The Reverend Jennifer DeBusk Alviar
Advocating for accessibility and inclusion for brain injury survivors and those who identify as neurodivergent.
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Rev. Jennifer DeBusk Alviar (she/her) is an interfaith minister ordained in the Unitarian Universalist tradition. She is also a brain injury survivor from a childhood illness. Rev. Jennifer is a keynote speaker, retreat facilitator, gardener, artist, poet and advocate for those who identify as neurodivergent.
"In my ministry, I actively seek ways to plant seeds of social change, hope and healing. This is why gardens fascinate me. They offer a tangible source of promising growth through a deep connection with the Earth."
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Building a Bridge to Belonging
My ministry involves connecting people with nature leading to greater healing, wholeness and belonging.
Ministry & Advocacy
Isn't it fascinating how nature's grounding presence can offer both immanence and transcendence at the same time with her exquisite beauty? This paradox delights me. It keeps me open, alert, alive and engaged in the vitality of the present moment. What might I glimpse from the corner of my eye if only I am present enough to look, listen and pay attention? After all, doesn't everything wondrous arise from the corners, edges, margins and periphery of our imaginations?
The margins also speak to the liminal, in-between spaces beyond the center of mainstream society. In fact, those of us who live on the margins are, by necessity, highly inventive and creative. We are the bridge-builders, code-switchers, shape-shifters and change-makers who imagine and create new forms of justice and equity that do not currently exist.
Simply put, “Disability is not a brave struggle or courage in the face of adversity. Disability is an art. It is an ingenious way to live.” ~ Neil Marcus, playwright, actor and disability activist.
Join me in engaging in the art of change-making through advocacy for neurodiversity. Let us build a bridge to belonging together!
The margins also speak to the liminal, in-between spaces beyond the center of mainstream society. In fact, those of us who live on the margins are, by necessity, highly inventive and creative. We are the bridge-builders, code-switchers, shape-shifters and change-makers who imagine and create new forms of justice and equity that do not currently exist.
Simply put, “Disability is not a brave struggle or courage in the face of adversity. Disability is an art. It is an ingenious way to live.” ~ Neil Marcus, playwright, actor and disability activist.
Join me in engaging in the art of change-making through advocacy for neurodiversity. Let us build a bridge to belonging together!
Finding Wonder & Awe in Nature
Through my own lived experience as a brain injury survivor, my model of equity is grounded in a deep sense of belonging. Belonging to my body as an innate source of healing and wholeness. Belonging to the Earth as the source of creation and the ground of all being. And belonging to community as a social fabric for meaningful relationships.
I have learned to hold the large-scale impact of climate change in tandem with disability justice in a soul-nourishing, embodied, sustainable way. I invite you to join me to learn more about the healing power of a garden.
I have learned to hold the large-scale impact of climate change in tandem with disability justice in a soul-nourishing, embodied, sustainable way. I invite you to join me to learn more about the healing power of a garden.
Creativity & Poetry
I wholeheartedly share Mary Oliver's outlook on life expressed through her poetic words: "Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it."
My daily nature walks offer a visual lens through which I experience beauty, wonder and awe. This lens inspires my nature-based poetry through imagery and words.
My daily nature walks offer a visual lens through which I experience beauty, wonder and awe. This lens inspires my nature-based poetry through imagery and words.
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GEESEGifted poet Mary Oliver
Eloquently reframing "goodness" with wild grace Empathizing about despair -- hers and mine Safely inviting me to surrender to softness, love and embodied animal being Emphasizing my place in the family of things |
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