What It Takes to Heal by Prentis Hemphill Summary

What It Takes to Heal by Prentis Hemphill explores how embodiment practices—awareness of bodily sensations and belief patterns—enable lasting personal and collective healing. It merges trauma recovery insights with social justice, arguing that community-centered healing can transform societal structures. Hemphill combines personal narratives, clinical examples, and activist experiences to advocate for courage, love, and systemic change.

This book is ideal for trauma survivors, therapists, social justice advocates, and anyone seeking tools to integrate personal growth with societal transformation. It resonates with readers interested in embodiment practices, collective care, and reimagining systems through a healing-centered lens.

Yes. Endorsed by thought leaders like Bessel van der Kolk, the book offers a timely framework for addressing modern crises through relational healing and systemic reimagining. Its blend of practical guidance and visionary ideas makes it valuable for both personal and professional growth.

Key concepts include:

• Embodiment as a foundation for healing trauma.
• Collective healing as essential to dismantling oppressive systems.
• Courage and love as actionable practices for fostering equity.

Hemphill emphasizes that individual and societal transformation are interdependent.

Notable quotes include:

• “Healing is not an individual project, but a relational one”
• “Love compels us to stand by ourselves and others, embracing vulnerability”

These lines underscore the book’s focus on connection and active compassion as catalysts for change.

While both address trauma, Hemphill’s work focuses more on community-based healing and systemic justice, whereas van der Kolk emphasizes neurobiological impacts. The books complement each other, offering individual and collective perspectives on recovery.

Some readers may find its systemic solutions challenging to implement without institutional support. However, Hemphill addresses this by providing practical steps for building healing-centered communities, even in oppressive structures.

Amid ongoing global crises, the book’s emphasis on resilience through connection aligns with 2025’s focus on mental health equity and social reform. Its ideas are particularly applicable to activists and organizations prioritizing intersectional healing.

Hemphill is a therapist, embodiment practitioner, and activist who co-founded the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles chapter. Their work bridges trauma therapy and social movements, collaborating with leaders like Tarana Burke and Brené Brown.

Healing justice, per Hemphill, is a framework that centers care and transformation in activism and institutions. It challenges systemic harm by prioritizing emotional, physical, and communal well-being alongside political change.

Courage involves confronting fear to pursue aligned action, while love is a transformative practice that affirms humanity. Together, they dismantle barriers to connection and fuel both personal and societal growth.

The book advises:

• Practicing body awareness to process trauma.
• Building networks of mutual care and accountability.
• Engaging in “visioning” to imagine equitable futures.

Hemphill also provides a free toolkit for deeper exploration.