What’s on my bookshelf?
A thoughtfully curated list of my favorite books for both therapists and clients, offering insight, healing, and growth.
1.
Attached by Amir Levine M.D. and Rachel S.F. Heller, M.A. explores the science of adult attachment and how it influences romantic relationships. Drawing on psychological research, the book outlines the three primary attachment styles—secure, anxious, and avoidant—and explains how these styles shape the way we connect with others. Levine and Heller provide practical strategies for understanding one’s own attachment style, improving communication, and fostering healthier relationships. Through real-life examples and expert insights, Attached offers valuable guidance for anyone seeking deeper emotional connections and more fulfilling relationships.
For therapists, this book summarizes attachment in a relatable, accessible way and offers practical approaches for improving communication, emotional regulation, and relationship security. For clients, it normalizes relational struggles and shows how attachment wounds can heal. Overall, this book is a powerful resource for deepening relational understanding and fostering meaningful change.
2.
This book shifts the conversation around trauma from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” Using neuroscience and personal narratives, Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey explore how early experiences shape brain development, emotional regulation, and behavior. They highlight the impact of childhood adversity and offer compassionate, science-backed insights into healing and resilience. This is a must-read for trauma work as it helps to validate your experiences by reframing self-blame and shame into understanding. Perry breaks down how the brain responds to adversity and Winfrey demonstrates that change and growth are possible through safe relationships and self-awareness. If you're working through trauma, What Happened to You? is an engaging, empathic read that will provide you with both knowledge and comfort, as it makes sense of your past while guiding you toward healing.
3.
Based on her groundbreaking research, Brené Brown explores how embracing vulnerability—the willingness to show up authentically, even when uncertain or afraid—is the key to deeper connections, resilience, and wholehearted living. She challenges the myth that vulnerability is weakness, showing instead that it is the foundation of courage, creativity, and meaningful relationships. This book is an easy read that highlights an important concept that therapists are often educating clients about. Brown takes it a step further by providing tools to cultivate self-compassion and resilience.
If you struggle with perfectionism, self-doubt, or emotional walls, The Power of Vulnerability offers a transformative perspective on how to live more courageously and authentically.
4.
This collection by the Holistic Psychologist Dr. Nicole LePera holds important work for anyone interested in improving their relationship with themselves and with others.
How to Do the Work is a groundbreaking roadmap to self-awareness, showing readers how to break free from old patterns, regulate their nervous systems, and begin deep, sustainable healing. It’s a must-read for anyone ready to face their past and reclaim their life.
How to Meet Yourself is a workbook I come back to time and time again. It holds beautifully reflective and practical exercises that help you connect with your inner world while educating you on the basics of trauma responses and mind-body connection. It’s like having a compassionate therapist in your hands—gentle, insightful, and deeply validating.
How to Be the Love You Seek is a game-changer for understanding how your past influences your relationships today. Through the lens of inner child healing and nervous system work, it empowers readers to build truly secure, conscious connections.
Together, these books are a complete healing journey—accessible, trauma-informed, and grounded in both science and heart. Every client (and therapist!) can find something life-changing within these pages and I will continue to recommend these books to most people I meet.
5.
In The Myth of Normal author Gabor Maté bridges medicine, psychology, and lived experience to explain trauma holistically. This is another great read of his that emphasizes the mind-body connection with compassion and clarity, showing how emotional wounds manifest physically. Dr. Maté
suggests that much of what we consider "normal"—from chronic stress to disconnection—is actually a reflection of deep cultural dysfunction. He explores how trauma, often hidden or misunderstood, is at the root of many mental and physical health issues. This book is refreshingly non-pathologizing and helps people understand themselves, and alleviate self-blame.
Dr. Maté’s work transforms the way we view health, trauma, and healing—and The Myth of Normal is essential reading for anyone seeking deeper understanding and wholeness.
6.
Group is a raw, honest, and surprisingly humorous memoir that offers therapists a rare window into the client’s perspective—one that is vulnerable, conflicted, and deeply human. Author Christie Tate takes readers inside her years in group therapy, sharing how a circle of strangers (and one unconventional therapist) helped her break lifelong patterns of shame, isolation, and perfectionism.
This is a must-read for other therapists as it reminds us what therapy feels like from the other side of the room: terrifying, transformative, confusing, and life-saving. This book beautifully illustrates how group therapy fosters connection, accountability, and healing—making it a compelling resource for therapists who facilitate or refer to groups.
For those interested in group therapy, this memoir is a powerful testament to the idea that healing happens not just through insight, but through connection—with others and with oneself. Reading Group is like sitting in on an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes session. It will deepen your compassion, challenge your assumptions, and renew your appreciation for the vulnerability and courage clients bring to the therapeutic process - especially in a group setting.
7.
The Sun and Her Flowers is my favorite poetry collection—and one I’ve returned to many times in my work as a therapist, particularly with clients in recovery from addiction and substance use. Kaur’s writing is raw, accessible, and deeply human, capturing the emotional arc of healing with simplicity and power.
The book is structured around themes of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming—an organic and resonant metaphor for the therapeutic process. Her poems gently touch on pain, identity, shame, love, and resilience in a way that mirrors the nonlinear path of recovery.
The artwork also deserves mention. It is simple yet evocative. It deepens the emotional impact of the poems and invites quiet reflection between the words. For many clients - especially women - this book of poems offers not only validation, but also hope—that growth is possible, and that healing doesn’t have to look perfect to be real.
Next on my reading list…
The Tell by Amy Griffin
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thich Nhat Hanh
Last Updated: May 8, 2025
