Resources

Recommended Reading

Trauma/PTSD

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Bessel van der Kolk

A seminal work exploring how trauma reshapes body and brain, and ways people can heal via somatic, relational, and alternative modalities. 

Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma

Peter A. Levine & Ann Frederick

Introduces Somatic Experiencing; helps readers understand how trauma gets “stuck” in the nervous system and offers pathways toward releasing it. 

Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body

Peter A. Levine

A practical guide with exercises and theory to support working with somatic cues, regulating nervous system responses. 

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

Peter A. Levine

Deep dive into how trauma shows up somatically, especially early life / developmental trauma, and how the body can lead us in recovery.

The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment

Babette Rothschild

Focuses on how trauma leaves traces in physiology, offers clinical insight into treatment strategies with body awareness. 

Polyvagal Theory

Stephen W. Porges

Essential for understanding autonomic nervous system regulation, how safety / social engagement, and physiological states interact in traumatic stress.

Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes

Peter A. Levine & Maggie Kline

Helpful for clinicians working with developmental trauma; shows how early trauma shapes body & relational patterns. 

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

Resmaa Menakem

Explores trauma through a somatic lens, particularly racialized trauma, and how it’s held in bodies and communities. 

Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness

David Treleaven

Blends mindfulness with somatic awareness with sensitivity to how trauma can be triggered; useful for both clinicians and clients. 

 Radical Acceptance 

Tara Brach 

helps with shame, self‐judgment, and the difficulty of being “with what is,” which is often a big part of trauma. (Soothing mindset + practices.) 

Anxiety / Worry

• The Worry Trap: How to Free Yourself from Worry & Anxiety Using Acceptance & Commitment Therapy by Chad LeJeune — helps develop a more accepting mindset toward anxious thoughts & reduce worry habits. 

• Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer — neuroscience + mindfulness work to understand how anxiety gets “looped” and ways to interrupt it. 

• The Mindful Way Through Anxiety: Break Free from Chronic Worry and Reclaim Your Life by Susan Orsillo & Lizabeth Roemer — combining mindfulness + exposure to support living with anxiety. 

Depression / Mood

• Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig — a memoir that offers hope, compassion, and an authentic look at depression + anxiety. 

• The CBT Toolbox (Practical exercises for managing anxiety, depression, stress) — helpful for clients who like doing structured work. 

• The Anxiety and Worry Workbook: The Cognitive Behavioral Solution by David A. Clark — useful when depression and worry overlap. 

Grief & Loss

• It’s OK That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine — validates grief, helps people move through it without pressure to “fix” everything. (Very healing for people who feel isolated in their mourning.) 

• Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain — shows how sorrow can deepen our lives, help us connect with meaning and the bittersweet nature of being human. 

• The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss by Mary‐Frances O’Connor — understanding the biology + psychology behind grief makes the process more manageable. 

OCD

• The Self-Compassion Workbook for OCD: Lean Into Your Fear, Manage Difficult Emotions, and Focus on Recovery by Kimberley Quinlan — helps address the emotional struggle and self-criticism that often go with OCD. 

• Living Well with OCD: Practical Strategies for Improving Your Daily Life (Guilford Living Well Series) — recent, practical, very usable. 

• The Complete OCD Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Free Yourself from Intrusive Thoughts and Compulsive Behaviors by Scott M. Granet — thorough step-wise workbook for people committed to working with their OCD. 

ADHD

• Driven to Distraction (Revised): Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder — Edward M. Hallowell & John J. Ratey
  → The classic ADHD resource for adults. Normalizes ADHD traits and offers practical strategies for managing focus, organization, and relationships.
  
  

• Delivered from Distraction — Edward M. Hallowell & John J. Ratey
  → Follows up with updated insights and strength-based approaches for thriving with ADHD.
  
  

• ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction — Edward Hallowell & John Ratey
  → Latest research on ADHD’s neurological roots and innovative tools for managing modern life.
  
  

• How to Keep House While Drowning — K.C. Davis
  → Gentle, affirming guide for neurodivergent or overwhelmed clients; focuses on self-compassion and realistic systems for care tasks.
  
  

• Order from Chaos: The Everyday Grind of Staying Organized with Adult ADHD — Jaclyn Paul
  → Great for clients wanting concrete, real-world organization and time-management tools.

Postpartum Mental Health & Adjustment

Emotional Health & Identity

• Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers — Karen Kleiman
  → Normalizes intrusive thoughts, mood swings, and postpartum anxiety through cartoons, reflections, and real-world reassurance.
  
  

• The Postpartum Stress Center’s “The Art of Holding in Therapy” — Karen Kleiman
  → Best for clinicians or advanced clients—explores therapeutic presence and containment in postpartum care.
  
  

• The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality — Kimberly Ann Johnson
  → Blends somatic healing, nervous system regulation, and practical postpartum care. Excellent for trauma-informed or body-aware clients.
  
  

• Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself — Lisa Marchiano
  → Explores the identity transformation of motherhood—how birth, caregiving, and loss of old roles bring new meaning.
  
  

• What No One Tells You: A Guide to Your Emotions from Pregnancy to Motherhood — Alexandra Sacks & Catherine Birndorf
  → Written by reproductive psychiatrists, this book validates postpartum emotional changes and helps clients understand “matrescence,” the psychological transition into motherhood.
  
  

Postpartum Depression, Anxiety & Trauma

• This Isn’t What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression — Karen Kleiman & Valerie Raskin
  → A classic on postpartum mood disorders—grounded, hopeful, and evidence-based.
  
  

• Dropping the Baby and Other Scary Thoughts: Breaking the Cycle of Unwanted Thoughts in Motherhood — Karen Kleiman & Amy Wenzel
  → Addresses intrusive thoughts and shame with compassion and cognitive-behavioral tools.
  
  

• When Postpartum Packs a Punch: Fighting Back and Finding Joy — Ariel Dalfen, MD
  → Integrates stories and strategies for mothers coping with depression or anxiety after birth.
  
  

• Trauma and the Postpartum Body: How Somatic Healing Helps Mothers Reconnect — (emerging titles from Kimberly Ann Johnson and related authors)
  → Useful for clients with birth trauma or past abuse, focusing on safety and embodiment.
  
  

For Partners and Support Systems

• You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health (Postpartum chapter available in newer editions)
  → Great for families supporting mothers through postpartum mood issues.
  
  

• The Postpartum Partner — Karen Kleiman
  → Helps partners recognize signs of postpartum depression and learn how to provide emotional and practical support.
  
  

For Clients with Neurodivergence or High Stress

• How to Keep House While Drowning — K.C. Davis
  → Gentle support for parents with ADHD, depression, or postpartum overwhelm.
  
  

• Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto — Tricia Hersey
  → Encourages slowing down and reclaiming rest as essential healing during parenthood.

Worksheets & Other Information