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A Black female therapist has gone viral after criticizing Black men for not going to therapy.
Shabree Rawls, who works at Grow Well Cleveland, sparked a debate among Black America on Saturday, Aug. 13, when she posted a TikTok video to her more than 148,000 followers. In the video, Rawls tells Black men to “expand your emotional vocabulary” and go to therapy.
Y’all think b**ches just be talking in ya’ll ear just to be f***ing talking; we don’t. Y’all think b**ches just wanna argue with y’all because y’all refuse to expand your emotional vocabulary; we don’t,” Bre said. “It’s to provide clarity for both us and y’all dusty b**ches.”
“This sh*t really and truly irks me because when I say you need to expand your emotional vocabulary, it’s so your life can be easier. Don’t you want to be able to communicate with your b**ch. I think yes, right,” she continued.
After noting that 90 percent of her clientele were Black men, Bre said women no longer tolerate men being emotionally unavailable in exchange for financial and physical provision because they can now provide for themselves.
“Y’all are human beings who experience feelings and emotions and don’t have to choke that sh*t down no more,” Bre added. “If y’all not in therapy expanding your emotional vocabulary, your life, just off top, is going to be more difficult.”
“This f***ing weird a** world that is so hard on y’all, like let’s acknowledge that the world is very difficult for y’all, but y’all are not making it any easier bruh, bruh,” she said. “You’re not. When b**ches are telling y’all to go to therapy, it’s not for us, it’s for y’all sad mother***as. Go to therapy. Talk about that sh*t that’s on your chest … y’all are doing a disservice to y’all self.”
Her company bio says Rawls “strives to help each client understand themselves in a comforting, safe, and non-judgmental environment.”
That’s not how many Black men felt after watching her video.
“This is such a dangerous pop culture articulation of Black male mental health issues,” Dr. Tommy Curry, the chair of Temple university’s Black Male Studies program, wrote. “Pathologizing & speaking down to patients struggling to find words for trauma is not best practice in any literature I have read. This shaming tactic is why many BM don’t pursue therapy.”
“1) Says men don’t go to therapy but then says 90%of her clients are Black men. 2) Acknowledges the world is hard on BM, but signifies no compassion,” Twitter user @RenyTure wrote in response to the video. “Imagine BM going to therapy and the therapist is a carbon copy of the person who traumatized them as a child in the first place.”
Twitter user @thotscholar wrote, “this is the 2nd or 3rd video I’ve seen with a black female therapist implicitly denigrating black men. i can see why they don’t go to y’all tbqh. i don’t go either, because of the racial-sexual chauvinism and the western individualism that pervades these spaces.
Another user, @AWindwardMaroon, tweeted, “This person is a therapist. That treats people.”
“Another ‘therapist’ talking down on their black male clientele for social media clout. An easy way to lose your license and I hope it happens quickly,” @tillwefree wrote.
“Black men, please find a black male therapist. This sh*t right here ain’t worth spending all that money on,” @Nerdtron1008 wrote. “And before anyone says anything, reverse the genders. If a black male therapist said this about black women you would have him fired within the hour. Argue with your Mom.”
“This is ratchet gibberish, and I fear for any man or woman who takes advice from this clown,” Torraine Walker replied.
“She just in general enjoys cussing black men. Yeah… definitely seems like the kind of person black men should take advice from,” @CrinkleSpeaks chimed in.
“As a Black man in therapy I would REALLY appreciate it if therapists stopped making content about how much they hate dealing with Black male clients,” @JustChillBruh wrote.
While Bre’s comments didn’t go over well with many Black men, many Black women said they understood exactly what she meant.
“Ya’ll are being unnecessarily dramatic.2 things can be true,she can still be an effective therapist & call out when BM aren’t doing the work,” @gorgiss1 wrote. “I’m sure she’s compassionate during her sessions,she is venting right now. I’m sure she isn’t a misandrist,she clearly wants BM to do better.”
Twitter user @jaiisynn said, “the replies in this is very pathetic. Some of the men basically said “I don’t feel like being a better me so no.”
“Not the men in the comments screaming good message but bad delivery,” @crnicolef08 wrote. “Ain’t that what yall tried to tell us about Kevin Samuels? Let’s just call a spade a spade baby. Whether you like the way it’s packaged, the message is still very real. Don’t do it for us, do it for yourself.”
“Why shut down emotionally at all though, instead of expressing your emotions to your partner so that your partner isn’t going through mental exhaustion trying to figure out what’s wrong and how to make the shit better? Communication isn’t a female trait,” @marley2shaur responded to a Black male Twitter user telling Black women to let them be.
“Kinda like Kevin Samuels but ppl were saying black women just didn’t want to hear the truth or take accountability?” @elektrikhippie commented. “That the message was more important than the way he delivered it & he was just trying to make black men & women come together?”
However, one female Twitter user agreed with many of the men.
User @synchronautiq tweeted, “imagine getting online and seeing your healthcare provider and denigrating your for needing their services.”
Rawls was unbothered by the criticism and doubled down on her comments in a follow-up TikTok video Tuesday, Aug. 16.
“So many men are very upset, which is good because anger initiates change. If you’re uncomfortable by the sh*t I’m saying, that means you need to go talk about it,” Rawls said. “I’m not sorry that I called y’all dusty b**ches because y’all are perpetuating dusty behavior.”
PHOTO: Therapist Shabree Rawls went viral after scolding Black men for not going to therapy in a TikTok video. (Photo: TikTok / @unusuallybree)
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