Voices of Origin –
Emotional Justice at the Roots
A contemporary nonprofit weaving research, story, and art to heal the emotional roots of gendered harm.
We create spaces where people can name what has been lived, listen across differences, and practice new ways of being in relationship, with themselves, with others, and with power.
Through story circles, emotional justice labs, and initiatives like the Emotional Justice & Healing Summit, Voices of Origin supports men, women, and gender-diverse people in moving from silence and shame toward accountability, repair, and shared dignity.
What is Voices of Origin?
Voices of Origin is a nonprofit initiative devoted to emotional justice: practices that help repair the emotional roots of violence, not only its visible consequences. We work through story, research, and art to restore the voice of people—and communities—who have been shaped by gendered harms, from everyday sexism to lethal violence.
We are not a traditional service agency or a purely academic project. We are a bridge between worlds:
- story and research,
- accountability and compassion,
- individual healing and collective responsibility.Â
Mission
Our mission is to cultivate emotional justice at the roots of gendered harm through story-based practices, research-informed education, and restorative spaces where accountability, repair, and dignity can grow.
Vision
We envision communities where:
- Power is practiced with responsibility, rather than domination.
- Masculinity can be strong and emotionally honest, and relationally accountable
- Survivors and those who have caused harm are not reduced to a single moment, but invited into ongoing processes of truth-telling, responsibility, and transformation.
- Equanimity—inner steadiness in the face of pain—becomes a shared community skill, not a private luxury.
Why Emotional Justice?
Emotional justice means working with the emotional roots of harm, fear, shame, silence, entitlement—through individual and collective emotion regulation (how we breathe, speak, set limits, and listen together), so that truth can be named, responsibility taken, repair practiced, and trust slowly rebuilt.
It recognizes that emotions are not just “inside the head,” but shaped in our relationships, communities, and cultures—by whose feelings are welcomed, whose are silenced, and which gendered rules decide how we are allowed to feel.
that honor truth, foster responsibility, and rebuild trust.
It asks questions like:
- What did this harm teach us to feel about ourselves and others?
- What beliefs about love, power, and gender were passed down to us?
- What would it look like to repair—not erase—what has happened?
Equanimity line
Our work is grounded in equanimity: the capacity to stay present with difficult truths without collapsing into aggression or despair. Equanimity lets us listen, speak, and act from a steadier ground, even when what we are facing is painful.
Voices of Origin: Emotional Justice & Healing SummitÂ
The Emotional Justice & Healing Summit is a gathering for people who are ready to look honestly at the emotional roots of gendered harm—and to imagine something different together. It is part fundraiser, part learning space, part collective ritual of repair, bringing together trauma specialists, somatic practitioners, emotion-focused therapists, researchers, and community storytellers.
Who It’s For
—  Survivors and loved ones seeking language, community, and validation.
—  Men and masculine-identified people wanting to transform patterns of control, silence, and emotional shutdown.
—  Practitioners, researchers, and advocates working in gender violence, masculinity, mental health, and community healing.
—  Artists, storytellers, and community leaders who believe change begins with the stories we are willing to tell and hear.
What HappensÂ
—  Keynote conversations on emotional justice, masculinity, and gendered harm.
—  Story circles where participants can witness and be witnessed in a structured, moderated space.
—  Emotional justice labs exploring ideas like Glass Masculinity and Tempered Masculinity in clear, grounded language.
—  Body-based and somatic practices to support regulation, safety, and connection (breath, grounding, simple movement).
— Artistic and kintsugi-inspired spaces to work with fracture, gold, and mosaic as symbols of repair and possibility.
Why NowÂ
—  Gendered harm continues to fracture families, communities, and public trust.
—  Online cultures are teaching many boys and men that empathy is weakness and domination is power.
—  Punishment alone cannot transform the beliefs and emotional patterns that sustain violence.
—  People are hungry for spaces that honour both accountability and humanity—and that treat emotional repair as a form of justice.
Logo & Symbol Story
Our symbol reminds us that nothing whole has to look perfect—only honest, held, and in motion toward repair.
Inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi (repairing pottery with gold) and Antoni GaudĂ’s TrencadĂs (mosaic from broken pieces), our symbol embodies the belief that damage is not denied.
Like a Gaudà mosaic, Voices of Origin is made of many hands, many stories, and many disciplines — joined in the practice of emotional justice. Fractures are named, responsibility is held, and something more honest and humane is rebuilt.
Our mosaic is made from fragments that refused to disappear.
Dalia M. LaFontaine
Founder, Voices of Origin
Dalia M. LaFontaine is an integral practitioner, doctoral researcher, and educator working across clinical psychology, human sexuality, social science, trauma-informed practice, and violence prevention, with particular attention to emotions, the nervous system, and discourse analysis as key determinants of relational behavior and social meaning.
Voices of Origin Voices of Origin emerged from a series of direct, one-to-one interviews conducted as part of her academic and professional training, in which she listened to men incarcerated for feminicide. These were not group interventions or therapeutic programs, but individual conversations grounded in ethical listening, emotional presence, and accountability. The name Voices of Origin reflects the purpose of this work: “origin” is not nostalgia for the past, but a living root in the present—our capacity to return to the body, to emotional memory, and to a deeper sense of humanity than the rigid roles and scripts we inherit.
Across these encounters, Dalia observed a recurring pattern she conceptualizes as glass masculinity: forms of masculinity that appear rigid and dominant on the surface, yet are internally fragile—constructed through emotional restriction, inherited silence, and narrow definitions of strength. Under conditions of intense stress and nervous-system activation, these structures can fracture, sometimes culminating in acts of lethal violence, with profound and irreversible harm.
Rather than approaching these narratives to excuse violence, her work examines how emotional learning, nervous-system survival responses, and cultural expectations interact to shape relational behavior—so that the origins of harm can be understood, and its repetition interrupted.Â
Central to Dalia’s approach is a deep respect for history and storytelling as tools for meaning-making and transformation. Voices of Origin was shaped not only by academic inquiry, but also by historical and artistic traditions that honor repair without erasure. She draws inspiration from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which treats fracture as part of an object’s story rather than something to hide, and from Antoni GaudĂ’s use of fragmented forms and mosaics to create structures that are resilient, organic, and whole precisely because they are made from broken pieces.
How You Can Support Voices of Origin
Donate
Help fund story circles, emotional justice labs, and research-informed programming.
Partner
Collaborate with us as a university, community organization, or foundation to co-host events or fund specific projects.
Host a Story or Learning Space
Invite us to design a story circle, lecture, or emotional justice workshop for your community or institution.
Stay Connected
Receive updates on the Emotional Justice & Healing Summit, new research, and community offerings.
VOICE OF ORIGIN
Voices of Origin offers educational and restorative spaces and is not a substitute for therapy, psychiatric care, or legal representation.
 If you are in immediate danger or crisis, please contact local emergency services or a trusted crisis line in your region.
