School for Liberation-Focused Healing
Holistic education to navigate an oppressive mental health care system and co-create a therapy that liberates.
You have the theory. The School is where you put it to work: in real cases, inside real systems, in service of the people. Grounded in the Liberation-Focused Healing Framework (LFH), it is for practitioners who work with and for those of us most marginalized, who are clear about anticolonial and decolonial work, and who center Black people in our politic.
Current and upcoming offerings
TTL Consultation Group
A monthly working group applying liberatory frameworks in clinical practice, supervision, and organizational leadership. It attends to the whole practitioner.
Build or deepen your foundation
Courses in ethics, anti-oppression, decolonial practice, and serving Black folk, taught by Dr. Shawna and guest instructors. Beginning with in-depth classes that build on DTBF (the original Decolonizing Therapy for Black Folk training by Kindred Wellness).
The course list will be updated as new classes are announced.
Learn what it means to be a comrade
The TTL Network: political education for practitioners across the country, building shared analysis and strategy together.
Inside the School
Live classes, each standing on its own, with self-paced options to follow. Take one class, or complete the series for a certificate. CE credit is offered in partnership with The Heart Nest Wellness Center (Maryland BSWE).
Practitioners establishing or deepening their understanding of liberatory and decolonial practice. Grounded in the Black Radical Tradition.
Six 2-hour sessions on Zoom. Each opens with a short teaching, then moves into case work using LFH and the What Now? Map. Includes a private group space between sessions and TTL Network access.
See the full detailsFully licensed practitioners with prior training in a liberatory framework, with Dr. Shawna or another educator. By application.
Monthly political education with Dr. Shawna and guest speakers, skill sharing from practice, events, shared resources, and ways to be in right relationship with local grassroots movements.
Anyone who has trained with Dr. Shawna. Centering Black and Brown practitioners.
Liberation-focused practice for your whole organization
Hands-on guidance for applying liberation-focused theory across your organization, in clinical care and in leadership. Grounded in the original Decolonizing Therapy for Black Folk intensive, for clinical teams of at least 10, with ongoing clinical consultation for the team and its leaders. More than 750 practitioners have completed DTBF.
For details, contact admin@shawnamurraybrowne.com
Shawna Murray-Browne, PhD, LCSW-C
Dr. Shawna Murray-Browne (she/her/hers) is a liberatory strategist, community scholar, spiritualist, mind-body healer, and professional speaker. She is the Principal Consultant at Kindred Wellness LLC and trained as an integrative psychotherapist. Shawna is curious about what happens when we question colonial thinking and make space for the ways of knowing held by folk of African descent in every aspect of life.
In her hometown of Baltimore City, Shawna is known for holding grassroots healing circles to equip Black families and change-makers with the tools to heal themselves. Over more than 13 years, she has worked in residential treatment, grassroots community organizing, child welfare policy, research, community school settings, and juvenile detention centers, and first opened Kindred Wellness LLC as a liberation-focused healing private practice. She pulls from her lived experiences of navigating carceral, oppressive institutions and co-creating free, radical healing space for Black folk young and wise.
Shawna is supported by her own council of elders, who offer guidance and have been committed to the fortification of her life's path for over 23 years. She identifies as a Womanist and is informed by African-Centered and Black Radical teachings.
She completed her doctorate at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work, where she also earned her Master of Social Work. Her dissertation explored oral histories as a decolonial site of inquiry around the healing ways of Black women advocates during the civil rights movement. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminology and Family Science from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dedicated to continued growth, she maintains her practice in QiGong and Black spiritual traditions, and continues sitting at the feet of elders. She lives in Baltimore with her lively 9-year-old and her husband, "B."
Read what they say about training with Dr. Shawna.
Frequently asked
Is the School only for practitioners of color, or only for social workers?
No. The School is open to mental health and healing practitioners of all backgrounds and disciplines, including counselors, therapists, psychologists, and social workers. It centers Black people in its politic and practice, and asks everyone who joins to work with and for those of us most marginalized.
Will the courses offer CE credit?
Yes. CE credit is offered in partnership with Dr. Sabrina N'Diaye of The Heart Nest Wellness Center, approved by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners (BSWE). Practitioners in other disciplines should check whether their licensing board accepts these credits.
Can I still take the original DTBF intensive?
The original DTBF intensive is available to organizations training clinical teams of at least 10, with a commitment to clinical consultation for the team and its leadership. Contact admin@shawnamurraybrowne.com for details. For individual practitioners, DTBF returns in February 2027 in a new, more accessible format.
What's the difference between the Consultation Group and the Network?
The Consultation Group is clinical: applying a liberatory framework to your work over six months. The Network is political education and community with practitioners across the country. Consultation Group members receive Network access.
Stay in the loop
To hear first when new courses and offerings open, sign up using the box at the very bottom of the Kindred Wellness home page.
