Staff and Fruitvale community members took part in a healing circle led by Dr. Ricardo Carillo and others from our Cultura y Bienestar program. The circle gave us all an opportunity to process and be cleansed of negative energy from the tragedies that had befallen us as a community — the Ghost Ship fire and other incidents — as well as any personal traumas. It gave us an opportunity to come together as a family, voice and share our grief, and release it so we could enter the new year with light and joy in our hearts. Several community members joined the staff for this event, including several who had lost loved ones at the Ghost Ship fire. The ceremony took place in the plaza near the Transit Village clinic, and the program included a brief welcome by Jane García, the creation of ceremonial space where participants could release pain or negative energy they may have endured, followed by communal drumming.