Suggested
reading

Suggested
reading

Self Awareness/Help

  • Bonds that Make Us Free (Warner) – “A groundbreaking book that suggests the remedy for our troubling emotions by addressing their root causes. You’ll learn how in ways we scarcely suspect, we are responsible for feelings like anger, envy, and insecurity that we have blamed on others.”
  • Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger) – “The concepts in this book are powerful. They are fundamental to success whether in school, business, and perhaps most importantly in the home.”
  • Anatomy of Peace ~Resolving the Heart of Conflict~ (Arbinger) – “Parents struggling with a child who’s disobedient, disrespectful, etc. People create more restrictive mindsets that block their ability to be truthful with themselves and effective with others. This book helps you explore the notion that all conflicts have the same root cause and can be resolved, once people learn to break the chains of self-deception.”
  • Changing for the Good (Prochaska) – “A Revolutionary six-stage program for overcoming bad habits and moving your life positively forward.”
  • Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl) – “What matters is not the meaning of life in general but the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.”
  • The Four Agreements (Ruiz) – “A wealth of useful guidelines for living your dream, but the job of implementing them and breaking free of the old agreements is where the real work lies. This book has the potential to change your life – if you’ll let it. But it takes willingness.”
  • Tao Te Ching (Lao Tsu) – “A simple, quiet book that reflects upon our true nature and our behavior. Broken up into 81 ‘chapters’ or short poems, it comprises a mere 5,000 words. Every other sentence is a memorable quote, and one can read it in an hour and study it for a lifetime.”
  • Tao of Pooh / Te of Piglet (Hoffman)  – “Things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, a power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed. The Way, way of the universe, its natural balance harmony retreats with man’s interference. Through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others perceive as negative into something positive.”
  • The Alchemist (Coelho) – “The novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening to “the signs” the boy ventures in his personal, Ulysses-like journey of exploration and self-discovery, symbolically searching.”
  • The Hiding Place (Ten Boom) – “This moving account illustrates how one’s faith may provide the moral fiber to one’s character; allowing one to keep moving forward even amidst inhumane conditions, including the despair and lack of dignity of war.”

Parenting Help

Mothers

  • How to Talk So Your Teens Will Listen & Listen So Your Teens will Talk (Faber, Mazlish) – “A breakthrough guide for building better relationships between parents and teenagers. Parents will learn the conversational skills they need to help their teens grow up responsibly and make wise, safe decisions for themselves.
  • Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger) – “The concepts in this book are powerful. They are fundamental to success whether in school, business, and perhaps most importantly in the home.”
  • Anatomy of Peace ~Resolving the Heart of Conflict~ (Arbinger) – “Parents struggling with a child who’s disobedient, disrespectful, etc. People create more restrictive mindsets that block their ability to be truthful with themselves and effective with others. This book helps you explore the notion that all conflicts have the same root cause and can be resolved, once people learn to break the chains of self-deception.”
  • Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl) – “What matters is not the meaning of life in general but the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.”
  • The Four Agreements (Ruiz)  – “A wealth of useful guidelines for living your dream, but the job of implementing them and breaking free of the old agreements is where the real work lies. This book has the potential to change your life – if you’ll let it. But it takes willingness.”
  • White Oleander (Fitch) – “An unforgettable story of Astrid’s journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned.”
  • Real Boys~ Rescuing our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood (Pollack) – “Over and over again Pollack reminds us that simply listening to your sons with love and without judgment can make a critical difference as they struggle with the complexities of growing up and becoming young men in our perilous society. And, most importantly of all, we support them by giving them the gift of bountiful love in a form they can accept and even cherish. This simple truth may be this book’s most valuable lesson.”
  • Living With a Brother/Sister w/Special Needs (Meyer/Vadasy)
  • Understanding your Child’s Problems (Ketterman)
  • Siblings Without Rivalry (Faber/Mazlish)

