This year, we’ve been gathering online and in person to celebrate our 20th anniversary, highlighting the people and programs that make Nexus’ work possible. Our celebration continues with our newest program: ROOT (Reclaiming Our Own Time)! Mark your calendar for Deep Rest for Resistance on Thursday, Oct. 9, 10 am – 12 pm CT on Zoom.
As we live in times of extremism, fear and despair, carving out thoughtful, recurring space to refill our cups, protect our peace, and build communal care together is essential to our future and our safety.
ROOT puts rest and restoration at the heart of movement building. With innovative sabbatical programs, our Reimagine Rest event series for community members, and our Heal the Healers series to fortify our own community healers, we are giving BIPOC leaders unique opportunities to center rest and reconnect with ancestral wisdom.
Register below to learn about our rest ecosystem work, get grounded with a meditation activity, and hear deep reflections on reclaiming our rest by our thought partners Camille Cyprian, Dora Palma, and Dr. Felicia Sy.
Meet Our Speakers
Camille Cyprian
Camille is a community-rooted entrepreneur, healing justice practitioner, and organizational leader with over a decade of experience supporting social change. As Chief Network Weaver at Rooted to Last and co-founder of multiple mission-driven ventures, their calling is to curate, and cultivate, spaces that center collective healing, cultural & intergenerational connection, and liberation. Currently pursuing a doctorate in organizational development, Camille applies holistic frameworks to build more equitable institutions and communities. Her vocation is expanding access to immersive, healing-centered experiences–and deepening transformative impact in St. Paul, across the state, and beyond.
Dora Palma
Dora Palma, BSN, MSW, LGSW, is a licensed clinical social worker, nurse, and healing practitioner whose work weaves Western clinical training with Indigenous wisdom and decolonized approaches to therapy. Originally from Peru and now rooted in Minnesota, Dora brings the perspective of an immigrant, woman of color, and community healer to her practice. She is devoted to cultivating spaces of rest, sacred listening, and collective care where people can reconnect with themselves, their ancestral resilience, and their communities. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to healing justice, honoring lived experience, and uplifting narratives of wholeness and restoration. Dora affirms the vital role of rest as resistance, renewal, and a pathway toward collective liberation.
Dr. Felicia Washington Sy
Dr. Sy is a licensed independent clinical social worker, traumatologist, and educator with over 20 years of experience providing trauma-informed care to survivors of sexual and physical violence. She earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Minnesota and her doctorate from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.
An integrative healer and organizational well-being consultant, Dr. Sy combines mindfulness-based practice, intercultural theory, and social justice frameworks to support individuals, families, and institutions in creating conditions for deep healing and systemic change. She maintains a private psychotherapy practice in South Minneapolis, leads healing circles, and consults with organizations across the Twin Cities on diversity, equity, inclusion, and collective wellness.
Dr. Sy has taught in area colleges and universities for over a decade and currently co-teaches an advanced practice therapy cohort at Anam Cara Therapies. Her publications focus on bullying in schools and the professional use of self in trauma-informed care. She holds a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University.
A practicing Buddhist for over 14 years, Dr. Sy is a member of Clouds in Water Zen Center, where she co-facilitates the BIPOC sitting group and brings her contemplative practice into every dimension of her personal and professional life.