Kalimah Johnson

Kalimah Johnson is a therapist and clinical social worker who specializes in cultural-specific holistic healing. She is the founder and executive director of the SASHA (Sexual Assault Services for Holistic Healing and Awareness) Center in Detroit, Michigan and has been influential in the #MeToo movement.

Early life and education Johnson was born in Detroit She dropped out of high school, She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

She received her Wharton School Athlete Development Professional Certification in 2016.

Career and advocacy work In 2005, she was working for the Detroit Police Department as a therapist for sexual assault survivors,

In 2010, Johnson founded the nonprofit organization SASHA (Sexual Assault Services for Holistic Healing And Awareness) Center to offer services that include culturally-specific support groups as well as prevention and education programs. In 2020, Johnson told The Detroit News, "I developed the SASHA Center so Black women can come and tell us (how to heal); we use that and formalize it so Black women can use it from now on."

She has worked as an assistant professor for the Social Work Department at Marygrove College and been a poet in residence for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Johnson has also worked as a consultant for professional sports organizations to educate athletes about relationships, domestic violence, and sexual assault,

Johnson appears in the 2017 documentary I Am Evidence that followed untested rape kit investigations across the United States.

Johnson was an early organizer of #MuteRKelly protests, At a news conference, Johnson stated, "Black girls do matter, and black girls do have a voice and black girls need more visibility around sexual abuse and assault, and that's why we're here. We're here to have that conversation." In 2008, Johnson published Locs for Life: The Root to Well Being for African American Women, a guide to hair locking, including social, emotional, and spiritual aspects.

Honors and awards 2019 Activist Impact Award at the Breakthrough Inspiration Awards, Breakthrough 2020 Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News, for founding the SASHA Center

Published works Sexual Violence in the Lives of Black Women (VAWAnet. Violence Against Women Act, 2013) I am Detroit. The Voice of Social Workers (NASW Press, 2011) Get it Together Sugar! (D-Life Online Magazine, 2019–present) Locs for Life: The Root to Well Being for African American Women (AuthorHouse Press, 2008) A Decade of Change, Michigan's Strategic Plan for Sexual Violence Prevention (2006) An Exploration of Gangster Rap and its Impact on the Violence Against Women Movement. (The Advocate, 2006) Effects of DV on Children (Detroit Police Department Domestic Violence Unit, 2005) Rape Counseling Center, Information Brochure (Detroit Police Department, 2004) RAPE Poem (Turning Point Newsletter, 2003) Women Who Survive (PicNap Press, 2000)