Radical Healership:
How to build a values-driven healing practice in a profit-driven world
“If you’re looking for an anti-oppressive, anti-capitalist, spiritually led book to help you start or build your healing arts practice, start right here.”
—JENNIFER PATTERSON, author of The Power of Breathwork
“Finally, a deeply thoughtful book that addresses the complex ethical, political, and spiritual dimensions of building a sustainable practice amidst late-stage capitalism and dire environmental reckoning.”
—PHILLIPPE CITRINE, MFT, Generative Somatics Coach, founder of the Peacock Course private practice training for trans, queer, and social justice healers
Written for healing practitioners of all modalities, Radical Healership is an anti-capitalist guide for building a sustainable and values-driven healing practice. Therapist Laura Mae Northrup navigates the complexities of being a healer today—and shows how you can stay true to your calling in a world built from systems that were designed to extract, oppress, and exploit.
Addressing fundamental tensions that arise for practicing healers working in a late-stage capitalist culture, Northrup shares how to:
• Maintain your ethical framework even while prioritizing financial stability
• Market and brand your practice authentically, without resorting to fear-based tactics
• Recognize the unconscious biases and unexamined motivations you unintentionally bring to work
• Honor your limits within a culture that valorizes overwork and perpetuates burnout
• Prioritize your emotional needs and spiritual goals—and honor their place in your healing practice
Structured in accessible, to-the-point chapters with practical writing and reflection prompts, Northrup offers an authentic, spiritually grounded approach to healership, going much deeper than the promise of a million-dollar practice or a minimum-effort game plan.
Written for healers of all modalities—including radical therapists, functional practitioners, breathworkers, bodyworkers, and healers who have been sidelined, underfunded, underresearched, or delegitimized within a Western capitalist framework—this book offers a nuanced, political, and social-justice informed guide to building the practice you want—and thriving as the healer you were born to be.