fullness of your experience. I believe that what is often labeled as "disorder" may actually be your system's natural response to unnatural circumstances and systemic harm.

In our work together, I commit to:

• Seeing you in your wholeness, not just through the lens of symptoms

• Honoring your cultural background and ancestral wisdom

• Recognizing the impacts of systemic oppression on wellbeing

• Creating brave space for authentic expression and healing

• Supporting your agency in defining what healing means for you

• Offering tools that can be integrated into your daily life and relationships

Creativity is ritualistic liberation work. I choose to direct much of my creative energy in the medium of healing. Here are places where I share my voice as a writer and artist.

• Remembering Constellations

• The Deep End