The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.
Y'all, I wrote a whole book! Sisterhood Heals: The Transformative Power of Healing In Community is now available everywhere that books are sold! In this week's episode I'm sharing a little about my writing process, what surprised me most about the process, and an excerpt from the book that best describes how sisterhood heals and sustains us.
Resources & Announcements
Visit our Amazon Store for all the books mentioned on the podcast.
Sisterhood Heals is now available everywhere books are sold!
Take the quiz to find out what role you play in your sister circle.
Join me for one of the Book Tour stops.
Share Your Thoughts With Me
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Our Production Team
Executive Producers: Dennison Bradford & Maya Cole Howard
Producers: Fredia Lucas, Ellice Ellis & Cindy Okereke
Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Doctor Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session three one three of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. It's a very special week around here, and I have so much I want to share right into that. After a quick break, I am reporting to you live from my hotel in New York City, where after a tough day of travel, I have landed to officially kick off my book tour. Because my book is now available everywhere books are sold. Sisterhood Heals, the transformative power of healing in community is no longer just mine.
It is yours too. Even though I know I did it, it is still really hard to believe that I wrote a whole book. One day, we'll have to have a fuller discussion about the process. But just like when I started the podcast, there was so much I didn't know until I was on the other sid side of the door. Writing the book has been by far the most difficult professional task I've undertaken. I kept trying to compare it to writing my dissertation because that was the only framework I had for this kind of project, and still that did not adequately capture the process. Someone asked me in an interview recently what part of the writing process I was most surprised by, and I said that I've been surprised by how emotional I've been. I have always been a crier. I cry at commercials, sentimental moments, all the things. I did, not, however, expect to cry so much. While writing the book, I was often touched by the modeling of sisterhood I saw in so many places, and I was moved when I thought about the role sisterhood has played in my life, both personally and professionally. I was also incredibly moved by my sense of wanting to get this project right. There is something so incredibly special about the relationships we have with one another as black women. There's a sacredness there, and I wanted to do my best to honor it and make it come to life on the page. I worried about that translating, and I hope I did it justice. I also found that writing the book forced me to be seen in a way that I'm not really used to. Even though I'm the host of the podcast and I share mental health information in the media quite frequently, there was something much more intimate and vulnerable about having my thoughts on the page that I wasn't expecting. This has led to many an incredible conversation with my therapist about how to care for myself in this area. And now, after all the work, all the tears, the book is here. I can't wait to hear which parts resonate the most with you and what parts get the group chats buzzing. When I think about what I hope the impact of the book will be, it is more intimate conversations and intentionality with the sisters you love, and more gentleness and care with each other collectively. Now I could go on and on about my process of writing, but what I'd prefer is to share a small excerpt from the book that I think best describes how and why sisterhood heals us. Let's take a quick break and then get into it. So when I thought about how sisterhood works and what allows it to heal us, it seemed that a few themes evolved, which I now describe as the four s's of sisterhood. Here's what I wrote. Sisterhood allows us to be seen. Do you remember how your mama could tell something was wrong with you just from the tone of your voice. I believe our sisters possess some of this magic as well. Despite all of our attempts to hide, they create spaces to affirm and celebrate our fullness. When you find yourself questioning whether or not you are qualified for a particular position or opportunity, it's often your sister who will hype you up and tell you to be all you can be. She's the one who is going to run the receipts of your resume to remind you of your awesomeness. So many experiences in our lives teach us to shrink ourselves to be invisible. It is often safer that way. It feels uncomfortable to be seen, but in our sister circles, we are embraced and validated as we are. Sisterhood allows us to support and be supported. No one knows the difficulty of asking for help like another black woman. When it's so easy to fall into an effort I'll do it myself mentality. Sisterhood allows us to practice asking for and receiving help. It allows us to pour into one another in a way only we can. I've seen many women transition from the if I don't do it, it won't get done right type of person. Two what does this look like as a team effort? Simply my feeling safe enough to ask for help from those in her friend group. Sisterhood allows for greater knowledge of self. Because we do not exist in this world in isolation. Much of what we know about who we are comes through our connections and relationships to others. Sisterhood allows us to try out new behavior, experiment with new identities, ask questions without judgment, and expand our ideas about what is possible. All of these things help us get clearer about who we are and what we value. Expanding our sister circle to include a diversity of ages is also crucial, as it allows for deeper insight about ourselves based on what sisters older and younger than us have gone through. Sisterhood allows us to soften quickly. What song do you play to hype yourself up before going into that meeting you know will be tense. Don't be scared to share mine is never scared by bone crusher if you know you know so. Many of the spaces we inhabit require us to put on armor, and that can take its toll on us mentally, emotionally, and physically. If you watch some Supreme Court nomination hearings for Justice Katanji Brown Jackson, it was clear that she too had to wrestle with herself before sitting in front of a group of people who obviously were trying to catch her slipping. The way we frequently have to steel ourselves in order to be sure footed in the face of criticism and often flat out disrespect is far too common. After adorning yourself an armor to face the world. What a respite it is to figuratively take off your raw in a safe space with your girls, with one another. There is no need for hardness. As a recap the four s's or that sisterhood allows us to be seen. It allows us to support and be supported, It allows for greater knowledge of self, and it allows us to soften. When you think about the role Sisterhood has played in your life, what else might you add to the list? Let me know by sending me a tweet or a message on Instagram. I'm at hello, doctor joy on both. Beyond this question, there's so much more for us to dig into, and I can't wait to do that with you after you've had some time to sit with the book. If you haven't already, grab your copy from your closest independent bookstore or go to sisterhood Heels dot com and choose your favorite book retailer to purchase a copy. In addition to my gratitude for all of your support throughout this process, I am also incredibly grateful to the entire Therapy for Black Girls team for all the ways they have shown up for me, further showing me sisterhood in action. I could not have done this without them. We will be back next week with our regularly scheduled program, but I hope that you'll text two of your girls right now to share this episode, and that then y'all will read Sisterhood Heels together I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing what kinds of conversations it sparks, and I hope you enjoy it. Until next time, take good care of yourself.