Two books from Dr. Vanessa R. Brooks, Ed.D. — on faith, mental health, and reclaiming rest as the credentialed, undermonetized, over-functioning woman you are. Real research. Real story. No shame attached.
I am Dr. Vanessa R. Brooks — Ed.D., former pastor, executive consultant, and researcher who has spent years examining the intersection of faith, mental health, and identity at the highest level of rigor. These two books are the research and the story I wish someone had handed me sooner: one on faith and mental health inside the Black Church, and one on resilience, rest, and leadership for high-achieving Black women. Both are written for the credentialed, the undermonetized, and the exhausted — for the woman ready to go deeper than a surface conversation.
Dr. Brooks illuminates the hidden struggles of faith and mental well-being in the Black Church — religious trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue, and crises of faith, told through research and her own story. A call to action for faith communities to finally talk about what's been unspoken.
Drawing on mental health research, Black history, and neuroscience, Dr. Brooks reframes the Strong Black Woman trope and offers Crowned Resilience™ — a liberatory framework centering rest, healing, and thriving for high-achieving Black women ready to lead on their own terms.
Grab "The Secret's Out" and "Reclaiming Your Crown" together and start wherever your story needs you to.