Fathers

  • How to Talk so your Teens will Listen & Listen so your Teens will Talk (Faber, Mazlish) – A breakthrough guide for building better relationships between parents and teenagers. Parents will learn the conversational skills they need to help their teens grow up responsibly and make wise, safe decisions for themselves.
  • Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger) – “The concepts in this book are powerful. They are fundamental to success whether in school, business, and perhaps most importantly in the home.”
  • Anatomy of Peace ~Resolving the Heart of Conflict (Arbinger) – “Parents struggling with a child who’s disobedient, disrespectful, etc. People create more restrictive mindsets that block their ability to be truthful with themselves and effective with others. This book helps you explore the notion that all conflicts have the same root cause and can be resolved, once people learn to break the chains of self-deception.”
  • Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl) – “What matters is not the meaning of life in general but the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.”
  • The Four Agreements (Ruiz)  – “A wealth of useful guidelines for living your dream, but the job of implementing them and breaking free of the old agreements is where the real work lies. This book has the potential to change your life – if you’ll let it. But it takes willingness.”
  • Real Boys~ Rescuing our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood (Pollack) – “Over and over again Pollack reminds us that simply listening to your sons with love and without judgment can make a critical difference as they struggle with the complexities of growing up and becoming young men in our perilous society. And, most importantly of all, we support them by giving them the gift of bountiful love in a form they can accept and even cherish. This simple truth may be this book’s most valuable lesson.”

Communication

  • Bonds that Make Us Free (Warner) – “A groundbreaking book that suggests the remedy for our troubling emotions by addressing their root causes. You’ll learn how in ways we scarcely suspect, we are responsible for feelings like anger, envy, and insecurity that we have blamed on others.”
  • Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger) – “The concepts in this book are powerful. They are fundamental to success whether in school, business, and perhaps most importantly in the home.”
  • Relationship Rules (Hoffman) – “Life is about overcoming roadblocks. Relationship Rules provides insights and simple solutions to difficult relationship issues so they don’t stop you from enjoying your life and your love.”
  • Anatomy of Peace ~Resolving the Heart of Conflict (Arbinger) –  “Parents struggling with a child who’s disobedient, disrespectful, etc. People create more restrictive mindsets that block their ability to be truthful with themselves and effective with others. This book helps you explore the notion that all conflicts have the same root cause and can be resolved, once people learn to break the chains of self-deception.”
  • How to Talk so your Teens will Listen & Listen so your Teens will Talk (Faber, Mazlish) – A breakthrough guide for building better relationships between parents and teenagers. Parents will learn the conversational skills they need to help their teens grow up responsibly and make wise, safe decisions for themselves.
  • The Four Agreements (Ruiz) – “A wealth of useful guidelines for living your dream, but the job of implementing them and breaking free of the old agreements is where the real work lies. This book has the potential to change your life – if you’ll let it. But it takes willingness.”
  • Tao Te Ching (Lao Tsu)  -“A simple, quiet book that reflects upon our true nature and our behavior. Broken up into 81 ‘chapters’ or short poems, it comprises a mere 5,000 words. Every other sentence is a memorable quote, and one can read it in an hour and study it for a lifetime.”
  • Tao of Pooh / Te of Piglet (Hoffman)  – “Things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, a power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed. The Way, way of the universe, its natural balance harmony retreats with man’s interference. Through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others perceive as negative into something positive.

Depression

  • Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl) – “What matters is not the meaning of life in general but the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.”
  • Tao Te Ching (Lao Tsu) – “A simple, quiet book that reflects upon our true nature and our behavior. Broken up into 81 ‘chapters’ or short poems, it comprises a mere 5,000 words. Every other sentence is a memorable quote, and one can read it in an hour and study it for a lifetime.”
  • Tao of Pooh / Te of Piglet (Hoffman)  – “Things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, a power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed. The Way, way of the universe, its natural balance harmony retreats with man’s interference. Through working in harmony with life’s circumstances, Taoist understanding changes what others perceive as negative into something positive.
  • The Alchemist (Coelho)  – “The novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening to “the signs” the boy ventures in his personal, Ulysses-like journey of exploration and self-discovery, symbolically searching.”
  • The Hiding Place (Ten Boom) – “This moving account illustrates how one’s faith may provide the moral fiber to one’s character; allowing one to keep moving forward even amidst inhumane conditions, including the despair and lack of dignity of war.”

Substance Abuse

  • A Million Little Pieces (Frey)  – “James Frey is a brutally explicit, honest novel about what Frey went through in a drug/alcohol rehab center. It not only focused on his experiences in the rehab center, but it also gave some insight into the horrible things that happened to him and that he did while using – the incomprehensible life of an addict. The book made me laugh, made me ill, it shocked and saddened me, and I cried at the end. It made me appreciate NOT having to go through what James Frey went through. The book sadly tells the statistics – only 15% of those that leave the treatment center, actually “recover and stay clean.”

