Have you ever wondered why you sometimes feel so isolated and alone, even among friends and family? Why are we troubled by a seeming paradox—longing for human connection yet riddled with feelings of loneliness? And is there any way to truly remedy our epidemic of isolation?
Today we’re exploring the transformative power of healing in community with renowned therapist, author and speaker Dr. Joy Harden Bradford. In her new book Sisterhood Heals: The Transformative Power of Healing in Community, Dr. Joy reveals how sisterhoods and healing circles can fill the void of loneliness and create a space for growth.
Joy has spent decades helping clients transform pain into liberation through group therapy, empowering black girls through Therapy for Black Girls, an organization focused on improving mental health outcomes for Black girls and women, and gathering online communities through her popular Three for Thursdays sessions. Her insightful perspective draws from both clinical experience treating clients in therapy groups as well as her personal experience of sisterhood nourished on her grandparents’ porch.
But she points out that many of the dynamics she sees in her group sessions actually apply to our everyday circles of friends, family and colleagues. With simple awareness and openness, she says, we can transform how we connect and experience a profound sense of belonging.
In our conversation, Dr. Joy shares lessons from therapy groups on how to build safe psychological containers that unleash the power of vulnerability. She identifies factors critical for healthy sisterhoods from holding space to managing conflicts. Dr. Joy issues an important invitation to center platonic relationships in our lives and create communities where we can support, know and be known by each other.
Many of us hunger for real connection beyond the surface levels of modern life. So join us as we talk about loneliness and sisterhood, overcoming barriers within groups, navigating conflict, and the surprising places meaningful connection can emerge.
You can find Joy at: Website | Instagram | Therapy for Black Girls podcast
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