Safe spaces are places of safety and refuge for people who seek a protective environment to live, heal, and thrive. Find out what makes a place a safe haven, and how to create one.
We have all been places where we didn't feel heard, appreciated, or safe. Everybody needs some place to go where they feel safe. They need a place where their needs will be taken into account, their feelings will be respected, and they will feel loved and accepted. You may have heard someone saying that they offer a safe space for everyone, but what does that mean? Join Mysticsense to find out all about these so-called safe spaces. Find out what the term safe space means, and some of the things that go into making a place somewhere that can be called a safe space. Find out what makes a place unsafe and some solutions that can fix that. If you don't have a space to call safe, maybe it's time you created one yourself. Read all the way to the end and find out how to create your own safe space where everyone feels loved and included.
What is a Safe Space?
“Safe space” is a term that originated in LGBTQIA+ community and it refers to any place that is free of biases, criticism, conflicts, the threat of violence, or the voicing of unkind ideas, or uncomfortable conversations. Non heterosexuals aren't the only ones who have to look for safe spaces. Members of minorities or people who just happen to be away from their personal culture need a safe space. People who are dealing with illness, grief, or heartbreak also need a safe space. Every workplace should be a safe space as should every single community. There are a lot of things that go into making somewhere a safe space. Understanding, nurturing, teamwork, flexibility, and inclusiveness of different kinds of people all helps to create safe spaces.
Understanding
If you are talking, people might hear your words, but do they understand what you're saying? Do they really listen? That is very important to creating a safe space. How can you express your thoughts, feelings, or needs if someone is not listening? Being truly understood is important for emotional and mental well-being. Of course we can never completely understand other people, because our experiences are different. It's still important to try. The ability to sympathize and empathize with people who are very different from you will create a safe space for them. If someone is so different from you, it confuses you, there is still a way that you can understand them. All you have to understand is that it is important for them to live their life in their own way. If that way is different from yours, all you have to understand is that differences make us beautiful. One Zodiac sign that can be very understanding is Pisces and you can read about them here: Pisces Traits | Star Sign in the Spotlight
Nurturing
Nurturing provides care and protection, and helps us to grow and thrive. Nurturing takes everybody's needs into account and answers for those needs. Each person who comes to your safe space is going to need to be nurtured in a different way. Some people need to be listened to. Some people need education. Some people need help with something. Other people just need companionship and love. Nurturing is just as crucial for human beings as it is for things like plants. Think of a plant that never gets any sunlight or water. It will wither and die. That's the same thing people do. A safe space always provides nurturing.
Teamwork
Each of us are different. We have different talents, skills, and capabilities. The reason we form teams is because one person can't do everything. Together we are stronger and get a lot more accomplished. Being a part of a functional team helps everybody to feel included, capable, and important. It gives people something to be proud of and it fosters a sense of community between the different members of the team. Teams share experiences together that they also build a life together and create great memories. Some of your greatest friends will be people who you meet at a team that fosters a safe space. Read about fostering teams through community building here: Our Communities: Building and Nurturing Them
Flexibility
A flexible environment is crucial for safe spaces. Since everybody brings something different to the table for the team, and because we're all different, everybody's needs are different also. A safe space has to allow for that. In your safe space, some people will come because they need someone to talk to. Other people will come because they want to sit peacefully in silence in your safe environment. Are you able to provide that for all of those people? If you push the quiet people to try and make them speak, they won't feel safe. Adaptable safe spaces that accommodate everybody's needs are very important.
Inclusiveness
That inclusive environment gives equal opportunity or access to all different kinds of people. That includes opportunities and resources for people who may not be a part of the dominant group. People who are marginalized, have impairments or disabilities, or who might otherwise struggle to fit into other environments will feel safe in a space that seeks to include them. Things like handicapped accessibility, extended operating hours, the ability to communicate with people who speak different languages, and welcoming people who are learning as well as those who are master teachers demonstrates inclusiveness. The ability to work with difficult people helps too and you can find tips on how to do that here: How to Deal with Difficult People
What Makes a Place Unsafe?
The things that make a space unsafe tend to be the exact opposite of what creates safe spaces. Certain situations and behaviors create a toxic environment which compromises the emotional and physical well-being of people. Being judged or abused creates an unsafe space. Competitiveness or unfair expectations do to. Creating an environment that only welcomes a small group of people creates an unsafe space.
Judgement
Everybody judges everybody else every day and everybody is judged by other people every day. Judgment can be positive or negative. However, most people don't like feeling negatively judged or criticized. An unsafe space is a place where you can be looked down on, spoken against, or assumptions are made about you by people who don't bother to get to know who you are. Some people will retreat into themselves or completely leave if they feel that there's some place where they're being harshly judged. It can make people stop communicating, hide who they are, or just feel very hurt.
