"On Race, Art and Everything in Between" Episode 3 - SASHA Center Spotlight and Artist Interview with Founder Kalimah Johnson, LMSW

Our Beauty for Freedom, Breaking Distance Podcast Team sat down with SASHA Center Founder and CEO, Kalimah Johnson, LMSW to discuss trauma-informed care for African-American survivors of sexual violence and domestic violence. Kalimah has transformed what trauma-informed care for African-American survivors of sexual violence looks like and has been a trailblazer in her field creating the The Sasha Center Model:Black Women's Triangulation of Rape, a paper outlining the need for Culturally Specific Services for African-American Self-Identified Sexual Assault Survivors and the needs organizations like SASHA have around Policies and Funding.

About Founder Kalimah Johnson, LMSW

Kalimah Johnson, LMSW is the Executive Director and Founder of the SASHA Center (Sexual Assault Services for Holistic Healing and Awareness), and is a consultant to the Women of Color Network’s-ABC Consortium. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Marygrove College in Detroit, MI. Recently, she completed a Certification in Professional Athlete Development from the Wharton School of Executive Education-University of Pennsylvania.  She is also the Lead Consultant on Relationship Management and Safety with an emphasis on Domestic and Sexual Violence with the NBA. She has also created programming, workshops and trainings for the NFL, NHL, NCAA, E-Sports and for colleges and universities across the country on sexual assault.  She is also in the newly released HBO Film Documentary “I Am Evidence” produced by Mariska Hargitay about the rape kit crisis in the United States.   

"Our job here is to take the shame and the guilt away," she says.

Johnson-an adjunct professor at Marygrove College and sexual assault awareness consultant to the National Basketball Association-opened the SASHA Center in 2010 after working 15 years in the Detroit Police Department's victim assistance program.

SASHA Center Social Media:

INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/sashacenter/?hl=en

TWITTER

https://twitter.com/sashacenter1?lang=en

DONATE TO SASHA Center TODAY!

http://sashacenter.org/

SUPPORT THE GOFUNDME PAGE:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/sashacenter

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ANTI-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM AT:

https://beautyforfreedom.org/

BEAUTY FOR FREEDOM MISSION STATEMENT

Art Therapy. Education. Empowerment. This is how we help survivors of human trafficking. We support recovery through creativity and skills training. We nurture our youth by removing potential stigmas surrounding self-expression, legitimizing their ideas, hopes, and dreams. In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we realize it’s our time to step up. Using the platform we’ve built to usher in change in the lives of people across the globe, we hope to help the world heal in this time of crisis. Here’s to paying it forward.