Surviving, Healing and Evolving: Essays of Love, Healing, Compassion, and Affirmation for Black People

For Immediate Release  (Chicago, Illinois, January 15, 2022)  With her first book, Dr. Rhonda Sherrod delivers a stunning collection of essays addressing some of the trauma affecting Black communities. From sexual trauma experienced by bewildered Black girls—and the potential lifelong after effects, including low self-esteem, damaged confidence, and perfectionism—to colorism, vicious stereotypes, gun violence in the community, and the collective grief felt after the loss of great figures like Fred Hampton and Harold Washington, Dr. Sherrod tackles topics rarely discussed.  Dr. Sherrod also tackles the taboo topic of therapy and why it can be crucial to wellness. With the understanding that good health is more than the absence of illness, and with a desire to promote overall wellness—heart, mind, body, and soul, Dr. Sherrod, a psychologist and lawyer, writes with arresting honesty about her own struggles after surviving childhood sexual abuse.

     A powerful and eclectic collection of essays, this book is about Black women and healing. It covers the harm sustained as a result of various forms of physical and psychological violence, as well as the multiplicity of ways survivors then go on to commit acts of self-sabotage, which is often undergirded by a form of perfectionism that develops to compensate for the manner in which they feel damaged.  Exploring many themes, including trauma, anxiety, depression, food as comfort, parenting, and avoidance behaviors, Dr. Sherrod invites the wounded reader to finally begin the healing journey towards freedom and joy.  

Note:  You can access a press kit and more information, including excerpts from the book, on the book website located at:  www.survivinghealingandevolving.com.