CBE 365: Dr. Radisha Brown’s inspiring journey, impactful healing for women
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — WJBF’s Black Excellence 365 celebrates inspiring black individuals and organizations in the CSRA all year round. This month, we honor Dr. Radisha Brown with the Mary L. Jones Black Affirmation Award for her impactful support, guidance, and women’s empowerment in navigating relationship challenges.
Licensed therapist and relationship coach, Dr. Radisha Brown’s journey started in Charleston, South Carolina, as a foster kid facing adversities that could have defined her. Instead, she found the courage to break free. “One of my last set of foster parents encouraged me to go to college,” she recalls. “My first response was kids like me don’t go to college. Poor black kids from South Carolina don’t go to college.”
Brown received a full scholarship for undergrad, later earning master’s and doctorate degrees.
She has worked in several fields, including corporate America and a surprising stint at a prison. “It taught me how to work with different treatment plans and different diagnoses and also understanding the effects of trauma long term and how people arrived to their destination and what happened along the way,” she shares.
Dr. Radisha’s journey through divorce in the face of emotional abuse illuminates the challenges of leaving a long-term relationship. “One night I was on the couch eating fried chicken again. Cause I like that fried chicken, you know, the 80 pounds came for a reason, right? I believe in my prayer, I was like, God, I can’t live this life as it is anymore. I need to do something different,” she added. “And I believe he responded by saying, Girl, Get Off the Couch.”
The revelation led to the book, “Girl Get Off the Couch,” turning Dr. Radisha’s healing journey into a powerful tool for women. “Healing happens in the community as well as by ourselves. And it took me about a year before I found the courage to say, okay, I’m gonna move forward with publishing and sharing my story with the world.”
She coaches thousands, including a woman stuck in a more than 20-year emotionally abusive relationship, illustrating how societal expectations made change difficult. “It took almost a year before she found the courage to make some different choices. And I think it’s just a sentiment of all of us feeling like we have to follow the protocol or the script that other people give us,” she recalls.
The book has become a movement, with a social media platform, live events, coaching, and creating a community to help others break free from shame. “Because shame keeps us stuck in our lives. And so to help other women understand that, you know, we’re all in this together,” Dr. Radisha adds.
She emphasizes the importance of healing yourself first and embracing uncomfortable moments. “It doesn’t look pretty, it doesn’t look all put together like I, you know, try to get you for you today. It’s ugly tears. It is heartbreak, it’s breaking some things. But that’s what true healing is, is getting to the core of the hurt and, and acknowledging it,” she shares.
Because of her resilience and determination to overcome challenges and inspire others to start their healing journeys, she’s honored with this month’s Black Affirmation Award.
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