HEALING APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS

Freedom School for Healing & Justice

The Freedom School for Healing & Justice is a flagship apprenticeship program of Freedom Community Clinic. Through the Freedom School, we cultivate the next generation of Black, Brown, and immigrant community healers in Oakland, CA.

Yearly cohorts start in June of each calendar year. Participants commit to a 6-month apprenticeship program to fulfill curriculum and program requirements.

We believe that healing is an embodied practice that stems from the wisdom of community & lived experience. Since its origins in 2022, we have trained over 75+ participants in “healing first aid”.

Participants of the Freedom School are taught through an applied community apprenticeship model guided by FCC's Whole-Person Healing framework. Trainees are formally trained in basic herbalism, Reiki I & II, health education basics, CPR/first aid, and mental health first aid training.
Group dialogues and reflection assignments draw upon somatics, self-reflection, Black feminism, critical race theory, ethnic studies, cultural anthropology, political science, sociology, and more to integrate healing with historical & contemporary social justice frameworks.
Applications for each yearly cohort are released in May/June of each calendar year. Each iteration of the Freedom School is 6 months and includes an 8-week summer intensive and 4 week community apprenticeship program.
In-person classes are mandatory and in-person at the FCC Ancestral Healing Sanctuary at 3134 International Blvd. Oakland, CA 94601.
A short list of required pre-readings, reflection assignments, and a final project to encourage self-reflection, growth, and personal healing is essential to the curriculum.
Trainees who successfully complete the 8-week series are invited to complete 15 community service hours (3-5 healing clinics) through Freedom Community Clinic to obtain certifications and completion of the program.
This course is completely free for community members. It is our hope that by learning new healing modalities, participants are able to give healing back to themselves, their families, their loved ones, and their communities.
Requirements for Reiki Certification and FCC Healer Certificate:
- Attend all in-person gatherings
- Completion of all health education basics + mental health first aid training
- Turn in all weekly reflection assignments
- Commit 15 community service hours to serving as a healer at 5 FCC community healing clinics with participant feedback forms
- Final feedback form

Promotores de Sanación

Launched in May 2023 with its first successful pilot cohort, Promotores de Sanación has trained over 30 local women in holistic healing practices and community health outreach. All participants identify as women, mothers, first-generation immigrants, are Spanish-speaking and/or Mam-speaking, and are over 50 years old.

Promotores de Sanación is a critical training program in cultivating the wisdom of our community-- creating space for dialogue, and forging the next generation of Black, Brown, and immigrant healers.

We aim to disrupt cycles of oppression in order to create new cycles of intergenerational healing, investing in community members to gain skills, funding, and support to lead their own local health, healing, and wellness initiatives. In this way, we subvert cycles of trauma and violence with new standards of community healing justice.

Participants engage in a 6-month apprenticeship program with an intensive summer 8-week curriculum that introduces them to community health outreach, healing justice, intergenerational healing, and embodied holistic healing practices (e.g. meditation, yoga, breathwork, herbal medicine, acupressure, and self-massage).
Trainees who successfully complete the 8-week series will be invited to complete 15 community service hours (3-5 healing clinics) through Freedom Community Clinic to obtain their health education certification, mental health first aid, and FCC Healer certification.
At the end of the program, participants create their own community healing offerings for the Fruitvale East Oakland community.
The success of this pilot program has been astounding, as we have been already able to forge 10+ local partnerships with street vendors, local businesses, markets, tiendas, and more to provide regular healing opportunities to their staff, service people, and communities.