Useful Counselling Resources
Reading Material
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Cathy Rentzenbrink - A Manual for Heartache
This is a moving, warm and uplifting book that offers solidarity and comfort to anyone going through a painful time, whatever it might be. It's a book that will help to soothe an aching heart and assure its readers that they're not alone.
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Matt Haig - Reasons to Stay Alive
Aged 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again.
A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth.
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Tyson Fury Autobiography - Gloves Off
Tyson's book reveals surprising and personal new sides to his character: he opens up about his fairy-tale romance with beloved wife Paris, and their down-to-earth life raising six beautiful children. He describes how his Traveller upbringing forged him, and how his fighting family, including dad John and his brothers, have sustained him.
In the process, Tyson discusses his mental health and weight battles, his faith and his greatest boxing experiences. He discloses deeply moving new stories: in the weeks before the biggest fight of his career, Tyson was sleeping on a hospital floor in intensive care tending to his baby daughter, Athena, who was born premature and fighting for her life.
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Helen Hoang - The Kiss Quotient
From the author of The Bride Test comes a romance novel hailed as one of The Washington Post's 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2018 and one of Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2018!
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John Green - Turtles All the Way Down
In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza's story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.
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Jen Lester - Shtum
Ben Jewell has hit breaking point. His ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken. So when Ben and Jonah are forced to move in with Ben's elderly father, three generations of men - one who can't talk; two who won't - are thrown together. As Ben battles single fatherhood, a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons, he learns some difficult home truths. Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history and misunderstanding are finally untangled.
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Aaron Gillies - How to Survive the End of the World (When it's in Your Own Head): An Anxiety Survival Guide
From helping readers identify the enemy, to safeguarding the vulnerable areas of their lives, Aaron Gillies will examine the impact of anxiety, and give readers some tools to fight back - whether with medication, therapy, CBT, coping techniques, or simply with a dark sense of humour.
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David D. Burns - When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life
"This is not pop psychology but proven, fast-acting techniques that have been shown to be more effective than medications. When Panic Attacks is an indispensable handbook for anyone who's worried sick and sick of worrying."
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Jennifer Shannon - Don't Feed the Monkey Mind: How to Stop the Cycle of Anxiety, Fear, and Worry
This book shows you how to stop anxious thoughts from taking over using proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness techniques, as well as fun illustrations. By following the exercises in this book, you'll learn to identify your own anxious thoughts, question those thoughts, and uncover the core fears at play.
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Dr Alice Boyes - The Anxiety Toolkit: Strategies for managing your anxiety so you can get on with your life
In The Anxiety Toolkit, Dr Alice Boyes translates powerful, evidence-based tools used in therapy clinics into tips and tricks you can employ in everyday life. Whether you have an anxiety disorder, or are just anxiety-prone by nature, you'll discover how anxiety works, strategies to help you cope with common anxiety 'stuck' points and a confidence that - anxious or not - you have all the tools you need to succeed in life and work.
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David A Carbonell - The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It
Anxiety is a powerful force. It makes us question ourselves and our decisions, causes us to worry about the future, and fills our days with dread and emotional turbulence. Based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) an cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), this book is designed to help you break the cycle of worry.
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Zoë Aston - Your Mental Health Workout: A 5 Week Programme to a Healthier, Happier Mind
Your Mental Health Workout™ provides you with exercises, tools, affirmations and expert guidance so you can start looking after your mental health for the long term.
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Brené Brown - Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
In her latest book, five-time #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr Brené Brown, writes, "If we want to find the way back to ourselves and each other, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories, and to be stewards of the stories that we hear. This is the framework for meaningful connection."
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Dr. Russ Harris - The Happiness Trap
Popular ideas about happiness are misleading, inaccurate, and are directly contributing to our current epidemic of stress, anxiety and depression.
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Adrian Bethune - A Little Guide for Teachers: Teacher Wellbeing and Self-care
Teachers can’t teach effectively if they’re demotivated and exhausted; and they shouldn’t they have to! A Little Guide for Teachers: Teacher Wellbeing and Self-Care explains how wellbeing is essential to effective teaching, and gives teachers practical tools to take back control of the classroom.
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John Roedel - Poem - How to live with my body
A beautiful poem about the work of inner congruence
https://www.johnroedel.com/post/how-to-live-with-my-body
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The Invisible String
A bestselling picture book phenomenon about the unbreakable connections between loved ones has healed a generation of readers - children and adults alike. A great resource for anyone who has been bereaved.
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Joan Didion : The Year of Magical Thinking
A book for the bereaved, that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. A stunning book of electric honesty and passion.
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Ethan Kross - Chatter : The Voice in Our Head and How to Harness It
Tell a stranger that you talk to yourself, and you're likely to get written off as eccentric. But the truth is that we all have a voice in our head. Our inner voice helps steer us towards our goals, avoid mistakes and reflect on happy moments. Yet just as quickly it can become our enemy, chewing over our mis-steps and replaying our daily embarrassments. Before we know it, our thoughts are being hijacked by constant, negative ‘chatter’.
So how does this inner voice, so powerful and wise, turn into our biggest critic? And how can we take back control?
