Safe Space Wellness Equity Institute“From our people, by our people, including our people.”
— Kwaku Ayisi
Advancing Black health and wellness equity through education, research, and training.
SSWEI is a public-benefit institute that develops and shares accessible resources, publishes research findings, and creates learning opportunities that strengthen culturally responsive Black health and wellness knowledge and practice for Black, racialized, and other underserved communities.
- Education. Research. Training. Public benefit.
- Serving Black, racialized & underserved communities
- Western Canada focus, scalable nationally
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Monthly resources, publication releases, and event invites.
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Institute model
Legitimacy + knowledge + convening
Region
Western Canada (scalable nationally)
Approach
Liberation-informed + community-accountable
Outputs
Resources, briefs, training, systems change
Our mantra
“From our people,
by our people,
including our people.”
Why this matters
Black health and wellness cannot be advanced by systems that exclude Black communities from their own care. This mantra names the problem and the solution in the same breath: community ownership, leadership, and inclusion are not add-ons. They are the work.
Determinants of health
Black wellness is shaped by conditions, not just clinical access.
Breaking it down
“From our people”
The knowledge, wisdom, and solutions that drive this work originate within Black communities. This is not external expertise imposed from outside. It is lived experience, cultural knowledge, and community truth that forms the foundation of everything we do. The determinants of health (housing, income, employment, education, food security, racism, and belonging) are understood most deeply by those who live them.
“By our people”
Black communities are the architects, leaders, and decision-makers, not just recipients of services. Self-determination and Black leadership are not aspirational; they are the design principle. SSWEI is built, led, and governed by those closest to the work. When Black people lead, the systems they build are more likely to address root causes, not just symptoms.
“Including our people”
Black, Indigenous, other racialized and marginalized communities have been systematically excluded from the wellness systems meant to serve them. This phrase is a direct challenge to that exclusion: a commitment that access, representation, and belonging are non-negotiable. Inclusion is not a gesture. It is a structural requirement for health equity.
Grounded in the determinants of health
Black health and wellness is shaped by far more than clinical access. Housing, income, employment, education, food security, racism, and belonging are the conditions that determine whether communities can thrive. SSWEI addresses these upstream determinants through research, training, and systems change, because wellness cannot be separated from the conditions that make it possible.
When we say “from our people, by our people, including our people,” we are naming a commitment to address health at its roots, not just at the point of service.
What we do
Addressing the determinants of Black health and wellness.
Black health and wellness is shaped by housing, income, employment, education, food security, racism, and belonging, not just clinical access. SSWEI works upstream, translating evidence and lived expertise into knowledge, training, and systems change.
Knowledge Hub
A public-facing credibility engine: liberation-informed resources that help institutions understand the determinants of health and reduce harm in access to Black wellness.
Explore the hub
Research & Publications
Briefs, practice guides, and flagship reports that translate evidence and lived expertise into action, addressing the social, economic, and structural conditions that shape Black health.
View publications
Training & Convening
Two flagship trainings, webinars, and convenings that build workforce competency and implementation momentum for equity-centred Black health and wellness systems change.
Request a training
Partner pathways
Clear next steps for each partner type
SSWEI is built for funders and institutional partners first - with a scalable path to community-facing programming.
Funders
Fund a publication, training cohort, or systems-change pilot. We package work into grant-ready modules with clear metrics.
Partner with SSWEI
Institutions
Health systems, universities, employers: co-design and implement equity-centred pathways that reduce harm in access and referral.
Request a partner call
Researchers
Co-author briefs and practice guides, collaborate on listening tours, and translate evidence into implementation tools.
Collaborate
Community (later)
As the hub matures: resources, forums, speaker series, and community-accountable programming.
Join updates
Featured publication
Baseline brief (in development)
A funder-friendly baseline report built from listening tour insights, existing literature, and community input, designed to translate evidence into implementation.
- Key insight: Where access breaks down (intake, referral, follow-up)
- Key insight: Harm risks and barriers for priority populations
- Key insight: Practical actions institutions can implement in 30–90 days
Publication ladder
Briefs
2–4 pages. Fast, shareable, funder-friendly.
Practice guides
6–12 pages. Implementation-ready.
Flagship report
Annual/biannual. State of equity-centred access.
Want to co-author or sponsor a publication? We'll scope a partner-ready module.
Knowledge Hub preview
Start small. Publish in series. Build trust.
SSWEI launches with 10–15 high-quality resources, each designed to be usable, accountable, and implementation-ready.
What good care looks like (equity-centred)
A practical lens for assessing cultural safety, power, and harm risks, for institutions and individuals.
Open resource
Culturally safe intake: reduce harm in first contact
Questions, checklists, and workflow changes that improve access and trust at intake.
Open resource
Mistrust & stigma: why services go unused
How historic and present-day harms shape help-seeking, and what systems can do differently.
Open resource
Training + events
Convert knowledge into workforce and systems change
We start with two flagship trainings, then convene partners through webinars and forums. Every event produces an asset (recording + summary + toolkit).
Equity-Centred Black Wellness Foundations
Employers, universities, non-profits
Build a shared baseline on cultural safety, anti-oppressive care, mistrust & stigma, and what good care looks like, with practical implementation steps.
View training
Culturally Safe Intake + Referral Pathways
Service providers + systems
Reduce harm at first contact. Improve referral quality. Strengthen follow-up, using checklists, scripts, and workflow redesign.
View training
Upcoming
Webinar: Baseline brief release (soft launch)
Coming soon
Quarterly virtual community forum
Quarterly
Monthly speaker series
Monthly
Want to host a co-branded webinar or training pilot? Book a partner call.
Book a partner callHow partnership works
A simple, repeatable path to implementation
We keep scope tight and outputs usable. Every partnership produces an asset that can be shared, taught, and scaled.
Step 1
Discover
Clarify the problem, the population(s) most impacted, and where harm shows up in the current pathway.
Step 2
Co-design
Translate evidence + lived expertise into a practical module: brief/toolkit + training + implementation plan.
Step 3
Implement & evaluate
Support rollout, capture early metrics, and publish learnings that can scale across systems.
Impact framework
What we measure
We start with a clear scorecard, then add numbers, case studies, and partner quotes as pilots launch.
Access
Who is reached, wait times, and where pathways break down.
- # reached / partners
- Wait-time trends
- Drop-off points
Workforce competency
Skills and practice change after training.
- # trainees
- Pre/post confidence
- Workflow adoption
Systems change
Implementation outcomes inside institutions.
- Referral pathway redesign
- Intake harm reduction
- Follow-up improvements
Policy + data
Briefs adopted, evaluation frameworks, and learning that scales.
- # briefs / reports
- Recommendations adopted
- Evaluation frameworks
What's ahead
What's ahead
SSWEI's current focus is on building a strong public-benefit foundation through research, education, training, and institutional partnership. As our evidence base and implementation learning grow, we will deepen our impact through expanded programming, broader geographic reach, and stronger community-facing initiatives.
The path forward
Now: Build the foundation
Establish credibility, publish evidence, and secure institutional partnerships.
Next: Deepen impact
Expand training cohorts, publish flagship reports, and grow community programming.
Future: Scale nationally
Extend SSWEI's model across Canada through policy influence, systems change, and sustained partnerships.
Get new toolkits, publication releases, and event invites (monthly)
Built for funders and institutional partners first, with a scalable path to community-facing programming.
We'll never share your email. Unsubscribe anytime.