Spring Into Wellness: Community Care in Action

Schedule sign for the 4th Annual Spring Into Wellness: A BIQTPOC Health & Wellness Fair celebrating LGBTQ Health Awareness Week, featuring music, performances, food, workshops, and wellness check-ins.

This past weekend, Gender Health Center staff and one trainee had the joy of spending an afternoon at the 4th Annual Spring Into Wellness BIQTPOC Health Fair in Sacramento. What a beautiful reminder it was of just how resourced our communities truly are.

From the moment we arrived, the space felt alive with connection. Music in the background, folks moving between workshops and vendor tables, people checking in with mental health professionals, others relaxing with free fifteen-minute massages, grabbing something delicious from the food truck, or simply catching up with friends. The venue was spacious and welcoming, giving everyone room to move, talk, laugh, and settle in. The vibes were good all around.

A Gender Health Center counseling trainee engages with a community member at a resource table, showcasing the center's services alongside various informational materials, harm reduction supplies, and colorful promotional items.

What we love most about gatherings like this is how engaged, conversational, and relaxed we are together. There’s something powerful about a space where people can show up fully as themselves where care feels relational and grounded in community.

Throughout the afternoon, we connected with community members who already know and love our programs, as well as folks who were meeting us for the first time. Those moments of conversation (sharing about our work, listening to people’s needs, and learning what’s happening in their lives) are at the heart of what community care looks like in practice.

We were also grateful to be among so many incredible vendors and partners. From wellness practitioners to folks sharing plant-based medicines, including community partners like Black and Brown Farm Collective, the fair reflected the many ways our communities practice healing. Our medicines and our care strategies were all present and visible, each offering something meaningful.

Events like Spring Into Wellness remind us that care doesn’t live in just one place. It lives in the relationships we build, the knowledge we share, and the ways we show up for one another.

Huge love and gratitude to Love Liberated and Sac Filipinx LGBTQIA+ for hosting and organizing this year’s gathering. Bringing people together like this takes intention, labor, and vision. It shows.

If there’s one thing we carried home with us, it’s this: we take care of us.

Being in that space was a powerful reminder of how much exists right here in our community as resources, skills, wisdom, and love. So many offerings are already around us. Sometimes all we have to do is show up, be present with one another, and actively receive what’s being shared.

We are 360° covered.

And maybe most importantly, the day reminded us that wellness can be joyful. It can look like laughter between workshops, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones, and filling up our cups through community.

Thank you to everyone who came through, shared space, and helped make the afternoon so special. Sacramento showed up and we’re grateful to be part of a community that continues to care for one another so deeply. 💜

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/4cb56c_565f4b018b14442ca99a0309cb92983d/720p/mp4/file.mp4

A beautiful and inspiring performance (Tiny but Mighty) by Åna Tri (https://anatri.bandcamp.com/)