Oppositional Defiant Disorder

  • Touching Spirit Bear (Mikaelsen) “Mikaelsen gives us a full picture of teenage Cole’s troubled personality, his life, his chances, and his painful growth. He paints a picture of an angry, out-of-control teen that resists, wrestles with, and finally accepts, the chance to face responsibility for his choices.
  • The Four Agreements (Ruiz)  – “A wealth of useful guidelines for living your dream, but the job of implementing them and breaking free of the old agreements is where the real work lies. This book has the potential to change your life – if you’ll let it. But it takes willingness.”
  • Anatomy of Peace ~Resolving the Heart of Conflict (Arbinger) – “Parents struggling with a child who’s disobedient, disrespectful, etc. People create more restrictive mindsets that block their ability to be truthful with themselves and effective with others. This book helps you explore the notion that all conflicts have the same root cause and can be resolved, once people learn to break the chains of self-deception.”
  • Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Milman) – “This classic tale, told with heart and humor, speaks to the peaceful warrior in each of us, moving readers to laughter and tears — even to moments of illumination — as they rediscover life’s larger meaning and purpose. The book was written 25 years ago and the film of the book was released this year.”
  • Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours (Leman)
  • The Strong-Willed Child (Dobson)

Identity Issues

Grief/Loss

  • Tao Te Ching (Lao Tsu) – “A simple, quiet book that reflects upon our true nature and our behavior. Broken up into 81 ‘chapters’ or short poems, it comprises a mere 5,000 words. Every other sentence is a memorable quote, and one can read it in an hour and study it for a lifetime.”
  • The Hiding Place (Ten Boom)  – “This moving account illustrates how one’s faith may provide the moral fiber to one’s character; allowing one to keep moving forward even amidst inhumane conditions, including the despair and lack of dignity of war.
  • White Oleander (Fitch) – “An unforgettable story of Astrid’s journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned.”
  • A Child Called It (Pelzer)  – “David Pelzer writes a compelling account of his struggles as a young boy who faces the grueling and hateful attacks of his alcoholic mother. His once loving and beautiful “mommy”, embraces the bottle when relationships in her life leave her disillusioned and angry. As the whiskey flows, so does her obscenities as she mercilessly starves and beats her son. David courageously faces all her abuse, and wills up the mental fortitude to outwit her at her own “games”. His perseverance and will to survive kept him going through long days with no food, no warm clothes, and no love. Even after his mother stabbed him, pushed him downstairs, and made him breathe toxic fumes, David picked himself up and dressed his own wounds. Teachers at his school witness daily the bruises, neglect, and starvation. Bravely, they keep a journal in the nurses’ station of every new wound David bears each day. He begs them not to tell “the secret” of his mothers’ abuse, but they know something has to be done for this precious child. A child his mother calls “It”.

Low Self-Esteem

  • Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl) – “What matters is not the meaning of life in general but the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.”
  • Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger) – “The concepts in this book are powerful. They are fundamental to success whether in school, business, and perhaps most importantly in the home.”
  • Tao Te Ching (Lao Tsu) – “A simple, quiet book that reflects upon our true nature and our behavior. Broken up into 81 ‘chapters’ or short poems, it comprises a mere 5,000 words. Every other sentence is a memorable quote, and one can read it in an hour and study it for a lifetime.”
  • The Hiding Place (Ten Boom) – “This moving account illustrates how one’s faith may provide the moral fiber to one’s character; allowing one to keep moving forward even amidst inhumane conditions, including the despair and lack of dignity of war.”
  • Way of the Peaceful Warrior (Milman) – “This classic tale, told with heart and humor, speaks to the peaceful warrior in each of us, moving readers to laughter and tears — even to moments of illumination — as they rediscover life’s larger meaning and purpose. The book was written 25 years ago and the film of the book was released this year.”

Non-Verbal Learning Disorder (NLD)

  • Raising NLD Superstars (Rubinstein) – What families with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities need to know about nurturing confident, competent kids.

Intermitent Explosive Disorder

  • Touching Spirit Bear (Mikaelsen)  – “Mikaelsen gives us a full picture of teenage Cole’s troubled personality, his life, his chances, and his painful growth. He paints a picture of an angry, out-of-control teen that resists, wrestles with, and finally accepts, the chance to face responsibility for his choices.