A PHOTO ESSAY BY COURTNEY SEARCY

Featured in Vol 7, issue 3: healing

Healing is a word we usually associate with the miraculous, a moment clearly marked by before and after. Sickness to Health. Pain to Relief. Discord to Peace. That isn’t wrong, but healing is also something happening before our eyes.

The healers around us are the obvious types — doctors and therapists and the like — but when I think about the broader definition, there is a role for each of us to play. Because we are all trying to find our way to wholeness, and we have all needed someone to help us find our way there.

The language of healing includes patching and mending, restoration and freedom. The work of healing comes to us in so many ways, though we may not always recognize it as such. We are restored in the right song being sung, the art hung in our homes that brings us peace, a walk in nature that lets us step away from the chaos for a moment, a kind word spoken when we need it. Our communities are restored by the people who work to alleviate poverty, to correct injustices, to eliminate the racism and hatred that divides us. This series, and this magazine only holds a fraction of the people who were named as healers in our community. On days when the world feels dark, they are the ones already taking steps to guide us forward.

WENDY TRICE MARTIN & JOE MARTIN

Founder of the Society for African American Cultural Awareness | Owner of Martin Headquarters

ABBY WOLFZORN

ARTIST

TERRY BLAKELY

HEALING PRAYER CREW, ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH | REMEMBER ME WALK

NICCI GANO

THE RESTORATIVE WILLOW, FOREST THERAPY

MATTHEW MARSHALL

PRESIDENT, UNITED WAY OF WEST TENNESSEE

COURTNEY SEARCY became the Program Director of Our Jackson Home at theCO in 2020, having contributed to OJH as a writer, photographer, and volunteer since 2015. Courtney serves as Editor-in-Chief for the blog and magazine and coordinates events and Our Jackson Home projects. Jackson became home after she graduated from Union University in 2014, where she studied Graphic Design and Journalism. She thinks the best things in life are porch swings, good food, art, music, and friends to share it all with.

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