1) When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, and what has your path looked like to get here?
I realized I wanted to be a writer the moment someone first told me it was something I could be. Growing up, I spent much of my youth in environments where very few people looked like me. My family tried to intentionally expose me to literature by Black authors, but the reality was that most of what I read in school was written by people whose stories didn’t reflect my lived experience.
When I discovered Langston Hughes, something shifted for me. His work made me feel seen in a way I hadn’t before. I began writing poetry and songs, trying to capture my own thoughts and experiences on the page. Whenever I shared my writing, people would tell me I should consider becoming a writer. Hearing others speak that possibility into me planted a seed. Over time, it became something I truly believed I could do.
Now, as a therapist and author, writing has become another extension of my work. It allows me to tell stories that help people feel less alone and to name experiences, especially around racial trauma and healing, that often go unspoken.
2) What sparked the idea for this particular book?
My grandmother’s death was the catalyst. I was raised by her because I was born into what we now understand to be a public health crisis, though at the time it wasn’t labeled as one. As I began reflecting on her life and the circumstances surrounding her passing, I came to see how deeply systemic oppression and racism shaped her health outcomes and ultimately contributed to her untimely death.
Later, as a hospice therapist, I worked across two very different communities. One was predominantly white and affluent, and the other predominantly Black and Brown. The disparities I witnessed in mortality, access to care, and the conditions people were dying under were impossible to ignore. Again and again, I could trace these differences back to the impact of racial trauma and systemic inequities in health care.
As a clinician, I also saw how traditional training often overlooks culturally responsive care and fails to fully acknowledge the lived experiences of marginalized communities. Writing this book became my way of naming those realities. I wanted to tell my grandmother’s story while also shining a light on the broader systems that shape how people live, suffer, and heal.
Ultimately, I wrote this book as an invitation for us to stop healing in silence to speak honestly about racial trauma so that we can begin healing out loud and create conditions where people are able to live longer, fuller lives.
3) If you could go back and tell yourself one thing at the beginning of this journey, what would it be?
I would tell myself not to put off the writing because I thought I had more time than I did. Writing a book asks a lot of you emotionally, intellectually, and personally, and life doesn’t pause while you’re doing it. During the process of writing this book, my cousin passed away, and that loss impacted my writing in ways I couldn’t have anticipated.
I would also tell myself to ask more questions along the way. There were many aspects of the writing and publishing process that I didn’t even think to ask about until I was already experiencing them. Looking back, I realize how important it is for first-time traditionally published authors to seek clarity and advocate for themselves throughout the process.
But ultimately, the journey taught me a lot about trust, trusting my voice, trusting the story I felt called to tell, and trusting that even the difficult moments along the way would shape the final work in meaningful ways.
4) Where can readers connect with you? (This is a good place to share website, socials, a book ordering link, and any upcoming events!)
You can find me on IG and threads @Therapywithash Facebook Ashley McGirt Counseling and Linkedin Ashley McGirt, my direct website www.ashleymcgirt.com
