Sacred Support: Exploring Grief & Suicide through Lived Experience

Join IDHA on Saturday, September 21 for an in-person screening and discussion about the short film at Woodbine NYC in Ridgewood, New York City. Smile4Kime is an experimental autoethnographic film that tells the story of how two friends transcend time, space, and even death to find hope and resilience through their struggles with mental health. The film explores the institutional barriers Black women face when seeking support, and what it is like to navigate harmful institutions that are positioned to help. It is also a story about friendship, chosen family, and how we let others in.

After screening the film, we will be joined by director Elena Guzman and a panel of survivors, care workers, and community members for a panel conversation about the wisdom of lived experience in mental health and how to care for those navigating suicide. The event will also feature ample opportunities for somatic grounding, honoring individual and collective grief, and resource sharing. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided.

This event is open to mental health workers and clinicians, researchers, educators, activists, survivors, peers, current and prior service users, writers, artists, and other advocates – anyone who is interested in exploring the link between personal and societal transformation.

For those not based in the NY area, Smile4Kime is available to view for free on ! We encourage you to watch at your leisure, and to engage with the resources available on the film’s website, which include a , , , and .

After registering via Eventbrite, you will receive a confirmation email with event details.

Tickets

The general admission ticket for this event is $10, with the option to register as a supporter to help support the organizing of this event and sustain IDHA’s ongoing work. No one will be turned away for a lack of funds; if you don’t see a ticket price that works for you, please email us at [email protected]. 

Access

Woodbine NYC is a wheelchair accessible space. The film will be equipped with English subtitles, with an audio description version available upon request. We ask that attendees refrain from wearing perfumes or colognes in the space. Please submit any questions regarding accessibility to [email protected].

COVID Protocol

The COVID pandemic is not over and many members of our community are disabled and/or immunocompromised. IDHA takes COVID safety extremely seriously and has put in place the following precautions for this event. Masks will be required during the duration of the event. We ask that you please test for COVID before attending, and do not attend if your test is positive or you are feeling sick. COVID tests, KN95 face masks, and hand sanitizer will be available on site. We request that everyone be considerate of the fact that some of us have more vulnerabilities than others, and operate from the understanding that the choices we make as individuals impact the wider collective.

Elena Guzman

Elena Herminia Guzman is an Afro-Boricua director and producer raised in the Bronx with deep roots in the Lower East Side.  As an educator she teaches feminist filmmaking, Black cinema, production, and visual anthropology. Her work as a filmmaker has been supported by PBS, Black Public Media, Independent Public Media Foundation, and the Scribe Foundation amongst others. She is the director and producer of the film Smile4Kime (2023), a short experimental hybrid documentary that uses animation and live action footage to tell the stories of how two friends transcend, time, space, and even death to find that their friendship lives on. This film has shown at Indie Memphis, BronzeLens film festival, and Hayti Heritage film festival, amongst others. The film received honorable mention for the Jean Rouch award at the Society for Visual Anthropology film festival and was nominated for the LOLA Shorts Award at the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival. She is also currently in production of a film called Oriki Oshun, an experimental visual praise poem to the Orisha Oshun, the mother of the sweet waters . She is a co-founder of Ethnocine Collective, a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and a producer for the podcast Bad Feminists Making films.

Frankie Dawis

Francesca Dawis (she/her), LMSW, is a social worker, advocate, and performing artist dedicated to transforming the mental health system by centering the power of lived experience. As a social worker, Francesca has provided direct services to survivors of intimate partner violence and individuals navigating the legal system as a criminal defense social worker. Informed by her own lived experience and work as a crisis hotline counselor, Francesca is interested in exploring the intersection of suicide prevention and the carceral system, with the ultimate goal of creating and uplifting more abolitionist, community-based approaches to crisis. Francesca holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Stanford University and a Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University. She is currently completing postgraduate training as a psychotherapist with Critical Therapy Institute. Beyond social work, Francesca is a violinist and singer-actor, currently performing on Broadway in the immersive Prologue of CABARET at the Kit Kat Club.

Allilsa Fernandez

Allilsa Fernandez is a mental health and disability advocate, activist and consultant. They have worked with companies such as Facebook, Lionsgate, Verizon, and ReelAbilities Los Angeles. In addition, they have volunteered with Sylvia Rivera Law Project on shelter organizing, with Met Council on housing justice, and NYC mutual aid providing aid to people across NYC. Allilsa has also worked with diverse organizations, companies, and politicians such as Janos Marton, to create intersectional mental health policies. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Stony Brook University with a bachelors in Psychology, and completed her fellowships with The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy and Innovation, and Latino Justice Law Bound. Their work has been featured in Forbes Magazine and the Laura Flanders show.

Vivianne Guevera

Vivianne Guevara has been a restorative justice practitioner and facilitator for 10 years and a social worker in public defense for over 16 years. Vivianne began facilitating restorative circles in 2014, when she facilitated the first-known restorative circle for a Federal District Court case. Since then, Vivianne planned and facilitated circles within/for the criminal legal system, schools, universities, coalitions, community members, and private and non-profit organizations. She co-created the first restorative justice course at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and facilitated restorative circles at NYU School of Social Work, Hunter’s Silberman School of Social Work, Columbia Law School, NYU Law School, Texas A&M Law School, Yale Law School, New York Law School, as well as myriad public defender conferences, workshops, and offices. Vivianne was the founding Director of Social Work and Mitigation at the Federal Defenders of New York in the Eastern District, where she developed one of the first Federal Defender social work practices in the nation and lead the social work practice from 2012-2023. Vivianne was previously an Investigator and Social Worker at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, where she supported litigation that challenged conditions in juvenile and adult jails and prisons in Georgia and Alabama, the provision of indigent defense in Georgia, and the proliferation of debtor’s prisons in Georgia. She began working in public defense as a Social Worker at the Bronx Defenders in 2007, where she worked with clients charged in domestic violence and mental health courts. Vivianne comes from a family of farmworkers, faith workers, and social justice workers. She strives to honor their legacy and that of her ancestors through a life of service. Vivianne continues to learn through teaching others and by providing opportunities that promote community and healing.

Host or Publisher Institute for the Development of Human Arts