OPINION: The power of community care and collective action

By Veta Nadine Wade

From where I sit, self-care has become number one in my personal healing; slowing down, taking the time to reconnect with real people, and rethinking and rebuilding community.

I prioritise creativity through art, well-being, and asking for help! This is how I’ve learned to self-regulate during trying times – healing truly starts from within.

Living on an island that has never escaped colonial rule, I understand the impact of a bootstrap culture.

We often find ourselves overworked, overstretched and under-resourced, with systems designed to confuse and drain us. I resonate with this struggle.

It’s clear that many of us around the globe are fed up, and now it’s time to not just reimagine our futures but to take daily, active steps toward building a new reality and sharing our authentic stories.

I am also rethinking what community care means as I move forward towards recognising self-care, though important, it’s community care that will decide what our future looks like.

Community care that is kind, supportive and nurturing.

That is truly inclusive, values local talent and knowledge, that keeps us safe in rough conditions, strengthening us to face a world that often asks for more than we can give, but recognises we are small enough to be the solution we need, one small action at a time.

It’s who we have always been.

This has become a central aspect of my work in empowering local communities to co-create blueprints for sustainable solutions.

We can each contribute in small ways to support one another, take on tasks, be better friends and neighbours, lead initiatives, and create joy.

Together, we can inspire and rebuild the kind of Montserrat necessary for our well-being and for a healthy, thriving environment and economy.

I don’t know about you but I want to live in the solution!

And that’s my hope for this land – that we see it not as a problem case but as the solution itself.