Using reading as a way to deepen understanding and connection.

This section offers reading materials that can support your growth, reflection, and understanding.

Bibliotherapy is the use of reading as a way to explore experiences, gain insight, and feel less alone in what you may be navigating. Sometimes, seeing your thoughts or feelings reflected in someone else’s words can create clarity in a way that feels different from direct conversation.

Reading can also introduce new perspectives, language, and ways of making sense of your experiences. You may come across ideas that resonate immediately, or ones that take time to settle.

There is no expectation to read everything or to take in each resource the same way. This section is here as an option, something you can return to when you feel curious, open, or in need of a different kind of support.

You are invited to take what feels meaningful and leave what does not.

My Grandmother’s Hands – Resmaa Menakem

• A powerful exploration of how racialized trauma lives in the body, this book invites readers—particularly Black, white, and police readers—to engage in somatic practices to interrupt generational harm. Menakem blends neuroscience, history, and embodied wisdom to support healing from white-body supremacy.

In An Unspoken Voice – Dr. Peter Levine

• This book offers a comprehensive look at trauma and the nervous system, showing how the body’s natural responses to threat can become trapped. Levine uses case studies and accessible language to explain how healing happens through listening to and working with the body.

Waking the Tiger – Dr. Peter Levine

• A foundational text in somatic experiencing, this book introduces readers to the idea that trauma is not the event itself but the energy held in the body. Levine walks readers through the physiology of trauma and how reconnection with the body supports recovery.

Healing Trauma – Dr. Peter Levine

• This concise guide, complete with exercises, serves as a practical entry point for individuals beginning somatic healing work. It distills key somatic principles in an accessible, workbook-style format.

Trauma and Memory – Dr. Peter Levine

• Levine distinguishes between factual memory and traumatic memory, helping readers understand how trauma distorts time and perception. This book is helpful for anyone questioning the reliability of their traumatic recollections and wanting to reclaim their sense of reality.

No Bad Parts – Dr. Richard Schwartz

• Written by the founder of Internal Family Systems, this book outlines the idea that every internal part—even the ones that seem destructive—has a purpose. Schwartz invites readers into a non-pathologizing approach to self-exploration and healing.

Monsters In Love – Resmaa Menakem

• Menakem brings his somatic lens to romantic relationships, showing how unprocessed trauma can cause harm even when we deeply love each other. The book is a raw, healing invitation to do the body-based work of loving well.

Set Boundaries, Find Peace – Nedra Glover Tawwab

• This practical guide breaks down the what, why, and how of boundary setting. Tawwab empowers readers to identify their needs and communicate them clearly in every type of relationship.

Charmers and Con Artists – Sandra Scott

• This book helps readers identify manipulative behaviors often used by narcissists and toxic personalities. It’s written to empower survivors of relational harm and offers clear red flags to watch for.