Community Care Plans zine

Let's talk about community care plans: what they are, why community care plans are important, how they work, & some examples of what care can look like.

This primer on community care plans is brought to you by my newest zine: Community Care Plans: A Tool for Supporting One Another.

Enjoy this free preview, sweet friend 🥰

What is a community care plan?

A community care plan is an organized & strategic plan for a survivor's community to come together & collectively care for them during a challenging or difficult time, such as a traumaversary or mental health crisis.

They're usually organized by the survivors, often with the support of someone close to us.

This is a valuable tool many other communities use too, such as disabled people, including disabled survivors.

Why are community care plans important?

Community care plans are important because they give a survivor’s community the opportunity to show up for & support us during a particularly difficult time; allowing us to feel cared for, supported, & less alone.

The goal is to help the survivor feel surrounded by the care & love of our community.

How do community care plans work?

In a shared document, such as a Google Doc, survivors create & share their list of support needs/wants.

Practicing self-sovereignty in identifying & naming what you need & want, especially when many of us have experienced a loss of autonomy, can be liberating.

Survivors invite their loved ones & folks they’re in community with to participate in this plan, giving them the ability to edit the shared document.

Then, on the calendar in the document, folks sign up to offer care based on the survivor’s list & coordinate their efforts with fellow community members, aiming for sustainable & shared community support.

Get your own free customizable community care plan template & see what this looks like.

What can care look like in this context? What are some examples of community care?

Care can look like many things, including but not limited to: text check-ins, phone calls, snail mail, Facetime dates, care packages, meal prep help, dropping off meals, ordering groceries, help with chores, running errands together, friend dates, crafting together, affirmations, coworking, words of support & encouragement, financial $olidarity, gift cards, ordering delivery, sending them something from their wishlist, parallel play, sending cute animal photos, & care can look like so many other things beyond this brief list.

I hope you enjoyed your free preview of my Community Care Plans zine. Want your very own colorful, cosmic, & cute zine?

About the author

Karina Hagelin is a disabled nonbinary queer femme artist, educator, keynote speaker, librarian, & survivor.

Their interests include radical vulnerability, friendship, gossip as a site of resistance, disability, community care, self-love, trauma healing + recovery, zines, & creativity.

Karina’s expansive body of work includes zines about healing, self + community care, & disability; a podcast about C-PTSD & trauma recovery; workshops on trauma-informed librarianship, radical vulnerability, & community care; the Survivor Affirmation Deck; & a weekly-ish newsletter.

They’re the parent of three rescue cats: Cashew, Chickpea, & Boo ♡