Introducing our Book Club!
Are you a clinician who loves to read? Do you ever read great books and wonder how to use them with clients? Every month it seems another book is published in our industry or our close cousin, the self-help industry. It is hard enough to find time to read these books, and if you can, it can be confusing to incorporate the material into your clinical practice. We've got you.
Join our monthly club of fellow clinicians on zoom as we take a deep dive into each book.
Please invite your friends and colleagues. The more the merrier 🎉
Countdown to our next Book Club:
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Upcoming Book Club Events
Click on a book event above to register.
Learn more about the club and each book pick below.
WHAT TO EXPECT
First you register for each monthly event. (Come to all of them!). Then you read the book!
Then you join us on zoom, prepared to discuss the following three questions:
General Impressions?
What were your impressions of the book? Did you generally like it or not? What were specific parts, theories, or examples that were impactful? What do you think could have made a better book?
Inform your Practice?
Would you use this book to inform your practice, and if so how? Do you believe it will be an aide to how you run your practice, what theoretical orientation you use, or in any other way?
Clinical Tool?
Would you share this book or passages within it with clients directly? If yes, in what circumstances and conditions? How would you use it as a tool? If not, why not?
September Pick:
Resilient by Rick Hanson
True resilience is much more than enduring terrible conditions. We need resilience every day to raise a family, work at a job, cope with stress, deal with health problems, navigate issues with others, heal from old pain, and simply keep on going.
With his trademark blend of neuroscience, mindfulness, and positive psychology, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Rick Hanson shows you how to develop twelve vital inner strengths hardwired into your own nervous system.
Warm, encouraging, and down-to-earth, Dr. Hanson’s step-by-step approach is grounded in the science of positive neuroplasticity. He explains how to overcome the brain’s negativity bias, release painful thoughts and feelings, and replace them with self-compassion, self-worth, joy, and inner peace.
“Tremendously practical neuroscience. Resilient is wise and helpful: skill building for the brain, medicine for the heart, and guidance for living a beautiful and enjoyable life.”
—Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., author of A Path With Heart
“In the jungle of books on mindfulness and neuroscience, Rick Hanson hacks a comprehensive and enlightening path through, while giving insight on how to understand your wild and wooly mind. And if that wasn't enough, he gives us tools to achieve peace and happiness. What more could you ask for?”
—Ruby Wax, O.B.E., author of Sane New World; A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled; and How to Be Human: The Manual
Check out this website for more information about this book.
October Pick:
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity.
In this “compelling and utterly convincing” (The Sunday Times) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night.
“Why We Sleep is an important and fascinating book…Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.” —Bill Gates
"Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book. Written with the precision of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Sherwin Nuland, it is recommended for night-table reading in the most pragmatic sense” (The New York Times Book Review).
Check out this website for more information about this book.
November Pick:
Dissociation Made Simple by Jamie Marich
Guided by clinical counselor Jamie Marich—a trauma-informed clinician living with a dissociative disorder herself—this book tells you everything you need to know about dissociation...but were too afraid to ask. Here, you’ll learn:
- What dissociation is—and why it’s a natural response to trauma
- How to understand and work with your “parts”—the unique emotional and behavioral profiles that can develop from personality fragmentation
- There’s nothing shameful about dissociating—that, in fact, we can all dissociate
- Skills and strategies for living your best, authentic, and most fulfilled life
- What to look for in a therapist: choosing a healer who sees you and gets it
- Foundational elements of healing from trauma, including PTSD and C-PTSD
With practical guided exercises like “The Dissociative Profile” and “Parts Mapping,” this book is written for those diagnosed with dissociative disorders, clinicians and therapists who treat trauma and dissociation, and readers who are exploring whether they may have dissociative symptoms or a condition like dissociative identity disorder (DID). Dissociation Made Simple breaks it all down accessibly and comprehensively, with empowerment and support—and without stigma, judgment, or shame.
"Just as important as The Body Keeps the Score (but an easier read for me)."
—5-star reader review
Check out this website for more information about this book.
December Pick:
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
We are repeating this favorite from the year!
From street-dwelling drug addicts to high-functioning workaholics, the continuum of addiction cuts a wide and painful swath through our culture.
