“Walking With Challenge”
The Tabiji Eggshell retreat, “Walking With Challenge”, was created for the Behavioral Health Department of Chinatown Service Center. Their caring presence in our community is playing a critical role in Monterey Park’s recovery from the Lunar New Year incident. This retreat was a time where they could be cared for and given to…a space for releasing some of the weight of all that they carry in their professional lives. Witnesses to the Lunar New Year incident are coming forward for assistance. As you can imagine, this is some heavy lifting. It was an honor to facilitate a retreat for good people who give so much of themselves to support healing in my city. Their team has gone from 15 people to 50 over the last 3 years, a clear indicator of the need for mental health services.
Painting in a tiny, fragile space helped bring gentleness to how we care for ourselves as well.
“Release the stress out!! Express the feeling!”
Reflective, guided movement calmed and settled us.
We dialed in our bigger physical expressions of emotion and focused them with paint, into the eggshells.
The Chinatown Service Center’s Department of Behavioral Health has grown from 15 to 50 people over the last 3 years, a clear indicator of the need for community mental health services.
“Wendy Lew Toda has been a great source of strength and creativity for both our department and the Monterey Park community. Wendy facilitated the Tabiji Eggshell workshop for our department of about 50 staff members for our staff retreat and was very flexible, accommodating, and gracious when working with us. Her activity set the tone for our retreat with her thoughtful prompts and time for reflection and introspection. Our staff resonated with different aspects of the 2-hour activity, from collecting the eggshells, to the mindfulness prompts, and to the painting itself. It was a pleasure to share our emotions and thoughts with one another and with Wendy.”