The term was developed in the US South by Cara Page and the Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective, a Black feminist network of healers and organizers. They described it as a way to respond to generational trauma and violence with collective practices that address the effects of oppression on bodies, hearts and minds. The framework gained wider attention at the 2010 US Social Forum in Detroit.
Healing justice draws on traditions that marginalized communities used when mainstream medicine excluded or harmed them, including herbal medicine, midwifery, spiritual practice and peer support. It is critical of a medical system shaped by experiments like the Tuskegee study and by forced sterilization.
In practice, healing justice can mean trauma support for organizers, community-based alternatives to policing during mental health crises, and making rest part of movement work rather than an afterthought.