About Us
Tending The Garden started as just an idea while Jimanekia was at a 10 day silent retreat. In the beginning, it was intended to be a retreat that would be held just once or twice a year.
We quickly learned that this was going to be more than solely the retreat. Founded in 2019 by Jimanekia Eborn, Tending the Garden grew from an idea to an organization with deep roots in social justice, equity and compassionate care. In totality, Tending the Garden is for marginalized survivors who are looking for community, healing, education, and growth. We strive to provide this community through the retreat, workshops, live events and resources.
All of our programming is created to service underserved individuals who deserve to feel seen, supported, and heard in an environment wherein they will be respected and not re-traumatized.
The discrepancy between the treatment of marginalized patients and white/able-bodied/cis people in mental health facilities illuminates a greater issue when it comes to equity in mental healthcare.
BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ identities have often been left out of the mainstream coverage of sexual assault. Tending the Garden was founded as a space to harness healing and support and place the experience and needs of these identities at the forefront of recovery work around sexual assault.
Bringing these identities to the forefront means that a collection of folks who have been historically pushed to the side, overlooked, and over-sexualized will finally take center stage. No longer will they feel alone in their healing journeys. Instead, they will finally get to exhale, be themselves fully, and tend to their gardens.
Marginalized identities, by definition, have been left on the periphery of conversation. With this, it becomes a more difficult task to bring people into the conversation. Raising the collective awareness around the experiences of marginalized sexual assault survivors is beneficial to advancing the treatment and experiences of all survivors.
