4 Steps to Creating Your Own Bibliotherapy Journey At Home

1. Identify personal themes:

Reflect on specific challenges or areas of personal growth you want to explore through reading - this could be therapeutic purposes or for personal interest.

2. Curate a reading list: 

Select books that resonate with your goals, whether fiction or non-fiction, and vary genres for a holistic approach. (Refer to Chapter 11 of our book, Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading which details the specific curation methodology we use at Book Therapy. You might also find Chapter 12 helpful in inspiring your reading lists arranged by an A-Z of universal mental health and self-care themes.)

3. Literary Journaling:

Keep a reflective journal prompted by literature to capture your thoughts, emotions, and insights during and after reading sessions. Chapter 3 of the book outlines this 'Literary Journaling' method in more detail.

4. Join a book club or support group:

Connect with others who share similar interests, fostering community and discussion around shared readings.

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A big hello and thank you for reading. Passionate about literature, psychology, and life I launched Book Therapy as an alternative form of therapy using the power of literature. I offer bibliotherapy sessions and curate reading lists/personalised book prescriptions for clients based on their individual needs. This is our signature personalised reading service.

I train mental health professionals, librarians, teachers as well as readers on using bibliotherapy in their own work through our online Bibliotherapy, Literature and Mental Health course).

You can also check out Book Therapy’s other free reading lists and A- Z of book prescriptions (covering both fiction and non-fiction). These suggest books based on your existing life situation (e.g. anxiety, job change, relationship heartache) as well as interests (e.g memoir, historical fiction, non-fiction, crime etc).

There’s also a Children’s A — Z of Book Prescriptions. Feel free to check out the blog for more literary gems. There’s also a post on my personal story of how I entered the world of bibliotherapy and book curation.

In this role, I have had the opportunity to publish two books called Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading and The Happiness Mindset, and write various literary essays and pieces for newspapers and magazines.

I have undertaken bibliotherapy workshops for The United Nations, various libraries in New York and corporate organisations in the UK and US. My book recommendations have featured in the Guardian, Marie Claire, NBC News, Asian Voice, New York Observer, Sydney Telegraph and various other publications.

If you are a parent you might enjoy a podcast I’ve recorded with speech and language therapist Sunita Shah on Raising A Reader & Storyteller. And if you’d like to connect, email me at bijal@booktherapy.io