RECOVERY: The Trauma of Nonprofit and Activist Leadership, Why Leaders Are Sometimes Sick and Dying

Nonprofit and activist leaders are often the backbone of our movements.

In 2020, BWB launched Restore Forward and an Institute that has been urgently convening leaders for "RECOVERY: The Trauma of Nonprofit and Activist Leadership, Why Leaders Are Sometimes Sick and Dying". Hearing from over 300 nonprofit executives and activist leaders, alarming trends have emerged: Leaders stay indoors all day, miss meals, don’t shower, miss dentist, OBGYN, mammograms, and doctor’s appointments, do not delegate, show up for every march, join task forces when they're already on several others. Stay until the end of meetings that they don’t need to be in. They hoard work. They don't hire in order to save money. Often, they do not not speak their minds. They allow staff to abuse them, allow the city to abuse you, and succumb to demands for the sake of resources. In fact, many report they neglect their most basic needs: don’t use the bathroom when they need, ignore a headache, ignore a stomachache, take a calmer or upper, travel on Sunday, make two or three flights back-to-back. They do not demand their partners support with all of life's demands. Most leaders are not exercising, not leaving the building during fire drills, ignoring commotions outside, lock themselves in our offices all day, forego sleep, and are saying yes to every request.

These leaders are grappling with the same social and systemic issues faced by the populations we serve, yet there is a dire lack of high-level, licensed, experienced, and curated spaces for them to unpack, process, and heal from these challenges.

Restore Forward is a place for the world to recover. Today, we invite executive directors to respite and retreat.

Journey with us!

Black Women’s Blueprint is convening a retreat and cultural healing exchange for executives, directors and activist leaders in Mexico, offering a space for deep recovery and radical healing. This is more than just a break from the grind—it's an intentional step toward reimagining leadership through a healing justice framework.

Therefore, it is our strong recommendation that directors and senior-level managers attend a carefully curated space to caucus and convene with other leaders, that should be scheduled in a timeslot that does not compete with other workshops.

Join us for "RECOVERY: The Trauma of Nonprofit and Activist Leadership, Why Leaders Are Sometimes Sick and Dying."

Register here!

Dates: April 10-12, 2025

Location: 

Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico

Join us as we co-create a future where recovery, restoration, and collective care are integral to our leadership and activism. Discover a transformative space where leaders can recover, reconnect, and reclaim balance for themselves and the generations to come.

Our recent caucus and convening of Executive Directors at NSAC 2024 underscored the power of leaders when they set their minds on recovery - recovery from psychological, social and physical traumas.

Black Women’s Blueprint launched an institute that tailors learning exchanges, seminars, workshops, webinars, podcasts, and teach-ins to inform best practices, fuel healthy debate, and encourage innovation in any setting. Working within a larger ecosystem of cooperative organizations, master teachers, and educators, the institute also meets the needs of people working in corporate, not-for-profit, sexual assault organizations, or faith-based institutions through a variety of retreats and curated team experiences.