Countering prevailing notions of addiction as either a genetic disease or an individual moral failure, Dr. Gabor Maté presents an eloquent case that addiction – all addiction – is in fact a case of human development gone askew.
‘With unparalleled sympathy for the human condition, Gabor Maté depicts the suffocation of the spirit by addictive urges, and holds up a dark mirror to our society. This is a powerful narrative of the realm of human nature where confused and conflicted emotions underlie our pretensions to rational thought.’
– DR. JAAK PANKSEPP, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychobiology, Bowling Green University, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, Medical College of Ohio, and author of Affective Neuroscience
‘[In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts] shows an unflinching look at addiction… Dr. Maté makes observations that cut through all the myths and misinterpretations about addicts and how they live… There are many nuggets of wisdom and insight throughout the book. Readers can literally pick up the book and leaf to any chapter and begin reading—and learn something valuable. It’s never boring, never condescending, never too much to read.’
– ADDICTION TREATMENT MAGAZINE
Check out this website for more information about this book.
March 2023 Pick:
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
From street-dwelling drug addicts to high-functioning workaholics, the continuum of addiction cuts a wide and painful swath through our culture.
Countering prevailing notions of addiction as either a genetic disease or an individual moral failure, Dr. Gabor Maté presents an eloquent case that addiction – all addiction – is in fact a case of human development gone askew.
‘With unparalleled sympathy for the human condition, Gabor Maté depicts the suffocation of the spirit by addictive urges, and holds up a dark mirror to our society. This is a powerful narrative of the realm of human nature where confused and conflicted emotions underlie our pretensions to rational thought.’
– DR. JAAK PANKSEPP, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychobiology, Bowling Green University, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, Medical College of Ohio, and author of Affective Neuroscience
‘[In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts] shows an unflinching look at addiction… Dr. Maté makes observations that cut through all the myths and misinterpretations about addicts and how they live… There are many nuggets of wisdom and insight throughout the book. Readers can literally pick up the book and leaf to any chapter and begin reading—and learn something valuable. It’s never boring, never condescending, never too much to read.’
– ADDICTION TREATMENT MAGAZINE
Check out this website for more information about this book.
Previous Selections
Check out what you missed. Be sad. Then make sure you don't miss another one!
February 2023 Pick:
Grit by Angela Duckworth
Why do some people succeed and others fail? Sharing new insights from her landmark research, Angela explains why talent is hardly a guarantor of success.
Angela has found that grit—a combination of passion and perseverance for a singularly important goal—is the hallmark of high achievers in every domain. She’s also found scientific evidence that grit can grow.
Winningly personal, insightful, and even life-changing, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference.
‘...persuasive and fascinating...’
– MALCOLM GLADWELL
‘I kept wanting to read this book aloud - to my child, my husband, to everyone I care about. There are no shortcuts to greatness, it’s true. But there is a roadmap, and you are holding it.’
– AMANDA RIPLEY
‘As a coach, I’m convinced there are no more important qualities in striving for excellence than those that create true grit. Here, Angela does a great job describing those qualities. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.’
– BRAD STEVENS, COACH OF BOSTON CELTICS
Check out this website for more information about this book.
January 2023 Pick:
Lost Connections by Johann Hari
Depression and anxiety are now at epidemic levels. Why?
Across the world, scientists have uncovered evidence for nine different causes. Some are in our biology – but most are in the way we are living today.
This New York Times best-selling book – lauded by everyone from Oprah to Elton John – offers a radical new way of thinking about this crisis.
It shows that once we understand the real causes, we can turn to pioneering new solutions – ones that offer real hope.
‘If you have ever been down, or felt lost, this amazing book will change your life. Do yourself a favour – read it now’
– ELTON JOHN
‘Lost Connections offers a wonderful and incisive analysis of the depression and alienation that are haunting American society’
– HILLARY CLINTON
A brilliant, stimulating, radical take on mental health’
– MATT HAIG, AUTHOR OF ‘REASONS TO STAY ALIVE’
“An exquisitely lucid treatise on why no person is, has been or ever should be an island. This book is the most exciting thing I’ve read this year. From slightly seedy to suicidal – however you are feeling – read this book and it will honestly help you to understand which roads we must walk if we want to see true, lasting change”
– EMMA THOMPSON
Check out this website for more information about this book.