Abuse
Abuse is mistreatment. Abuse can be done on purpose, or it can be completely unintentional, but the results are still the same. If people are abused somewhere, it creates an unsafe space. Whether the abuse is emotional, physical, or verbal, it still hurts and creates damage. It can cause lasting trauma that people struggle with years after the abusive event. It can also permanently damage someone in a way that they never recover from unkind words, physically unsafe environments, complete disregard for people's feelings or needs, or manipulation. Abusive spaces are wasted spaces and become toxic environments. Most people will not stick around for that. Are you an abuse victim? Find out here and what you can do about it: Are You Abused? | The Signs You May Be
Competitiveness
A little healthy competition could be a good thing because it helps people to push themselves to be their best. That environment that pits people against each other, damaging relationships is not a safe space. A wise man once told his team he didn't care if they won every time. He just told them that he wanted them to improve themselves every time. Competitiveness with yourself to improve is healthy. Competing against other people so aggressively that you fight is toxic and creates an unsafe space.
Unfair Expectations
Unfair expectations create an unsafe space. Things like expecting people to devote all of their time and energy to you, strain their financial resources, or compromise their relationships to serve your space is not good. Expecting somebody to do more than they're capable of, and yelling at them if they can't create a toxic environment. An example of this would be cutting a work department in half by laying off half the employees and expecting the remaining employees to complete as much work as they and their fired coworkers did. This is an unfair expectation. One Zodiac sign that will not tolerate unfair expectations against them is Sagittarius and you can read about them here: Sagittarius | Traits Star Sign in the Spotlight
Exclusivity
Have you ever been someplace where everybody was exactly the same and nobody was welcome unless they were all the same as the people who were already there? That is an exclusionist environment and it is not a safe space. Safe spaces welcome a diverse group of people from all backgrounds. It includes people with different beliefs, people with different lifestyles, people with different skills and education levels. An exclusive environment closes things off from that. Everybody has to be exactly the same. It does not create a safe space.
Creating Safe Spaces
Creating safe spaces starts when you accept that things aren't perfect and there are some things that need to change. Every space can evolve and improve no matter how good it is. However, if you want a safe space, the best way to ensure that it happens is to get some feedback from your people. Next, you're going to have to involve your people in the changes that will suit them. Do what's necessary to make those changes happen, and make sure to continue regular evolution. Change isn't a one time thing. It's something that happens all the time.
Accept That Things Need to Change
Perfection does not exist. Read that again. It just doesn't. Perfection is in one bite of a great dessert, the laughter of a beautiful baby, or a moment on a beautiful day when the weather is nice. However, for human beings, perfection long term is impossible. Sometimes, things seem perfect, but one little thing can change that. Sometimes, nothing is actually wrong, but we need to move forward with change that is happening to modernize the world.
Change can be very difficult. It's time consuming, and it's confusing. However, it's necessary and it can make things better than you ever imagined they would be. So accept that when your safe space isn't safe enough, you're going to have to do something to make it better. One fairy tale, or lie we tell ourselves, is that we are perfect, and we need to accept that is not true. Learn how to release that and other fairy tales here: Embracing Reality- Letting Go of Your Fairy Tales
Ask For Feedback
The best way to find out what needs to be improved is to talk to the people who you are involved with. It's not easy to be humble enough to ask such a question, but if you want to be successful you'll do it. When you are in charge of a project, cultural center, or anything at all, your success relies on the participation of other people. Those are the people that will tell you exactly what you need to do to make things better. So ask for feedback.
Involve People in Changes
Involve your team in the necessary changes. Delegate responsibilities. If you are directing a social resources program, call for volunteers. If you're trying to make the program better at a job where you're all paid, name some managers. If you're trying to improve something in your neighborhood, ask your neighbors to take jobs and tasks. If you want something to be better in your own household, involve your family in the changes. Creating a safe space involves a team. Make the team feel involved, make the project theirs, and they will do everything they can to make it better. If your family needs healing, involve them in it. Find out how here: Psychic Protection for Family Problems
Do What is Necessary
It's not easy to admit that things need to change, but oftentimes they do. Make the necessary changes no matter how upsetting they are. Don't be defensive, assuming that whatever program you've come up with is the greatest thing in the world, because truthfully it's not. Anything could improve, no matter how great something is. Even if there's nothing wrong, times change and we have to move with the changes. If something you did worked extremely well five years ago, but it's not working today, do something else instead. The goal is to create a safe space, not brag that what we've created is the best.
Evolve Regularly
The most difficult thing to do when you're in charge of a safe space is to admit that things have to change regularly. Maybe your membership changes. That means their needs are going to change. Maybe your neighborhood changes, and you'll have to change with it. Maybe your tolerance levels, abilities, or time constraints will change, and you will have to change your safe space. Creating a safe space is a labor of love and not something everybody can do. You have to work hard to evolve, change, and to do new things regularly to make sure that your space is the safest space it can be.
Safe spaces have to be inclusive, non-judgmental, and nurturing. If you have what it takes to create a safe space, listen to your people who come to you seeking your love and safety. Involve them and make changes as often as necessary. Know that being someone who is blessed with the responsibility of creating safe spaces is an honor. May you be blessed tenfold for all of the inclusive safe spaces that you create!
If you're having trouble figuring out how to create a safe space, reach out to one of our psychics for troubleshooting today. They will have all the answers you need.
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