what is therapeutic book club?

bibliotherapy group

Have you ever read a book that resonated deeply, but had no one to talk to about it? Do you want to become part of a community of healing and connection, share your experience, and listen to other folks’ wisdom on mental health topics? Are you interested in having a space to talk about the content and impact of books related to mental health, that is facilitated by a licensed therapist?

Therapeutic Book Club is a weekly, in-person, facilitated discussion group of a mental health-themed book that opens the door to deeper exploration, connection, and change. Radical love, conflict, joy, empowerment, grief, collective healing, change, and minority health are among topics we’ll be engaging with. A variety of books will be used – memoir, theory, workbook, essays and even some fiction or poetry! Texts written by BIPOC and 2SLGBTQ+ folks will be prioritized!

How Therapeutic Book Club is NOT like group therapy:

Therapeutic Book Club is not group therapy in the traditional sense – there will be no presentation, no lesson, no homework, and no formal participation. I do not position myself as the expert – I am right there with you as we take in new ideas and reflect on our own lives, experiences, and communities. As facilitator, I will work on engaging participants in creating, discovering and applying new insights in a fully collaborative way.

How Therapeutic Book Club IS like group therapy:

Therapeutic Book Club is not a space to work through personal crises or trauma in discussion. I won’t be keeping progress notes on anyone.

Therapeutic Book Club will function like a therapy group by establishing guidelines for safety, emphasizing confidentiality, and having the opportunity to talk (and listen) about what you’re learning. This is an actively anti-oppressive space, so we’ll talk about what that looks like for the group. Therapeutic Book Club will be a closed group – meaning, the folks who start the month, end the month. Each month there will be a new group whose members may change. As for records – a name and contact email, as well as a consent form are the only records being kept.

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