Sample
  • What It Takes to Heal

  • How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World
  • By: Prentis Hemphill
  • Narrated by: Prentis Hemphill
  • Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (79 ratings)

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What It Takes to Heal

By: Prentis Hemphill
Narrated by: Prentis Hemphill
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Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From one of the most prominent voices in the trauma conversation comes a groundbreaking new way to heal on a personal and a collective level.

“I love this book.”—Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score

“In a time when so many of us are being trained in cynicism, this book stands in necessary defiance.”—Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies and This Here Flesh

As we emerge from the past few years of collective upheaval, are we ready to face the complexities of our time with joy, authenticity, and connection? Now more than ever, we must learn to heal ourselves, connect with one another, and embody our values. In this revolutionary book, Prentis Hemphill shows us how.

What It Takes to Heal asserts that the principles of embodiment—the recognition of our body’s sensations and habits, and the beliefs that inform them—are critical to lasting healing and change. Hemphill, an expert embodiment practitioner, therapist, and activist who has partnered with Brené Brown, Tarana Burke, and Esther Perel, among others, shows us that we don't have to carry our emotional burdens alone. Hemphill demonstrates a future in which healing is done in community, weaving together stories from their own experience as a trauma survivor with clinical accounts and lessons learned from their time as a social movement architect. They ask, “What would it do to movements, to our society and culture, to have the principles of healing at the very center? And what does it do to have healing at the center of every structure and everything we create?”

In this life-affirming framework for the way forward, Hemphill shows us how to heal our bodies, minds, and souls—to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to break down the doors of disconnection and take the necessary risks to reshape our world toward justice.

©2024 Prentis Hemphill (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“In the tradition of James Baldwin, Hemphill invites us in close and personal to experience life, pain, beauty, injustice, and healing. I’ll read this again and again.”—Staci K. Haines, author of The Politics of Trauma

“This book reckons with our major issues—trauma, race, social upheaval—and opens us up to the possibility that everything actually could be different. And it does so one gorgeous sentence after the next.”—Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother’s Hands

“This book will be both the ‘aha’ moment and the balm for so many people who are saddled with vacant platitudes that don’t give them a way forward. It is what we need in this moment and will be foundational for generations to come.”—Tarana Burke, author of Unbound

What listeners say about What It Takes to Heal

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Grateful and right on time

Thank you Prentis for sharing these thoughts, experiences, and courage. I feel gathered and held by what you have given us at this time when these conditions call for it most.

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A clear roadmap to liberation and healing!

One of the best books I have read this year! Very raw and informative look at how complex and simple healing is.

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So Real

A pragmatic love story to what we all can do/need to do to keep moving forward with love. It feels like a too long dinner conversation where the plates got cold, and the 2nd or 3rd bottle of wine is being poured as we all listen. Where the friend who went out for a smoke came back asking “What did I miss?”

Highly recommend the listen.

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Stellar book to listen and learn from!

This is a wonderful book and with linger stories and lessons that are nourishing to the soul! My spirit was fed by so much of the practical tips for healing. I loved it! Prentiss Hemphill is an excellent story teller and her insights are beautiful pathways toward love and healing. Listening to this book makes reading it even more powerful! So grateful for this timely offering!

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the honesty and are transformational

thank you Prentis, I am a better person for listening. the only thing left to do is to get about my best most loving healed and healing life.

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Brilliant and well articulated! Right for our times!

I love the organization of this book. It began in the right place and ended on the perfect note.

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A stunningly brilliant work

Thank you, thank you for writing the book I’ve always wanted to write. Thank you for sharing these pierces of your heart and soul with us.

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Heart in book form

Love this. This book felt like medicine. Every sentence was perfectly executed. I felt this text in my bones, heart, and soul.

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A balm for the soul

I appreciate Prentis Hemphill’s voice. I liked their way of introducing ideas that I wish to incorporate into my practice. By that I suppose I mean that I want to be changed and already feel changed. My heart is softened. My ability to assess and accept myself strengthened in courage, affirmation and compassion. I loved their use of their life and their readings of literature by leaders to create light and understanding in the darkest of times. Thank you, for this balm, Prentis Hemphill!

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A book I’ll listen to many times

If I had this book in hand, it would be heavily highlighted and dogeared. The kind of “self-development” book we need. One that’s actually focused on the whole. Beautiful insights and somatic practices. Big yes. Thank you, Prentis.

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