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Safe & Brave Space

A yellow arm chair in a library office.
Image: Patlee Creary.

Recently, I've been involved in several conversations about what it means to hold a safe space. These conversations come up whenever I tell someone that I provide a safe space for people to explore their stories so they can arrive at better mental and emotional well-being. The first question I am usually asked is: ‘What do I mean by space?’; the follow-up is almost always, ‘So how exactly does one ‘hold space’?’


These are easy questions. I often quickly answer both by saying that the space is symbolic and physical. It is one where everyone feels welcomed and able to explore their lived experience stories as if they were always part of this accepting and supportive community, whether we assemble online or in person.


A few days ago, though, when a friend asked why the space was safe and not brave, it gave me pause. ‘Brave space’ refers to spaces designed to cultivate growth, often around challenging topics. In contrast, ‘safe space’ is typically used to refer to areas that are meant to be free from threatening or conflictual conversations and ideas. I thought hard about this for a while. Sometime later, I answered: “One is just a doorway to the other. To get to safety, one must also be brave; to be brave, one must know that safety exists in some form.”


Having a safe and brave space feels intrinsically connected to me. The bravery in this space is not the kind of bravado that says we can do and be everything or hold it all together when we feel marginalized or attacked. Similarly, the safety here is not an expectation that we will never have difficult conversations or be pushed out of our comfort zones. For me, safe + brave is about what we can uncover together. It is, without a doubt, a gathering filled with mindfulness and intentionality.


We make a space brave by creating opportunities for people to take the first step. It is about walking through a doorway, committing to seeing a better outcome for oneself and others and being willing to look at the range of conflicts within ourselves. It is a space where everyone can sit with themselves and others to find a sense of safety we all crave. And we make the space safe by doing our best to make each other feel supported, understood, stood with, seen, and heard. Safety happens when we take brave steps with a supportive community by our side.


I believe in cultivating felt spaces where 'brave' and 'safe' coexist. I can welcome uncomfortableness, questioning, dialogue, exploration, and idea exchanges in these spaces while sitting beside and within values of non-discrimination, non-judgment, and anti-harassment. Safe + Brave means that we are willing to be curious and accepting, even of our mistakes, and we commit to continue learning and supporting each other.




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