Resmaa Menakem is a writer, therapist, coach, racial trauma specialist, and paradigm-shifter based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute and is a licensed therapist and social worker (MSW, LICSW, SEP).
Menakem’s community therapy has taken him to Afghanistan, where he fulfilled two contracts as a community care counselor, helping soldiers work through in real-time the trauma of violent conflict; he is a certified Military Family Life Consultant. He has also served as director of counseling services for the Tubman Family Alliance; as the behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; as a domestic violence counselor for the Wilder Foundation; as a divorce and family mediator; and as a social worker for Minneapolis Public Schools. Menakem is a senior fellow at The Meadows Behavioral Healthcare.
At the heart of his work as a healer of racial injustice and a champion of democracy is this key intervention: that racism lives in the body and must be healed there, through practices that settle reaction and prepare the body for discernment, resistance, and the creation of a culture of “whiteness without supremacy.”
Menakem is prolific in multiple media — books, podcasts, albums, workshops, talks — and regularly appears in outlets that are professionally specific (like Psychology Today) and outlets that are mainstream (like Oprah). Thus, his work, though challenging, is accessible, speaks to a wide audience, and reflects his commitment to embodied transformation.
As the world reckons with near global racism, polarization, and war, Menakem is the challenging yet compassionate coach the times call for.
Read and Listen for:
- Insight about trauma and the body
- Fresh takes on the bodily manifestations of racism (“white-body supremacy”)
- Practical, embodied guidance for healing white-body supremacy (in all bodies)
- Wisdom for navigating threats to democracy
- Lots and lots of healing practices, from elementary to advanced
