Ancestral Institute- The "Whole" Person

02/23/2026

friends, family, community members, this morning I woke up to an email from the academic journal, and as a Guyanese (without the alphabet behind my name), I'm filled with pride and honor to announce that a team of people believed in my vision, seized it and together we published an article in the Journal of Community and Applied Psychology, "From Critique to Construction: The Ancestral Institute as a Praxis‐Based Model for Decolonial Community Psychology".
we're shifting the paradigm, moving away from the White, Western European-American psychological constructs, to which Black and peoples of color do not identify/resonate/relate to... to reconnect with and help our communities heal - many of the traumas we suffered remain unhealed, unaddressed, unprocessed...our mental, physical and spiritual health depends on healing...
see the link to the article here:

11/01/2025

Join us for the 2025 Ancestral Institute, Nov 17 to 21, Dangriga Town, Belize
Register/Sign up: https://tinyurl.com/AI-25-StdReg

10/27/2025

Join us for the 2025 Ancestral Institute
Register: https://tinyurl.com/AI-25-StdReg

10/16/2025

Calling on Ix Chel and the Orishas
Join us from Nov 17 to 21 for a collaboration with Maya and Garifuna communities, for the Ancestral Institute's Gathering at the Pelican Beach Resort in Dangriga, Belize and be part of the National Garifuna Celebrations on Nov 19.
We're reconnecting with ancestral practices to learn about mental healing - we're reaching back to heal ourselves and each other, today, from the traumas imposed on us by the colonialists and redefining mental healing away from the Western European/American psychology - the White psychology.
How can we heal, what do we need to heal?
Register at https://tinyurl.com/AI-25-StdReg

09/06/2025

05/24/2025

join us on Saturday, Jun 7 @ 10:30am at Saint Lucia Community House in Brooklyn for:
In Observance of Caribbean Heritage Month, the Consulate General of Saint Lucia in New York, Saint Lucia House Foundation, Epic Village CDC, and DBGM, Inc.
present
Mental Wellness for My Caribbean Mind
Register: https://tinyurl.com/MHAw-Cbean2025
420 Caribbean GUYANESE PEOPLE Equality Trinidad & Tobago Jamaicansdotcom Grenada Consulate NY Barbados Today

05/11/2025

This past Thursday evening, together with Prof. Daniel Gaztambide, Psy.D., we gathered at the CUNY Graduate Center in NYC for the "Community-Centered, Data-Driven Art: Findings and Performance from the Same-Gender Loving/Gay Black Men's Study", in which we (DBGM) collaborated for the study's results reveal, and along with descriptions of its protocols and methodologies, narratives from combined interviews for the study were performed by Bernard Tarver and Isa Anastasia Rivas. The study will be presented in July at a conference and published.
Photos: flyer; monitor screenshot acknowledging study's collaborators; still shot from the performance.

04/08/2025

Register at https://tinyurl.com/ResearchReveal-2025

03/18/2025

Tomorrow, join us online at 12:00noon EST for "In Our Mothers' Tongues: A Conversation About Ancestral Healing and Maternal Figures"; and we'll hear from panelists:
Jamila Codrington, Ph.D. (US)
Michele Irving, (Belize)
Mmatshilo Motsei, Ph.D., (South Africa), and
Moderated by Adjoa Osei, Psy.D. - an Ancestral Institute's founding member.
Register at https://tinyurl.com/AI-25WebReg

02/28/2025

In Our Mothers’ Tongues:
A Conversation about Ancestral Healing and Maternal Figures

For the Ancestral Institute’s 2025 program, we are hosting a Webinar series leading up to our November 15 to 21 Gathering with the Mayan and Garifuna communities in Danriga, Belize.

The first Webinar in the series, In Our Mothers’ Tongues: A Conversation about Ancestral Healing and Maternal Figures on March 19, 2025, from 12:00noon to 1:30pm EDT, is a multidisciplinary panel exploring the concept of ancestral healing, considering physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual issues that exist within our family history, and how these patterns can shape our lives in healthy and unhealthy ways. Panelists will share about significant maternal figures in their lives and discuss how we can facilitate individual and collective healing by connecting with our ancestors and lineage.

Register: https://tinyurl.com/AI-25WebReg