our approach.

Leo Seyij Allen (he/him) is a movement leader, ordained minister, and spiritual care practitioner working to build spiritually resilient communities. He has served as a congregational minister for two Atlanta-based churches, and worked with community organizers across the U.S. to create a just world. Leo Seyij is an alumnus of Howard University and Columbia Theological Seminary. He is certified through Liberated Together’s Spiritual Direction School, a training program centering teaching and practices by and for women and non-binary people of color. His training and coaching adhere to the ethical conduct standards outlined by SDI Companions.

Leaning on movements for social justice, Black diasporic spiritualities, and a love for the land, Kindred Resilience strives to bring BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ community together to strengthen our individual and collective resilience during the most challenging of times. We are committed to personal transformation and inner work as taught by the healing justice movement as well as Zen Buddhism and African traditional religions. This means that our practices incorporate mysticism, orishas, shamanism, astrology, tarot, meditation, and other meaning-making rituals. We are especially inspired by the work of healers in the Black prophetic tradition, humanism, and liberation teachers like Howard Thurman, Barbara Holmes, and Thích Nhất Hạnh. Concurrently, we invoke the generous wisdom of lightworkers and justice seekers like Louise Hay, Audre Lorde, Nina Simone, and more.

Our logo is a modern spin on the Adinkra symbol sankofa, which is Twi (Ghanaian) for “go back and get it”. Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi," which translates as: “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” It is our aim to never forget what we’ve learned and use that knowledge to inform and illuminate our present and future.