When Community Becomes Medicine

The Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI) was founded by Mona Afary, Ph.D., with the  support of refugees and immigrants from around the world who shared a profound belief in its mission. 

Over twenty years ago, Mona walked out of her clinical office and into the waiting room where many of her patients and their families sat together, survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide. What she witnessed was that space was not empty. Healing was already happening—before a word was spoken. Nothing was the same after that.

I wrote about the founding of CERI in my co-authored book, The Power of Collective Wisdom. In it I describe how Mona, hired as a mental health counselor, encountered the traumatic stories of her clients, absorbing their pain—nightmares, insomnia, flashbacks, panic, depression, fear—while sensing that the one-to-one clinical model could not hold what was being carried.

One day, leaving her office and walking into the waiting room, something startling happened that changed her life forever. In the waiting room were Cambodian men and women drinking American coffee and Persian tea. They were talking and laughing and knitting together and the fabric of their connection was unmistakable. She wondered whether the possibility for healing was already present—right there in the waiting room. This was the ignition point that gave rise to CERI.

The vision found its heart and strength in the partnership of CERI’s participants, survivors of genocide, who, for over 20 years, carried the heavy burden of PTSD and decades of silence. Their courage and hope became the foundation of CERI’s story -- a testament to unity, healing, and the unwavering spirit of humanity.

Today, CERI offers a holistic array of culturally attuned services for elders, adults, and children – multilingual services that support the mental health and wellbeing of refugees and immigrants from all over the world. Ranging from support groups to mental health counseling to alternative healing modalities that include dance, yoga, knitting and sewing, and deep relaxation, the spaces between them are knitted together by love and kindness. 

When I visited them a few weeks ago, I confessed concern about giving them visibility in these turbulent times. Mona took my hand, looked me in the eyes, and said firmly, “Yes, this is a time for understandable caution—but also for boldness.”

CERI reminds us that healing does not always begin with expertise or intervention, but with the social space we create—and the courage to trust what is already moving there.

Learn more about and support the work of the Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants: https://www.cerieastbay.org/

I wrote about the founding of CERI years ago, but being with the staff recently made it clear that the field they tend is still very much alive.

Who is already healing one another in your waiting rooms, community spaces, or workplaces—without being named or seen?