This is the book to get if you’re in the first few months or years of counselling. Packed with reassuring wisdom. Concise, reference-able, and practical while also covering the internal/personal dimension effectively. A beautiful and mature guide for when we feel new and confused. I would’ve killed for this book during my training!

The master of process. I used to ask my graduate students to read this before arriving for their first day. Cozolino’s Making of a Therapist has since taken that place, but I love this book. Yalom is warm, insightful, and gives an amazingly concise look into dozens of human moments in therapy, all of which we can learn from.

Poignant, potent, and blessedly succinct. A look at human nature in horrific circumstances, and how the search for meaning interacts with trauma and living. Frankl shares his story and then his theory of logotherapy. It’s powerful, existential, and affecting. Well worth your time.

Chow is smart and passionate, and he wants us to have fewer single sessions in therapy. His book is straightforward and useful for new therapists. If your clients don’t come back to see you, read it! It’s packed with tips on how to be more engaging right away and has been a game-changer for many therapists.

A landmark book that is still relevant today, and it’s a good introduction to outcome informed treatment, research around common factors in therapy and how to incorporate these into day to day practice. The authors continue similar work today, with Scott Miller doing so perhaps most notably, via the Centre for Clinical Excellence.

Packed with good, technical info looking at how to continue improving therapeutic skills over a career, and how to practice more effectively. It’s best to pick up and only read selected chapters at a time; trying to read it straight through feels like reading a textbook. Each chapter is by a different author and I found solid value in this text.

A widely appreciated look into trauma, this book covers childhood trauma and adult experiences as well as some methods of approaching it. It’s powerful and, frankly, a heavy read a times given the subject matter. But it’s real life and we see clients living these experiences all the time. Some of us are living them ourselves.

A classic for working with clients who are grieving a loss of some kind. The authors delve into how to talk about grief, how different people process grief, and how to normalize the journey of loss. Their book “On Death and Dying” is also good, but it’s focused more on how to help people who are dying, rather than those who are grieving.

This is a straightforward and comprehensive look at ACT, which itself is a useful approach for many moments in therapy. The book’s full of good examples and ways to apply tools (as is Hayes’ website in the ACT toolkit section), though consider putting tabs in to note exercises you like because the book isn’t easily reference-able later.

A classic in the field, more suitable as a reference than a book to read through. It lays CBT out in a thorough and clear way, giving one idea of how to approach therapy that some newer folks find quite appealing. I took value from it without becoming a zealot, and I think it’s worth a look. Updated edition from late 2020.

A superb and succinct introduction to narrative therapy, which itself is flexible, creative, and enjoyable to play with in session. Morgan demystifies what may otherwise seem like a complex academic exercise and boosts clinician confidence that they can try this modality out. A short and useful overview.

A useful text from a specialist in treating depression—one of the most common concerns we see clients for. Yapko has many excellent ideas and shares them here in a concise way. Watch an interview or podcast with him as well; his efforts really upgraded my work with clients on depression. Foundational and specific.

Rosenberg explores effective, heartfelt communication in this excellent resource. It’s granular and a great reference for teaching or learning specific skills. He uses clear examples and illuminates problem-areas of discussion while also giving solid ways to remedy concerns. Being able to communicate in a healthy way is life-changing, and this book is great for anyone, especially couples, work concerns, or anger issues.

A beautiful book full of vulnerability and clear examples, with a partial focus on mindfulness. Our culture is very competitive and individualistic, leaving many people to suffer from self-judgement and self-rejection. Neff shows us how to actively love ourselves, not to simply stop being hard on ourselves. My favorite read from 2021, though some of her discussions about her autistic son are strange.

Parenting does come with a manual—Siegal wrote it for us! An invaluable resource for parents looking for some guidance. Group therapy is also great for parents, and “Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents” by Lyons almost took this place, but Siegal discusses parenting and discipline in a direct and practical manner; it’s fantastic.