Books that have shaped my work.

  • Complex PTSD & Trauma

    Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems — Frank G. Anderson

    Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving — Pete Walker

    The Complex PTSD Treatment Manual — Arielle Schwartz, PhD

    The Tao of Fully Feeling: Harvesting Forgiveness Out of Blame — Pete Walker

    When There Are No Words: Repairing Early Trauma and Neglect From the Attachment Period with EMDR Therapy — Sandra L Paulsen, PhD

    Nurturing Resilience: Helping Clients Move Forward from Developmental Trauma — Kathy L. Kain, PhD, and Stephen J. Terrell, PsyD

    The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture — Gabor MD, Daniel Mate

    The Body Keeps Score: Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma — Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk

    Healing Trauma by Dr. Peter Levine

    Waking the Tiger — Dr. Peter Levine

    Burnout: The Secret to Unloing the Stress Cycle — Emily Nagoski, PhD

  • Attachment-Based & Trauma-Informed Parenting

    Parenting from the Inside Out — Dan Siegel, MD

    The Whole Brain Child — Dan Siegel, MD + Tina Payne Bryson, PhD

    No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame — Janet Julian

    No-Drama Discipline — Dan Siegel, MD & Tina Payne Bryson, PhD

    Simplicity Parenting — Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross

    Attached at the Heart — Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker

    Trauma-Proofing Your Kids by Maggie Kline and Dr. Peter A. Levine

    Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes by Dr. Peter Levine and Maggie Kline

    You are Your Child’s First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy

    Parenting in the Present Moment — Carola Naumburg, PhD

    The Neurobehavioral and Social-Emotional Development of Infants and Children — Ed Tronick

    The Power of Discord: Why the Ups and Downs of Relationships Are the Secret to Building Intimacy, Resilience, and Trust — Ed Tronick

    Children’s Social and Emotional Development Starts with Co-regulation — National Institute for Children’s Health Quality

  • Family Dysfunction, Emotionally Immature Parents, & Narcissistic Parenting

    Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents— Lindsay C. Gibson PhD

    Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents: Practical Tools to Establish Boundaries and Reclaim your Emotional Autonomy — Lindsay C. Gibson PhD

    Rejected, Shamed, and Blamed: Help and Hope for Adults in the Family Scapegoat Role — Rebecca C. Mandeville MFT

    Adult Children Secrets of Dysfunctional Families — John Friel and Linda Friel

    The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People — Shahida Arabi, MA

    It’s Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People — Ramani Durvashula, PhD

    The Origins of You: How Breaking Family Patterns Can Liberate the Way We Live and Love — Vienna Pharaon, LMFT

    Healing the Adult Children of Narcissists — Shahida Arabi

    Adult Survivors of Toxic Family Members: Tools to Maintain Boundaries, Deal with Criticism, and Heal from Shame After Ties Have Been Cut — Dr. Sherrie Campbell PhD

    But It’s Your Family: Cutting Ties with Toxic Family Members and Loving Yourself in the Aftermath — Dr. Sherrie Campbell PhD

    Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life — Dr. Susan Forward

    Children of the Self Absorbed: A Grown Up’s Guide to Getting Over Narcissic Parents by Nina W. Brown

  • Childhood Abuse

    Stalking the Soul: Emotional Abuse and the Erosion of Identity — Marie-France Hirigoyen

    It Wasn’t Your Fault: Freeing Yourself From the Shame of Childhood Abuse with the Power of Self-Compassion —Beverly Engel, LMFT

    Healing from Hidden Abuse: A Journey Through the Stages of Recovery from Psychological Abuse — Shannon Thomas, LCSW

    Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse —Carolyn Ainscough and Kay Toon

    The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse — Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

    The Right to Innocence: Healing the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse —Beverly Engel, M.F.C.C

    Healing Sex: A Mind Body Approach to Healing Sexual Trauma by Staci Haines

    I Never Told Anyone: Writings by Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Edited — Ellen Bass and Louise Thornton

    Cry the Darkness: One Woman’s Triumph Over the Tragedy of Incest by Donna Friess PhD

    Family Secrets: The Path From Shame to Healing by John Bradshaw

    Healing the Shame that Binds You by John Bradshaw

    A Light in the Dark: The Hidden Legacy of Adult Children of Sex Addicts —Kenneth M. Adams, PhD, Mary E. Meyers, phD, LFMT, and Culle L. Vande Garde, LCSW

    Healing from Sexual Trauma: A Somatic Guided Therapy for Therapists and Adults Survivors —Genevieve Thorne MA LPC, Mable MMA PhD

  • Poisonous Pedagogy & Hurtful Parenting

    A Collection of Alice Miller’s Work:

    The Drama of a Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self

    The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Hurtful Parenting

    The Truth Will Set You Free: Overcoming Emotional Blindness and Finding Your True Adult Self

