Befriend your scaries: An exploratorium of emotions

This Sober October and Halloween, don’t ghost your emotions — meet them with curiosity and compassion in a cozy, supportive environment.
About this Event

👻 No tricks, pressure, or ghosting emotions. Breathe, feel, and be kind to yourself.

Join Bar Nun and Sprout Society for a two-part exploratory journey to build genuine human connection through vulnerability, play, and somatic processing in an inclusive, substance-free space.

• 👩‍🏫 Four facilitators will lead immersive small-group experiences and discussion.
• 🖌️ Use behavioral tools and self-expression to unmask "scaries" we often carry alone (anxieties, grief, etc.) into honesty, safety, self-trust, humor, and creativity.
• 🥂 Enjoy non-alc beverages while exploring hard things.
• 🧛 Don your fave Halloween costume or come as you are.

💖 Leave lighter, seen, and anchored within community.

• 🧩 Gentle on-ramps: Low-stakes prompt cards and intros help break the ice.
• 👥 Intimate: Pairs or small group circles help build rapport with new friends.
• 🤝 📲 Connection time: You will have opportunities to connect during dedicated breaks throughout for open mingling and contact swaps.

🎟️ Donation-based with RSVP

Register for one or both sessions. Recommended minimum donation of $15 (without fees) per event supports our continued community work.

‼️ Note: Even if you can't make it, RSVP for free to be notified first of upcoming events.

🗓️ Program Breakdown
🎭 October 8: Unmasking and belonging

• 🦹 Jennie Kogan, LCSW of guides a group exercise to meet our dark or hidden side — give your beloved angsty, judgy, badass part permission to feel, speak, and be in a safer than usual way and get to a space of clarity on the other side.
• 🤡 Sasha Raskin of transforms social fear through the liberating art of clowning. Through interactive, lighthearted play, she guides us in stripping away shame, embracing failure, and discovering how delightful it is to lean into awkward vulnerability to build trust.

🧘 October 22: Expression and stillness

• 🎨 Rachel Long of leads a playful, low-pressure creative exercise designed to connect through shared self-expression and arts-inspired conversation. Build courage in channeling and sharing emotions within community.
• 🔔 Trish McCormick of draws experience from the Khmer concept yŏl ("to understand") during a breathwork and sound meditation journey. We will celebrate progress and observe what we carry without judgment. Share a collective breath to wind down for the evening.

About our hosts

• is a nonprofit community hub + DIY space in Bushwick for creativity, community, and care.
• brings people together through non-alcoholic experiences focused on wellness, art, technology, and vegetarian dining.

About our non-alcoholic drink sponsors

Based on product availability, get excited to try:

• 🧪 All the Bitter are small batch, award-winning cocktail bitters made with organic herbs designed to easily provide depth and balanced complexity to drinks.
• 🌾 Asahi 0.0% Super Dry delivers a crisp, hoppy, and flowery beer for the familiar, light, and refreshing experience that Japan's original No. 1 beer is known for.
• 🍄 High Ground Elixirs are low calorie, vegan, fruit-flavored sparkling beverages inflused with adaptogenic mushrooms for mood balancing without the mushroom taste.
• 🍷 Jøyus offers a range of award-winning de-alcoholized wines grown in the Pacific Northwest that are vegan, gluten-free, and low calorie.
• 🌊 Pentire Drinks is a UK-based certified B-corp that naturally distills whole plants to create coastal flavor inspired spirits and canned cocktails.
• 🍸 Per Se was founded by a couple looking for sophisticated, ready-to-drink options that are entirely juice and tea-based to support modern, active lifestyles.
• 🥃 Roots Divino offers award-winning vermouth proudly crafted with Greek ingredients for unique notes of wormwood, lemon, and Mediterranean herbs.
• 🥂 SemiPlume is an elevated, dry champagne-like sparkling that features sencha, yuzu, fig, and other complex flavors. All natural, no added sugar, vegan, and gluten-free.
• 🪵 The Pathfinder offers fermented hemp and root spirit and ready-to-drink cocktails that deliver earthy, bittersweet intensity inspired by ancient apothecary elixirs with a modern, edgy twist.
• 🌿 Three Spirit offers functional spirit elixirs and wine alternatives designed by plant scientists and bartenders to enhance your mood, rhythm, and mind throughout the day and night.

🛡️ Space and safety commitment

This is a beginner/introductory experience. All identities and emotional states welcome. There is no pressure to share more than you are comfortable with.

To hold a brave and welcoming environment, all are required to respect others, boundaries, and personal space. We are dedicated to maintaining a conscious, consensual, and supportive community.

Disclaimer: Speakers, activities, and sponsors are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances, including weather conditions, transportation issues, local events, etc. By RSVPing, you acknowledge that you are attending voluntarily and assume all risks associated with this event.

Agenda
Settle in

Info: Check in and grab a drink! We'll do introductions and provide cards from The Moth storytelling deck or a Halloween-themed game to break the ice.

Get to know others

Info: Enjoy two different 30 to 45-minute activities in an intimate group setting with our facilitators (details in event description above).

Happy "hour"

Info: Free flow hang. Be present and let conversation lead you to new partnerships and friendships.