Michelle Cassandra Johnson has over 20 years of experience leading dismantling-racism work and working with clients as a licensed clinical social worker and has a deep understanding of how trauma impacts the mind, body, spirit, and heart. She has a bachelors of arts degree from the College of William and Mary and a masters degree in social work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She published Skill in Action- Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017 and Finding Refuge- Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief in 2021. Her upcoming book, We Heal Together- Rituals and Practices for Building Community and Connection, will be published in April 2023.
“A Space for Us is a helpful introduction for bodies of culture seeking to facilitate affinity spaces for other bodies of culture in an inclusive, emergent, and trauma-informed way. Johnson provides tools, strategies, and practices for fostering the communal healing spaces that in turn ignite community action and liberation.” —Resmaa Menakem, best-selling author of My Grandmother’s Hands and Monsters in Love “BIPOC affinity groups are powerful medicine, and facilitating them calls for skill, discernment, and heart. I am grateful for this compassionate, nuanced examination of how BIPOC affinity groups can blossom as breathe-easy spaces of healing and power. Michelle Johnson generously shares a wealth of practices, stories, reflections, and questions that will shine light for both new and seasoned facilitators.” —Victoria Santos, director, Center for Healing and Liberation “What an incredible body of work for Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color to center healing and restoration. Important. Vital. Right on time. A Space for Us is a beacon of light and love for those most directly affected by systemic racism who seek a way and place to heal, recover, and thrive. Read this book with your whole heart if you are ready for real, true liberation.” —Justin Michael Williams, author of Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide for the Rest of Us “Michelle Johnson has created a wonderful offering in the form of this book, providing extremely necessary guidance for BIPOC folx on how to facilitate and navigate caucus spaces—for us and by us—with the spirit of loving-awareness and fierce, authentic compassion at its heart. A must-read for BIPOC facilitators and practitioners dedicated to furthering this type of healing work for the benefit of all sentient beings.” —Dr. Sará Yafah King, CEO and founder of MindHeart Consulting