    The Untouched Key: Tracing Childhood Trauma in Creativity and Destructiveness

    Breaking Down the Wall of Silence: Liberating Experience of Facing Painful Truth

    Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society’s Betrayal of the Child

    For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

    Banished Knowledge: Facing Childhood Injuries

  • Mother Wound

    Mother’s Who Can’t Love: A Healing Guide for Daughters — Susan Forward, PhD

    You’re Not Crazy It’s Your Mother: Freedom for Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers —Danu Morrigan

    The Emotionally Absent Mother: How to Recognize and Heal the Invisible Effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect — Jasmin Lee Cori, MS, LPC

    Adult Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers: Quiet the Critical Voice in Your Head, Heal Self Doubt, and Live the Life you Deserve— Stephanie M. Kriesberg

    Daughter Detox — Peg Streep

    The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade — Ann Fessler

  • Parts Work

    Healing the Child Within by Charles L Witfield M.D Radical Acceptance of Everything — Ann Weiser Cornell

    Greater than the Sum of Your Parts —Dr. Richard Schwartz

    No Bad Parts — Richard Schwartz, PhD

    Internal Family Systems Therapy with Children — Lisa Spiegel

    Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual — Frank G. Anderson, MD, Martha Sweezy, PhD, Richard C. Schwartz, PhD

    The Others Within Us — Robert Falconer

  • Healthy Boundaries

    Your Perfect Right: Assertiveness and Quality in Your Life and Relationships — Robert Alberti, PhD and Michael Emmons, PhD

    When I say No, I feel Guilty — Manual J. Smith, PhD

    Set Boundaries, Find Peace — Nedra Glover Tawwab

    Non-violent Communication —Marshall B Ronsebergy, PhD

  • General Grief and Healing

    Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief — Joanne Cacciatore

    The After Grief: Finding Your Way Along the Long Arc of Loss — Hope Edelman

    It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand — Megan Devine

    How to Carry What Can't Be Fixed: A Journal for Grief — Megan Devine

    The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief — Francis Weller

    Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair — Miriam Greenspan

    On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler

    Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief — David Kessler

    Hope and Help for Your Nerves — Claire Weekes

    Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions — James W. Pennebaker

    Saying Goodbye — Zoe Clark-Coates

  • Pregnancy & Infant loss

    Stillborn Still Loved — Hailey Ricks

    Rebirth: The Journey of Pregnancy After Loss — Joey Miller, MSW LCSW

    You're the Only One I've Told: Stories Behind Abortion — Dr. Meera Shah

    Empty Cradle, Broken Heart — Deborah Davis

    You Are the Mother of All Mothers: A Message of Hope for the Grieving Heart — Angela Miller

    A Gift of Time — Amy Kuebelbeck and Deborah Davis PhD

    Waiting for Gabriel — Amy Kuebelbeck

    Birth Story Held for Loss — Emily Souder

    To Tend & To Hold — Eileen S. Rosete

    Growing Up in Heaven: The Eternal Connection Between Parent and Child — James Van Praagh

    Finding Hope When a Child Dies: What Other Cultures Can Teach Us — Sukie Miller

    Three Minus One: Stories of Parents' Love and Loss — Edited by Sean Hanish and Brooke Warner

    There Was Supposed to Be A Baby: A Guide to Healing After Pregnancy Loss — Catherine Noblitt Keating

    Stillborn: The Invisible Death — John Defrain

    They Were Still Born: Personal Stories About Stillbirth — Janel Atlas

    Almost a Mother — Christy Wompat

    Unexpecting: Real Talk on Pregnancy Loss — Rachel Lewis

    From the Lake House: A Mother's Odyssey of Loss and Love — Kristen Rademacher

    The Still Point of the Turning World — Emily Rapp Black

    An Exact Replica of A Figment of My Imagination — Elizabeth McCracken

    I’m Sorry for My Loss — Rebecca Little and Colleen Long

    Conquering Infertility — Alice Domar

    The Infertility Workbook — Barbara Blitzer

    The Infertility Survival Handbook — Elizabeth Swire-Falker

    Grieving Dads: To The Brink and Back — Kelly Farley with David Dicola

    When Men Grieve: Why Men Grieve Differently and How You Can Help — Elizabeth Levang

  • Spirituality, Soul Journeys, and the Afterlife

    Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives — Michael Newton

    Life Between Lives: Hypnotherapy for Spiritual Regression — Michael Newton

    Many Lives, Many Masters — Brian L. Weiss

    The Instruction: Living the Life Your Soul Intended — Ainslie Macleod

    Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born — Robert Schwartz

    The Light Between Us — Laura Lynne Jackson

    Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe — Laura Lynne Jackson

    Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Near-Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife — Eben Alexander

    Dying to Know You: Proof of God in the Near-Death Experience — P.M.H. Atwater

    Across Time and Death: A Mother’s Search for Her Past Life Children — Jenny Cockell

    Spirit Babies: How to Communicate With the Child You Were Meant to Have — Walter Makichen