What’s Blooming with the Wildflower Alliance

Anemoni Peer Repsite, Part 1: The Origin Story

August is the month of peer respites for 'What's Blooming with the Wildflower Alliance'. On August 4th, we released our first episode in the series on Afiya Peer Respite. Today, we release part 2 of the peer respite series on Anemoni Peer Respite... EXCEPT that part 2 has itself turned into two parts! We're calling part one of part 2 'Anemoni: The Origin Story. This episode, we will hear from Ephraim Akiva who came up for the vision of Anemoni and now serves as its Director. Ephraim will talk about where the idea came from as it relates to both his personal and work life, as well as how another peer-run organization stepped in and almost derailed the entire process. He will also share the emotional story of Edith Goldberg in whose honor 'Anemoni' is named.   Additionally, we will hear from Thomas Brown (Advocate for the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee [MHLAC]) and Sarah Yousuf (former Senior Supervising Attorney at MHLAC) who partnered with Ephraim and others at Wildflower to introduce peer respite legislation that may help bring even more peer respites (both affinity and general) to the Commonwealth in the years to come.

Porchlight Vigil, Episode 2: The Executive Order

On Thursday, July 24, 2025, the Trump administration released an Executive Order called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets [http://whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/]”. This order directly threatens unhoused people, people with psychiatric histories and people who use drugs with significantly loosened restrictions on when they can lose their liberty and be sent to facilities where they could be contained long-term. The order also encourages sharing of protected health information with the police and decimates support for Housing First and harm reduction approaches overall, further broadening the range of people likely to be harmed. On this second episode of Porchlight Vigil, host Earl Miller welcomes two guests: Luke Sikinyi [https://rightsandrecovery.org/e-news-bulletins/2025/01/27/city-state-honors-luke-sikinyi-as-a-2025-trailblazer-in-health-care/], Vice President of Public Policy at The Alliance for Rights and Recovery, and Sera Davidow [https://www.madinamerica.com/author/sdavidow/], Director of Wildflower Alliance, who will be stepping out of her usual host role with What’s Blooming with the Wildflower Alliance to join in on the conversation. Together, they talk about the risks of the Order - and of dehumanization of marginalized communities overall - as well what still leaves them hopeful for something better in the future.

Afiya Peer Respite: 13 Years of Learning

This episode marks the start of a 3-part series on peer respites beginning with Afiya peer respite.  Afiya was the 13th peer respite to open in the United States on August 4, 2012. Today's episode is published in honor of Afiya's 13th birthday! In this episode, we'll hear from Caroline, Emanuel, Uno, Cindy, Rob and Tokyo - all who have stayed or worked at Afiya (and sometimes, both!). You'll hear parts of their stories that brought them to Afiya, what peer respite work has meant to them and some of the lessons learned over the course of the last 13 years. What are peer respites?: Peer respites are run entirely by and for people who've 'been there' when it comes to trauma, suicidal thoughts, problems with substances and a variety of other life-interrupting challenges.  Want to learn more about Afiya? Check our www.AfiyaHouse.org [http://www.afiyahouse.org]! Want to honor Afiya with a birthday present and help us reach our end-of-year goal of $13,000? You can do that here! [https://wildfloweralliance.org/donations/afiya-turns-13/]

Porchlight Vigil, Episode 1: You Was Who You Was Before You Got Here

This episode marks the introduction of Wildflower Alliance podcast sub-threads, featuring particular hosts with specific areas of focus. Porchlight Vigil is a sub-thread featuring host, Earl Miller, and focused on policing alternatives and carceral systems overall. In this brief, 13-minute introductory episode, Earl talks about his vision for this sub-thread, why the name 'Porchlight Vigil' is so deeply personal to him and where he hopes to go with it in subsequent episodes.

Whistleblowing & Restraints at Worcester State Hospital

Join us for our very first podcast episode ever with hosts Earl Miller & Sera Davidow and special guests John Trask, Chris Hansen and Rob Wipond. On June 18, 2025, WGBH reporter Alexi Cohan published a story of misuse of restraints at Worcester State Hospital [https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-06-18/duration-of-physical-restraints-at-state-mental-hospital-raises-concerns]. The story revealed how John Trask singlehandedly unearthed data that suggests the hospital may have held patients for thousands of hours of restraints for little more than staff convenience.  This episode will go beyond the article and take a deep dive into the story of John's persistent and courageous whistleblowing as a Massachusetts state employee working at Worcester State Hospital. Learn why John believes that getting this story told was worth risking his job and possibly even his home and hear reflections on the situation from Chris Hansen (Co-Director, Intentional Peer Support [https://intentionalpeersupport.org/]) and Rob Wipond (journalist and author of 'Your Consent is Not Required [https://robwipond.com/your-consent-is-not-required]').