Black Therapist Shabree Rawls Addresses Backlash From Social Media After Being Fired From Her Job

For this Black therapist, her opinion on social media led viewers all the way to her place of employment.

Therapist Shabree Rawls has been terminated from her job after posting a video to TikTok advising that Black men need to pursue therapy and expand their “emotional vocabulary.” After sharing her thoughts that were in agreement with an article published by Psychology Today titled “The Rise of Lonely, Single Men,” Rawls received a heavy amount of hateful backlash. 

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She is now addressing the backlash from the public following the intense social media debate that stirred up over the video last month. 

In a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the 28-year-old explained “My life’s work is to serve the Black community. I want to uplift them and am tired of Black mediocrity.” 

In the conversation, she clarified that Black men were never mentioned in her response to the article, and that she was referring to men in general. She shared her disappointment in the amount of backlash that was from Black men because they were the bulk of her clientele.

“For my first love, which is the Black man, to attack me…it just felt like I experienced whiplash from both sides. As a Black woman I hold them close to my heart. It’s who we are,” she said. “To be attacked by Black men hurt even worse. I’ve dedicated my life to healing our community, but at the same time I’m being attacked by the same faces,” she continued.

According to MadameNoire, an article revealing her full name and place of employment allowed access to a flood of incoming angry messages and calls to complain about the young therapist. Prior, Rawls’ supervisor informed her via email about a personal message he received from someone in the U.K. about the video. Although her employer was privy to the content that Rawls posts on her social media, she was fired. 

AJC reports that Rawls’ fan base has tripled since the backlash to the controversy transpired, revealing that the therapist will be releasing a podcast to continue helping people heal. 

“A podcast is coming. I realize that maybe I’m not supposed to heal just one-on-one, I’m supposed to heal to a bigger crowd.” Rawls told the newspaper. 

“My content is not easy and palatable because healing is not easy and palatable—it’s difficult,” Rawls added. “All of my content is surrounded around self-love and recovery from abuse—specifically narcissistic abuse.”