Resmaa
Menakem

Pioneer in “somatic abolitionism”: healing the wounds of racial trauma.

Embodied provocateur, multiple-levels thinker, and structural paradigm-shifter Resmaa Menakem (MSW, LICSW, SEP), is an author, agent of change, therapist, and licensed clinical worker specializing in racialized trauma, communal healing, and cultural first aid based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the originator and leading proponent of Somatic Abolitionism, an embodied antiracist practice for living and culture building, Resmaa is the founder of Justice Leadership Solutions and the Cultural Somatics Institute, and is an educator and coach. Working at the intersections of anti-racism, communal healing, and embodied purpose, Resmaa Menakem is the challenging yet compassionate coach we all need in this time of racial reckoning and near-global dysregulation. 

Resmaa is known as the author of the New York Times bestseller My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning, Monsters in Love: Why Your Partner Sometimes Drives You Crazy—And What You Can Do About It, and The Stories from My Grandmother’s Hands, a children’s picture book with actor T. Mychael Rambo and illustrator Leroy Campbell. 

Resmaa has worked as a community care counselor for civilian contractors in Afghanistan as well as a certified Military Family Life Consultant, the director director of counseling services for Tubman Family Alliance; the behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; a domestic violence counselor for Wilder Foundation; a divorce and family mediator; a social worker for Minneapolis Public Schools; a youth counselor; a community organizer; and a marketing strategist. Resmaa is a senior fellow at The Meadows Behavioral Healthcare. In 2022 he established The Addieun Foundation in Minneapolis. He is a key collaborator and facilitator for Education for Racial Equality, and a sought-after public speaker and panelist. In 2023, Resmaa released an on-demand self-paced course in collaboration with Sounds True, titled Healing Racialized Trauma: Somatic Abolitionism for Every Body. 

Resmaa has been a guest on Charlamagne Tha God’s Comedy Central TV program, Tha God’s Honest Truth and radio show, The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy, Oprah, Sundays with Vernā, Krista Tippett’s On Being, Dan Harris’s 10% Happier, Eric Zimmer’s The One You Feed, and many other major shows, podcasts, and media. You can learn more about Resmaa and his work at his website, www.resmaa.com.