Resources for Healing & Personal Growth

Trauma, Family Patterns & Generational Healing

​

• It Didn’t Start With You — Mark Wolynn

This book explores how trauma can be passed down through generations and how family history can influence emotional patterns in ways we may not immediately recognize. It offers insight into how inherited experiences can shape present-day struggles and provides tools for beginning to break those cycles.

​

• Mother Hunger — Kelly McDaniel

Mother Hunger explores the impact of early maternal relationships on self-worth, attachment, and emotional development. This book resonates deeply with many individuals who experienced emotional neglect or inconsistent nurturing and are seeking to rebuild a more secure relationship with themselves.

​

• It Stops With Me — Dr. Mariel Buqué

This powerful book focuses on breaking cycles of generational trauma and creating healthier emotional patterns moving forward. It offers both psychological insight and practical tools for individuals who want to interrupt harmful relational patterns and cultivate healing across generations.

 

Trauma & Nervous System Healing

 

• The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk

This foundational book explores how trauma impacts the brain, body, and nervous system. It provides insight into why traumatic experiences can continue to influence emotional responses and behavior long after the events themselves have passed, while also highlighting pathways toward healing and integration.

 

• Waking the Tiger – Peter Levine

This book introduces the concept of trauma as a nervous system response rather than simply a psychological event. Levine explains how the body stores and processes stress and offers insight into how healing can occur through restoring balance within the nervous system.

​

Attachment & Relationship Healing

​

• You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For — Richard Schwartz

Written by the founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS), this book explores how our internal parts influence relationships. It helps readers understand how healing internal patterns can transform how we connect with partners and loved ones.

​

• Polysecure — Jessica Fern

Polysecure integrates attachment theory with non-traditional relationship structures, offering a thoughtful exploration of security, trust, and emotional safety within relationships. The book provides valuable insight into how attachment dynamics influence connection regardless of relationship style.

​

• Choosing Me Before We — Christine Arylo

This book encourages readers to develop a strong foundation of self-worth and self-connection before entering or navigating relationships. It focuses on cultivating a healthy relationship with oneself as the basis for healthier relational dynamics.

​

• Attached – Amir Levine & Rachel Heller

This book provides an accessible introduction to attachment theory and explores how early relational experiences shape adult relationship patterns. Readers gain insight into secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles and how these patterns influence connection and communication.

​

• Hold Me Tight – Dr. Sue Johnson

A powerful exploration of emotional bonding and relationships. Johnson explains how attachment needs influence romantic relationships and provides practical guidance for strengthening connection, communication, and emotional safety.

​

Shadow Work & Deep Self-Exploration

 

• Existential Kink — Carolyn Elliott

This book offers a unique and thought-provoking approach to shadow work by exploring the unconscious ways people may derive meaning or identity from painful patterns. It challenges readers to approach self-exploration with curiosity and honesty.

 

• The Shadow Work Workbook — Keila Shaheen

A guided workbook designed to help individuals explore hidden emotional patterns, limiting beliefs, and suppressed parts of the self. It provides structured exercises that support reflection and deeper self-awareness.

 

Empowerment, Identity & Self-Worth

 

• The Body Is Not an Apology — Sonya Renee Taylor

This book explores radical self-acceptance and body liberation, encouraging readers to challenge cultural narratives around body image and worthiness. It emphasizes reclaiming dignity, compassion, and respect for one’s body.

 

• Pussy: A Reclamation — Regena Thomashauer

A bold exploration of feminine empowerment and reclaiming voice, confidence, and personal power. This book encourages women to reconnect with their intuition, creativity, and authentic expression.

 

• You Are a Badass — Jen Sincero

This accessible and motivating book focuses on overcoming self-doubt, challenging limiting beliefs, and building confidence in pursuing one’s goals and authentic path.

 

Emotional Well-Being & Everyday Mental Health

 

• Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before — Dr. Julie Smith

Written by a clinical psychologist, this book provides practical tools for navigating common emotional struggles such as anxiety, low mood, and self-doubt. It offers simple strategies for managing everyday mental health challenges.

 

Grief & Emotional Processing

 

• It’s OK That You’re Not OK – Megan Devine

This compassionate and validating book challenges the idea that grief should follow a specific timeline or set of expectations. Devine offers guidance for navigating loss while honoring the reality that grief is a deeply personal process.

 

• The Afterlife of Billy Fingers - Annie Kagan

This book offers a unique and deeply personal perspective on grief, loss, and the possibility of continued connection after death. While every person's belief about death and spirituality are deeply personal, many readers find comfort in Billy's reflections on healing, forgiveness, and the idea that love and connection extend beyond physical life. For those navigating grief or whom have a fear of death, this book can provide a sense of hope, meaning and openness to the mystery of what may exist beyond our current understanding.

 

Personal Growth & Self-Discovery

 

• Women Who Run With the Wolves – Clarissa Pinkola Estés

This book explores feminine identity, intuition, creativity, and the process of reclaiming one’s authentic self. Through storytelling and psychological insight, it encourages readers to reconnect with instinct, voice, and inner wisdom.

 

• Owning Your Own Shadow – Robert A. Johnson

This short but powerful book introduces the concept of the psychological shadow — the parts of ourselves that are often hidden, rejected, or suppressed. Johnson explains how acknowledging and integrating these aspects can lead to greater wholeness and self-understanding.

​

​

Books can provide insight and language for experiences that may be difficult to articulate. However, reading is often most powerful when paired with reflection, support, and intentional personal work.

 

If you are interested in exploring these themes more deeply through therapy, I invite you to learn more about working together.