Ten Ways to Quietly Protest, Stand in Solidarity, and Practice Mental Health First Aid
K. Birdsong Kressler
Advocacy does not have a single face, volume, or pace.
Not everyone can march.
Not everyone can post.
Not everyone can organize, educate, or confront in real time.
And that does not make you disengaged, complicit, or weak.
Advocacy looks different for everyone and takes on various meanings depending on capacity, safety, season of life, and nervous system bandwidth. Below are ten ways to stand in solidarity, contribute to change, and protect your mental health at the same time. These are forms of resistance that honor boundaries and distance—and they matter.
1. Tend to Your Nervous System First
Regulated people make better decisions, hold steadier values, and stay in the work longer. Sleep. Eat. Medicate appropriately. Stretch. Step outside. Mental health first aid is advocacy—burnout helps no one.
2. Be Selective With Your Attention
You do not need to consume every headline to be informed. Curate your news intake. Choose trusted sources. Take breaks. Attention is a resource—where you place it shapes your capacity to act.
3. Support Quietly With Your Dollars
Donate when and where you can—mutual aid funds, harm reduction orgs, bail funds, community clinics, educators, or grassroots groups. You don’t have to announce it. Quiet generosity still moves systems. Support black, queer, immigrant and ally-owned small businesses and communities.
4. Vote, Call, and Write—Even When It Feels Small
Local elections. School boards. Judges. Funding referendums. One phone call or email to a representative matters more than a hundred online arguments. This is low-visibility, high-impact advocacy.
5. Refuse Dehumanizing Language
You don’t have to debate. You don’t have to persuade. But you can quietly refuse to laugh, repeat, or normalize language that harms marginalized people. Silence can be consent—but it can also be a boundary.
6. Protect Your Energy by Choosing Your Battles
Not every moment requires a response. Not every relationship is safe to challenge. Strategic disengagement is not cowardice—it’s wisdom. Pick the moments where your voice can land without costing your health.
7. Check on the People Closest to the Harm
Send the text. Drop off food. Offer childcare. Ask, “How are you really?” Solidarity often happens one human at a time, far from the spotlight.
8. Practice Harm Reduction in Your Own Life
Use substances more safely. Encourage others to do the same. Carry Narcan if you can. Share resources quietly. Harm reduction is a form of love—and protest against punitive systems.
9. Model Rest as Resistance
In a culture that demands productivity at the expense of humanity, resting is a political act. Saying “I will not destroy myself to prove I care” is a powerful refusal.
10. Stay Human
Create art. Write. Sing. Garden. Care for animals. Laugh when you can. Cry when you need to. Systems that thrive on despair lose power when people remain connected to meaning and joy.
You do not owe the world your exhaustion.
You do not need to perform your values to prove them.
And you are allowed to protect your body, mind, and spirit while still standing firmly on the side of justice.
Quiet resistance is still resistance.
Boundaried advocacy is still advocacy.
And staying alive, regulated, and connected is not opting out—it’s staying in.
If you’re tired, you’re not alone.
If you’re unsure how to help, start here.
If you’re overwhelmed—pause. Breathe. Then take one small step.
That is enough for today.
