A Community Gathering
Choosing Ourselves
A Virtual Gathering for Global Majority Adults Navigating Family Estrangement
There is no ritual for this kind of loss.
Family estrangement can be one of the most isolating experiences a person carries. When the relatives or family members are still alive, the grief is complicated and sometimes messy. We may find ourselves grieving not only the people, but the family we hoped for, the traditions we lost, the holidays that feel different, and the future we imagined.
Many of us have learned to give the short answer when someone asks whether we are close with our family. We have learned which rooms are safe to tell the truth, and which are not. This is one of the safe rooms.
For many of us, family was never just a relationship
For many Global Majority individuals, family is more than a relationship. It is culture, community, history, identity, and survival. The decision to create distance can carry layers of grief, relief, responsibility, and loss that are not always understood in mainstream conversations about family estrangement. This gathering was created with those complexities in mind.
If you are queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, or part of a Global Majority community, choosing distance can mean grieving more than the people themselves. It can mean grieving culture, community, belonging, ancestry, expectations, and the stories we were taught about family.
Grief and relief.
Freedom and loneliness.
Certainty and doubt.
Love and distance.
Sometimes all in the same day.
Who this gathering is for
This is an affinity space for Global Majority individuals navigating family estrangement — those who identify as and live as Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latine, Middle Eastern, or multiracial.
This gathering is not a space for White-bodied individuals.
Every reason for distance.
Every family.
Every story.
Whether the distance is recent or decades old.
Whether you chose it, or it was chosen for you.
Tasha and Marta built this because we have lived it
We created this event because we are both estranged and have spent years speaking, writing, teaching, and supporting others who are navigating family estrangement. Again and again, we have heard people describe feeling alone in experiences that are far more common than many realize.This gathering continues that work. Facilitated by two licensed therapists who have both personally and professionally engaged the complexities of family estrangement, grief, identity, and belonging, this space was created to offer connection, witnessing, and community around a loss that is often carried in silence.
What happens when we gather
1 We begin by sharing our own stories.
2 Small-group conversation follows.
3 We close together — reflecting and witnessing as a full community.
This is not a workshop, consultation, or training. We are tending.
What you might leave with
The experience of being witnessed without having to justify your story
Language for a grief that often goes unnamed
Connection with others who understand the complexity of family estrangement
Space to honor both the loss and the freedom that can accompany distance
A deeper sense that you are not alone in what you carry
Greater compassion for yourself and your own path forward
We cannot promise healing, advice, or resolution. We hope you leave feeling a little less alone, and a little more held.
Held by two therapists who know this from both sides
Co-Facilitator: Tasha Hunter, MSW, LCSW
Tasha Hunter, LCSW is a therapist, author, and trainer who has lived the work she now guides others through. Estranged from her family of origin since she was seventeen, she understands — from the inside — what it means to choose distance and build a life on the other side of it.
Tasha works with adults who have survived a wide range of family dynamics: emotional neglect, physical abuse, harsh or unpredictable environments, parental abandonment, religious trauma, and addiction, among others. Her clinical approach is shaped as much by lived experience as by credential. She teaches individuals and groups how to embody self-love and self-leadership, and how to create and nurture chosen family.
She is a national and international trainer who has worked with over 1,000 clinicians. Her writing and teaching center liberation psychology and ancestral wisdom.
Email : tashahunterlcsw@gmail.com / Instagram: @tashahunterlcsw
Co- Facilitator: Marta Isabella Sierra Cifuentes, LMHC
Marta is a survivor of adoption, legally trafficked from Colombia as an infant. She is a queer/pansexual, polyamorous, cis-gendered woman and an adoption abolitionist. She brings all of herself into her work with clients in individual and group settings, and is also passionate about supervising and consulting.
Her practice is centered on adult adoptees and survivors of adoption who identify as people of color or the Global Majority. Her strengths, in addition to adoption trauma, include liberation and estrangement work, racial trauma, identity and cultural reclamation, exploration of non-traditional relationship styles, healing from white supremacy culture, and search and reunion support — before, during, and in long-term maintenance.
She is a decolonizing, somatic-based therapist trained in expressive therapy and IFS, which is the lens she brings to healing from complex PTSD.
Email: martasierralmhc@gmail.com · Instagram: @sierra.speaks.verdad
Details
Date: October 20th
Time5:30 – 7:30 PM EST
Format: Virtual
Capacity: Capped at 20
Supporter Rate$100
Standard Rate$75
Reduced-Cost Rate$50
We recognize that financial realities vary. Please choose the rate that best reflects your current circumstances.
Because of the planning, preparation, and care involved in creating this intimate gathering, registrations are non-refundable.
If something in these words feels familiar — if you are carrying a story that has rarely had room to be spoken, if you are longing to be in community with others who understand the complexity of family estrangement — we invite you to join us.
If you have been carrying this story mostly alone, we hope you will join us.
Bring your story.
Bring your grief.
Bring your questions.
Bring your relief.
Bring your uncertainty.
Bring your truth.
We will hold the rest.
Register for Choosing Ourselves, You will be taken to the Ticket Tailor website.
A few things you might be wondering
Do I have to share if I attend?
No. All sharing is optional. You are welcome to witness without speaking.
What if I'm not sure I belong here?
If the words on this page felt familiar, you belong here.
What if I need to cancel?
Registrations are non-refundable due to the intimate, capped nature of this gathering.
Is this gathering recorded?
No. This gathering is not recorded, given the personal nature of what is shared.
What if I have accessibility needs?
Let us know when you register, or reach out directly — we want to make this gathering as accessible as we can.
