Writing that places Black health in context.
Dr. Houston's books connect medicine, history, culture, and lived experience—helping readers understand the conditions shaping Black health while exploring pathways toward personal and collective restoration.
Black Wellness Barriers
Black Wellness Barriers moves beyond explanations that place the burden of chronic disease solely on individual choices. Dr. Houston brings medicine, history, culture, and human behavior into one conversation to reveal how historical and present-day conditions shape stress, biology, and disease vulnerability in Black communities.
View on GoodreadsThe intellectual grounding for RHON™.
As the foundational text in Dr. Houston's broader body of work, the book provides the intellectual grounding for the Racialized Hierarchy of Needs™—her signature visual and teaching framework for understanding how racialized disruptions of human needs can shape survival stress, disease vulnerability, and the capacity for Black communities to flourish.
Grounded in scholarship and written for broad accessibility, the book helps readers understand how economic conditions, environmental exposures, cultural disruption, healthcare inequities, and the cumulative effects of racialized stress can become embodied across lives and generations. It also turns toward restoration—inviting readers to consider the personal, communal, institutional, and policy-level changes required to support more complete wellness.
- Connect history, lived experience, and biology
- Examine the cumulative impact of racialized stress
- Challenge narratives of individual blame
- Explore practical and collective pathways toward restoration
Conscious Conversations
Looking to go deeper after reading Black Wellness Barriers? Download your free reflection and discussion guide—designed to help readers unpack, discuss, and apply the book's lessons in real life. Whether you are reading independently, hosting a book club, leading a classroom, or reflecting as a professional, this guide meets you where you are.
- African American (Black) readers — community-rooted healing, cultural reflection, and wellness reclamation
- People of Color (non-Black) — shared struggle, identity awareness, and cross-cultural solidarity
- European American (White) readers — historical reckoning, truth-telling, and allyship in action
- Healthcare professionals — clinical reflection, cultural humility, and equity-centered care
- Mental health providers — clinical reflection, case studies, and cultural humility
Each section includes four reflection questions per chapter, one activity to deepen awareness and healing, and a special message from Dr. Houston for your group.
Detox-Style
Creating a Healthy Lifestyle Through Daily Holistic Detoxification Practices
A practical guide to supporting the body's natural detoxification processes through sustainable habits, nutrition, and lifestyle choices.
Go deeper with the Read-Along Experience.
Hear Dr. Houston read each chapter of Black Wellness Barriers, with exclusive commentary and community.
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Youtube
TikTok