Books That Have Shaped My Thinking
If you’re exploring yourself…
What My Bones Know -Stephanie Foo
A beautifully written memoir of healing from complex trauma that weaves together personal experience, neuroscience, and therapy. Honest, hopeful, and deeply validating for anyone living with the lasting impacts of trauma.
My Grandmother's Hands — Resmaa Menakem
A somatic approach to understanding racialized trauma — in the body, across generations, and within communities. Urgent, embodied, and unlike anything else in the field.
The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs — Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
A visionary collection of essays imagining disability justice, collective care, and accessible futures. Both practical and political, it challenges us to rethink whose needs are centered and what true interdependence can look like.
An exploration of disability justice that moves beyond individual resilience toward community, mutual aid, and collective care. A powerful reminder that care is something we create together.
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice — Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good — Adrienne Maree Brown
A joyful invitation to imagine liberation through pleasure, connection, and embodiment rather than sacrifice alone. A hopeful and expansive reimagining of activism, healing, and what it means to thrive.
Unmasking Autism — Devon Price
A compassionate, research-backed exploration of autistic masking — who does it, why, and what it costs. Affirming and validating for autistic readers and those who love them.
If you’re interested in relationships…
Polysecure — Jessica Fern
A book applying attachment theory to ethical non-monogamy. Essential reading for anyone in or working with people in non-traditional relationship structures.
Polywise — Jessica Fern
Fern's follow-up to Polysecure, going deeper into the relational and systemic complexities of polyamorous life. Thoughtful, nuanced, and clinically informed.
If you like interactive…
The Transgender Resilience Workbook — Anneliese Singh
A practical, affirming workbook for trans and nonbinary people navigating resilience, identity, and community. Grounded in research and deeply human.
The Neurodivergent Friendly Workbook of DBT Skills — Sonny Jane Wise
DBT skills reimagined for neurodivergent brains — adapted, accessible, and genuinely useful. A standout in a crowded field of DBT workbooks.
All Parts Welcome — Sand Chang
An IFS-informed guide for trans and nonbinary people, written with deep care and clinical wisdom. A rare book that holds both therapeutic depth and genuine affirmation.
If you’re a therapist…
A Clinician's Guide to Gender-Affirming Care — Sand Chang, Annaliese Singh, & lore m. dickey
A practical and affirming clinical resource for working with transgender and gender-diverse clients. Recommended for clinicians at any stage of developing their practice.
The Care We Dream Of — Edited by Zena Sharman
A visionary anthology imagining what liberatory, queer- and trans-affirming healthcare could look like. Expansive, hopeful, and grounded in lived experience.
Neurodivergent Somatics in Therapy — Nyck Walsh
A somatic and neurodivergent-affirming approach to therapy. Grounded in body-based practice and written for clinicians working with neurodivergent clients.
Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing your Practice — Jennifer Mullan
An invitation to examine how oppression, colonialism, and intergenerational trauma shape mental health and therapeutic practice. It encourages therapists and clients alike to move beyond individual pathology toward collective healing and liberation.
Trauma and Recovery — Judith Herman
A foundational text that transformed the field's understanding of trauma, linking interpersonal violence with broader social and political contexts. Decades later, it remains essential reading for understanding trauma and recovery.
If you enjoy big ideas…
Neuroqueer Heresies — Nick Walker
A collection of essays that reframe autism, ADHD, and neurodivergence through a queer and critical lens. Foundational for anyone interested in neuroqueer theory.
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds — Adrienne Maree Brown
A hopeful exploration of how small interactions shape larger systems. Drawing inspiration from nature, it offers a vision of change rooted in relationship, adaptation, and collective transformation rather than control.
Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity’s Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism — Vanessa Machado De Oliveira
A thoughtful invitation to question many of the assumptions underlying modern Western society. Rather than offering simple solutions, it encourages humility, uncertainty, and new ways of relating to ourselves, one another, and the planet.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants — Robin Wall Kimmerer
A beautiful weaving of Indigenous knowledge, ecology, and scientific inquiry that invites a more reciprocal relationship with the natural world. A gentle reminder that gratitude, care, and interdependence are practices as much as ideas.