Carly Boyce Q&A: Suicide Intervention for Weirdos, Freaks, and Queers

Suicide Intervention for Weirdos, Freaks, and Queers: Q&A Session

Hosted as part of the Wormshop, a solo exhibition by Birdie Gerhl, curated by Abedar Kamgari

October 26, 2023 from 7:00-8:30pm in-person at Hamilton Artists Inc.

Free session but space is limited. Please register in advance.

This is an invitation into conversation about the pre-recorded webinar and helping your friends who sometimes wanna die maybe not die zine about anti-carceral suicide intervention made by me — Carly Boyce. Those materials are an invitation to build and consider skills around supporting people who are suicidal (including ourselves, if relevant!). They seek to expose commonly held myths around suicide and suicide support, as well as naming and describing some skills that might be helpful in witnessing, supporting, or otherwise allying with people who sometimes want to die (or don't know how to keep living).

In this Q&A, you will be invited to ask questions that came up for you while engaging with either the zine or webinar (or both if you're ambitious). They can be theoretical or practical in nature. I am not an expert, and may not have decisive answers to your questions, but can share my own knowledge as well as skills, tools, ideas, and experiences that I have the honour to be a steward of, since holding circles around suicide support for many years with many skilled and wise humans. Folks in the room will also be invited to participate in answering the questions, as I know there is always a great deal of wisdom and experience in a group that gathers to deal with this fraught topic. You're also welcome to attend and just listen; no specific forms of participation are required.

Accessibility:

This is an in-person session at Hamilton Artists Inc. which is a physically accessible space. There are automatic doors and a ramp, and gender-neutral bathrooms. Masks are required within the space and provided at the door. A range of seating options will be available.

About the Facilitator

Carly Boyce is a genderqueer fat femme and an old millennial. They are a facilitator, therapist, and community organizer, whose work lives at the intersection of personal healing and collective liberation. Their lineages come through Jewish witches, leatherdykes and politicized healing workers. Carly has been doing decarceral suicide prevention work informally for 20 years, and teaching about it since 2016. Their zine "helping your friends who sometimes want to die maybe not die" (and more about their work) can be found at tinylantern.net and you can follow their outfits and craft projects on instagram @tiny.lantern