Healing Hues
How Therapy Can Help Black Women Living with Chronic Pain
Integrating ACEs, Psychosomatic Healing & Body-Based Wisdom
Chronic pain is a silent weight that many Black women carry — fibromyalgia, migraines, pelvic tension, back pain. Too often, it’s misunderstood or dismissed.
But pain doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It often reflects unprocessed trauma, chronic stress, and the historical burdens that settle in the body. At Color Wheel Therapy, we offer a space where these layers are honored through an integrative, body-centered approach.
The Connection Between Trauma & the Body
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study shows how early trauma — including abuse, neglect, or exposure to violence — directly affects long-term health, including chronic pain.
Black women often carry high ACE scores, compounded by systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, and cultural pressure to be “strong.” Traditional systems overlook this, treating pain as a symptom to suppress rather than a story to listen to.
Therapy as a Healing Space
At Color Wheel Therapy, we explore the mind-body connection with compassion. Your pain is real — and it’s also a language. Chronic pain can be your nervous system’s way of saying:
“I’ve held too much for too long.”
Somatic Wisdom in Virtual Therapy
As a therapist and former massage therapist, I bring body awareness into telehealth sessions through:
Body scanning
Self-massage guidance
Grounding breathwork
Gentle movement practices
Even from a distance, we can explore where stress lives in your body — and how to help it release.
Healing Isn’t Always About Fixing
Sometimes, healing is simply giving yourself space to be witnessed, to soften, and to rest.
You deserve therapy that understands your lived experience, your culture, and your body’s wisdom.
You Are Not Alone
You are not too much.
You are not imagining it.
You don’t have to carry this alone.
Let’s Begin — Together
If you’re ready to take the next step, I invite you to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.
Let’s explore what healing could look like — in your body, on your terms.
5 Gentle Practices to Support Your Body Today
1. Hand-over-Heart Grounding
Slow breaths. Say: “I am safe. I am here. My body can rest.”
2. Epsom Salt Soak
A warm bath or foot soak with calming oils like lavender or chamomile.
3. Self-Massage
Gently massage your hands or neck. Speak kindly to yourself as you do.
4. 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding
Name:
5 things you see
4 things you touch
3 you hear
2 you smell
1 you taste
5. Journal Prompt
Ask: Where am I holding tension? What might that part of me need?
You don’t have to be “ready” — just willing. I’ll meet you there.
With care,
Syrita Braswell-O’Neal, LPC-Associate
Color Wheel Therapy
Supervised by Liz Ranson, LPC – TX
Healing Religious Trauma in Black Communities: How Therapy Can Help
For generations, faith and church have been at the center of Black life — spaces of resilience, resistance, and community. But for many Black women and men, these same places have also caused deep wounding.
Experiences of religious shame, spiritual control, identity suppression, or fear-based teachings often go unspoken — and unhealed. The result? Anxiety, depression, chronic guilt, and a sense of never being “enough.”
This is religious trauma — and yes, therapy can help.
What Religious Trauma Can Look Like
Religious trauma doesn’t always show up loudly. It often sounds like:
Fear of punishment or “missing the mark”
Shame about your body, identity, or needs
Suppressed anger, grief, or curiosity
Deep fear of questioning or leaving
Feeling like love was always conditional
For many of our clients, religious trauma stems from:
Fear-based teachings about sin, hell, or “backsliding”
Gender roles and purity culture that silence authenticity
Homophobia or transphobia in church settings
Manipulation or control masked as “spiritual authority”
Abuse justified as “discipline” or “God’s will”
And too often, responses like “pray it away” or “don’t question God” only deepen the pain.
Therapy as a Space to Reclaim Your Voice
As a former minister, I know how complicated — and sacred — faith can be. I’ve lived both its beauty and its harm. And I know what it feels like to grieve a version of God, question everything, or outgrow the religion you were raised in.
Therapy can help you:
Understand how religious trauma impacted your mental health
Separate your self-worth from spiritual performance
Heal shame, grief, fear, and identity suppression
Rebuild or redefine your spiritual life — on your terms
Learn to trust your voice again
Whether you’re deconstructing, redefining, or rediscovering, we hold space for it all.
Try This: A Gentle Self-Reflection Practice
Take a quiet moment for yourself — maybe light a candle or wrap up in something soft — and reflect on these questions:
• What parts of my faith journey were rooted in fear?
• What did I have to silence to belong?
• What do I believe about myself now — and does that belief feel kind?
Write freely. Let your journal or notes hold what you’ve been carrying.
You Are Not Alone
You can question — and still be spiritual.
You can walk away — and still be whole.
You can reclaim your voice — and not do it alone.
Religious trauma doesn’t make you faithless or broken. It means you’re human. And you’re ready to heal with honesty, care, and compassion.
Resources for Black Nonbelievers, Deconstructors & Spiritual Seekers
Wherever you are on your journey — questioning, reclaiming, or releasing — these voices may support you:
Unfit Christian – D. Danyelle Thomas’ platform centering Black healing, sexuality, and sacred truth-telling.
Black Nonbelievers, Inc. – A supportive space for atheist, agnostic, and humanist Black folks.
Evangelical & Holy Heretics Podcasts – Language, stories, and comfort for those leaving or reimagining Christian spaces.
Books:
“Shameless” by Nadia Bolz-Weber
“God Is a Black Woman” by Christena Cleveland
“Leaving the Fold” by Marlene Winell
You are sacred. You are not a mistake.
And your healing doesn’t need permission.
Let’s walk this journey — together.
With care,
Syrita Braswell-O’Neal, LPC-Associate
Color Wheel Therapy
Supervised by Liz Ranson, LPC – Texas