misery is a radical mental health hub, grief healing space, sober rave, and outdoor education program led by and for queer, trans, intersex, Black people and people of color (QTIBPOC). Based in London, they create low-cost, peer-led offerings that blend joy, community care, and political clarity—from mushroom medicine walks and accessible grief circles to QTIBPOC-centered club nights with on-site mental health support.
At its heart, misery is about reclaiming healing from systems that have excluded, pathologized, and criminalized QTIBPOC. Everything they offer, from parties to programming, is designed by people with lived experience of madness, addiction, institutional harm, disability, and neurodivergence. As they put it: “misery is a reminder that you’re not too sensitive…it’s mad out here.”
The work is beloved—and in high demand. Since launching, misery has reached more than 5,000 people, with every event selling out within hours. But as the need grows, so does the pressure on their small, dedicated team, many of whom are also navigating the same systems of harm as the communities they support.
“Everyone running the collective and everyone we work with are QTIBPOC. Most of us are also disabled and some of us are in recovery. The organizational challenges that we experience are therefore the same as the communities we serve…. Without resilience tools, we know all too well how this leads to vicarious trauma.” — misery
That’s why this moment matters. After years of moving from event to event, misery is now focused on sustainability—embedding care not just in what they offer, but in how they operate. They’re building out policies rooted in disability justice, exploring radical human resources alternatives, and shaping internal culture with the same imagination and values that guide their programming.
The Lumos program comes at a pivotal time, offering space for misery’s team to grow their capacity, deepen their trauma-informed practices, and be in community with others navigating similar work. They’re especially excited to integrate resilience tools into internal governance, and to share what they learn with their wider QTIBPOC networks, creating ripples of collective care far beyond the organization itself.
We’re honored to walk alongside misery as they continue to build liberatory structures that hold grief, joy, complexity, and connection—all in the service of QTIBPOC healing and futures.
