I believe that We The Free represents the future of Vegan advocacy.

Every interaction beginning with a free-will choice to engage with a thought-provoking experience allows for more emotional vulnerabilities and truth to be exposed in outreach conversations. We as a society are in dire need of relational healing, which involves a willingness to provide space and validation for someone else’s difficult emotions (especially the guilt and shame often provoked by Vegan outreach). We can be most effective as animal-rights advocates when we allow our hearts rather than our egos to drive our interactions with others, and I believe it is our responsibility to hold a higher vision of what others are beyond their ego-based defense mechanisms rather than reacting with our own.

I feel blessed to work with an organization that puts so much care into the emotional and psychological wellbeing of all their activists, which creates a close and strong community of animal advocates less susceptible to burnout. We need well adjusted and emotionally healthy leaders to co-create a Vegan future.

Arabella Swan
Community Care Lead