Book Recommendations
There are a million mental health/ self-help books out there, and it can be hard to figure out which ones are beneficial. While this is not a complete list by any means, we did want to highlight a few of our favorites.
The Traitor Within: Discerning the Voices that Influence You by Joshua Jennings, CPC, explores the psychological and spiritual forces that shape our thoughts and decisions. Drawing from his 25 years of experience in both ministry and secular counseling, Jennings examines how temptation, sin, and destructive influences take hold in our lives. The book provides insights into recognizing and overcoming these internal struggles, offering practical guidance for personal growth.
The Traitor Within
Rachel’s top picks
By age 30, Stephanie seemed to have it all, an award-winning career and a partner who supported her through it all. However, every day she was suffering from panic attacks and emotional dysregulation. After years of searching for the answer “what is wrong me?”; she was diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as CPTSD. This is a disorder that results from years of continuous trauma.
She suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her parents during childhood and adolescence. She thought she had grown up and left all of that behind, only to find out the trauma was greatly affecting her everyday life. She began to pour into the scarce literature that was available to her, desperate to find answers. The research for CPTSD is still very new and ongoing, thus resulting in an understanding of the various symptoms one can experience with the diagnosis but a lack of treatment options.
This book takes you through a very personal journey of one woman seeking different treatment options and explanations for this diagnosis. Examining explanations through investigation of generational trauma and fight-flight responses. Utilizing innovative techniques from expert psychologists from all around the world to learn coping and emotional regulation skills. Trauma is never forgotten, but you can learn to live with it and thrive in spite of it.
“This book does an excellent job of explaining the lingering effects of trauma and the way the body holds on to those experiences to protect us. Throughout this book, you will receive a greater understanding of trauma and many methods of processing that pain. There is always hope, and you do not have to be satisfied with one’s person opinion of your body. There are options for everyone and ways to meet your needs
Foo is hilarious, insightful, and inspiring throughout this novel. If you read “The Body Keeps Score” and found it jargon-heavy and confusing, please read this instead. It does a superior job of connecting to readers and providing tangible coping skills for C-PTSD.” - Rachel
One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.
“But part of getting to know yourself is to unknow yourself—to let go of the limiting stories you’ve told yourself about who you are so that you aren’t trapped by them, so you can live your life and not the story you’ve been telling yourself about your life.” - Lori Gottlieb.
This is a quote that I lean on heavily, not only in my personal life but also with my practice. Each of us has been taught lies and created a belief system not based on who we are but on who others deem us to be. These expectations and false narratives create anxiety and dissatisfaction with life. You are in charge of the story you want to live, and by that, I don’t mean you get to choose what happens to you. Often, that choice can get stolen away from us, and life takes unexpected turns. We get to choose who we want to be despite circumstances. Learning to love who you are, getting to know your needs, and discovering the person you want to be, eliminates these false narratives and enables you to live the story you want told.
“Maybe You Should Talk to Someone” explores these themes of self-discovery and erasing societal expectations in an engaging and entertaining read. She explores the themes of emotions, how they affect us, and what it really means to feel your feelings and deal with them. This is an excellent deep dive in the human experience and understanding how we can thrive as we endure and enjoy the ups and downs of life.” - Rachel
Joshua’s Top Picks
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
No matter who you’re talking to, The Next Conversation gives you immediately actionable strategies and phrases that will forever change how you communicate. Jefferson Fisher, trial lawyer and one of the leading voices on real-world communication, offers a tried-and-true framework that will show you how to transform your life and your relationships by improving your next conversation.
You will learn:
Why you should never “win” an argument
How to assert yourself and communicate with intention
How to set boundaries and frame conversations
Why saying less is often more
How to overcome conflict with connection
The Next Conversation will give you practical phrases that will lead to powerful results, from breaking down defensiveness in a hard talk with a family member to finding your own assertive voice at the boardroom conference table. Your every word matters, and by controlling how you communicate every day, you will create waves of positive impact that will resonate throughout your relationships to last a lifetime
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