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Greg McKeown - Effortless: Make it Easier to do what Matters Most
The intricacy of modern life has created a false dichotomy between things that are 'hard and important,' and those that are 'easy and trivial.' In Effortless, Greg offers practical strategies for making the most vital tasks the easiest ones. Honed over the better part of a decade.
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Aster - Five Minutes in the Morning: A Focus Journal
What if five minutes could change your routine and change your day? What if you checked in with how you are feeling for just those few minutes, maybe sitting down over that cup of coffee or tea, or quietly sitting by the window before you head towards the shower? All it takes is five minutes in the morning with this beautifully illustrated journal.
Writing things down has been shown to help people more successfully achieve their dreams and goals. It is a way to help us focus on what matters, prioritise what we are going to do for the day ahead and track our progress. Five Minutes in the Morning offers a beautiful space and creative exercises to encourage reflection and intention setting at the start of the day.
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Russ Harris - The 'Illustrated' Happiness Trap
Offers advice for living a richer, more meaningful life by letting go of the idea that we are always supposed to be happy, with the help of a self-administered acceptance and commitment therapy.
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Cathy Rentzenbrink - A Manual for Heartache
Cathy Rentzenbrink describes how she learnt to live with grief and loss and find joy in the world again. Uplifting and soothing, this book offers solidarity to anyone going through loss, leaving them reassured of the light at the end of the tunnel.
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MIND - Take a Moment: Activities to Refocus, Recentre and Relax Wherever You Are
A practical and accessible guide to self care, Take a Moment offers support with actionable steps and short, easy to follow self care techniques. A must-have for anyone looking to find a moment of calm in the craziness of today's world.
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Aaron Gillies - How To Survive the End of the World (When It's in Your Own Head)
Although at times like these it might currently feel like the end of the world, sufferers from anxiety wake up with that feeling daily. Examining the impact of anxiety, Aaron Gillies also provides readers with tools to fight back in this hilarious and moving guide.
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Nicole LePera - How To Do The Work
As a clinical psychologist, Dr Nicole LePera found herself frustrated by the limitations of traditional psychotherapy. Wanting more for her patients - and for herself - she began a journey to develop a united philosophy of mental, physical and spiritual health that equips people with the tools necessary to heal themselves. After experiencing the life-changing results herself, she began to share what she'd learned with others - and The Holistic Psychologist was born.
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Glennon Doyle - Untamed
In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and "patron saint of female empowerment" (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others' expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us.
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Richard Carlson - Stop Thinking, Start Living: Discover Lifelong Happiness
In this indispensable handbook, Richard Carlson demonstrates how we can change everything in our lives – earn more money, meet new friends, get a new job – yet still feel dissatisfied. Happiness, he says, is not 'out there' but within, a state of mind that is independent of circumstance: 'If you begin to see that your thoughts are not the real thing – they're just thoughts and as thoughts they can't hurt you – your entire life will begin to change today.'
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Claire Eastham - We're All Mad Here: The No-Nonsense Guide to Living with Social Anxiety
Anxiety is a crafty shapeshifter that can take on many forms: the tiger that sinks its claws in with physical symptoms and distressing thoughts, the cruel and belittling bully creating insecurity and self-doubt and, worst of all, the frenemy rewarding avoidance of social situations with no physical symptoms, no cruel thoughts... and no life beyond your sofa!
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Olivia Sagan - The Recovery Letters: Addressed to People Experiencing Depression
In 2012, The Recovery Letters was launched to host a series of letters online written by people recovering from depression, addressed to those currently affected by a mental health condition. Addressed to 'Dear You', the inspirational and heartfelt letters provided hope and support to those experiencing depression and were testament that recovery was possible.
This powerful collection of personal letters from people with first-hand experiences of depression will serve as a comforting resource for anyone on the journey to recovery.
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The Wellness Society - Coronavirus Anxiety Workbook
A really useful workbook to provide support for anyone struggling with anxiety due to Covid19
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Fearne Cotton - Happy, Calm & Quiet
These three books also tie in with her Journals (named the same) to work on daily reflection for anxiety, depression and improving self-esteem.
Dr Emma Hepburn – A Toolkit for Modern Life
This book is filled with practical tools for taking care of your mental health, self-care, and self-esteem.
Dr Sarah Edelman – Change Your Thinking with CBT:
Overcome Stress, Combat Anxiety and Improve your Life
All of us experience complicated thoughts and feelings as we negotiate the day and these feelings can be difficult to manage. Sometimes we are aware that the way we think contributes to our difficulties, but don't know what to do about it
Matt Haig – The Comfort Book
It is a strange paradox, that many of the clearest, most comforting life lessons are learned while we are at our lowest. But then we never think about food more than when we are hungry and we never think about life rafts more than when we are thrown overboard. A great book, for anyone struggling with depression or anxiety.
The Comfort Book is a collection of consolations learned in hard times and suggestions for making the bad days better.
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Jeffrey E Young - Reinventing your Life (and feel great again)
Offering an innovative approach to solving long term emotional problems, based on the proven principles of cognitive therapy. This guide shows how to effectively change negative thought patterns.
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Catherine Price - How to break up with your phone
It's the first thing you reach for when you wake, it's the last thing you see before you sleep. Explores the addiction around phones, and provides an easy to follow plan to help you conquer your phone addiction in 30 days.
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