Recommended Reading List

At Holistically Divine Counseling (HDC), we believe in the transformative power of knowledge and self-discovery.

This curated selection of books reflects our commitment to supporting you on your journey toward personal growth, healing, and overall well-being. Whether you’re seeking practical techniques to navigate life’s challenges, a deeper understanding of psychological principles, or inspirational stories of resilience, this collection offers diverse resources to meet your needs. Each book has been chosen with care, aiming to provide you with insights, comfort, and the tools necessary to embark on a path of self-improvement and emotional empowerment. We may earn a commission when you purchase a book using the links below.

1-18 of 73 books
  • Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids
    • Parenting & Family
    Raising Good Humans: A Mindful Guide to Breaking the Cycle of Reactive Parenting and Raising Kind, Confident Kids

    By: Hunter Clarke-Fields MSAE, Carla Naumburg PhD

    With this book, you’ll find powerful mindfulness skills for calming your own stress response when difficult emotions arise. You’ll also discover strategies for cultivating respectful communication, effective conflict resolution, and reflective listening. In the process, you’ll learn to examine your own unhelpful patterns and ingrained reactions that reflect the generational habits shaped by your parents, so you can break the cycle and respond to your children in more skillful ways.

  • Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help YouFind - and Keep - Love
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help YouFind – and Keep – Love

    By: Amir Levine, Rachel Heller

    We already rely on science to tell us what to eat, when to exercise, and how long to sleep. Why not use science to help us improve our relationships? In this revolutionary book, psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel Heller scientifically explain why why some people seem to navigate relationships effortlessly, while others struggle.

  • Just as I Am
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Just as I Am

    By: Cicely Tyson

    “Just as I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. In these pages, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and a mother, a sister and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by his hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say.” –Cicely Tyson

  • The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help you Deserve
    • Healing & Trauma
    The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help you Deserve

    By: Rheeda Walker

    It’s time to reclaim your mental health. We can’t deny it any there is a Black mental health crisis in our world today. In addition, the effects of under-education, poverty, and systemic racism have greatly impacted African Americans’ access to effective mental health treatment. It’s time to take Black mental health seriously. It’s time to heal our psychological distress, find community, and combat marginalization in order to thrive.

  • The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity

    By: Netta Jenkins

    DEI is an 8-billion dollar industry that is not yet accessing its full potential through real solutions and results. However, through a powerful formula of policies and practices that motivate employees to be more socially and self-aware, The Inclusive Organization is a revolutionary yet practical resource for individuals at any stage of their career. Jenkins discusses human behavior, workplace psychology, and shares her DEI-tested framework for success.

  • The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color
    • Healing & Trauma
    The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color

    By: Natalie Y. Gutiérrez LMFT

    If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone.

  • Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe

    By: Craig Groeschel

    Do you ever wonder, “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” Do you wish you could see the evidence that prayer changes lives? Are you tired of playing it safe with your faith? In Dangerous Prayers, New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel helps you unlock your greatest potential and tackle your greatest fears by praying stronger, more passionate prayers that lead you into a deeper faith.

  • Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

    By: Brené Brown

    Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage. Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage.

  • Bring Yourself: How to Negotiate Fearlessly
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Bring Yourself: How to Negotiate Fearlessly

    By: Mori Taheripour

    Contrary to conventional wisdom about what makes a good negotiator – namely, being aggressive and unemotional – in Bring Yourself, Taheripour offers a radically different perspective. In her own life, and in her nearly 20 years of experience teaching negotiation, she’s found that the best negotiators are empathetic, curious, and present. The essence of bargaining isn’t the transaction, but the conversation and human connection. It is when we bring our whole, authentic selves to the table that we can advocate for ourselves fearlessly and find creative solutions that benefit everyone.

  • I’m Not Yelling: A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    I’m Not Yelling: A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace

    By: Elizabeth Leiba

    I’m Not Yelling is a strategy guide empowering Black businesswomen to combat workplace discrimination, redefine workplace culture, and find their voices in toxic work environments. Navigate corporate America fearlessly. Explore the data and hear the accounts of Black women in business who face, work through, and rise above workplace discrimination. This book offers a blueprint for Black women in business to tackle a toxic work environment and assert their rightful place. Facing obstacles such as imposter syndrome and structural racism, I’m Not Yelling arms you with the knowledge and strategy needed to succeed in the face of adversity.

  • After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love
    • Healing & Trauma
    After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love

    By: Alexandra Elle

    Part memoir and part guide, Elle shares stirring stories from her own remarkable journey from self-doubt to self-love. This soulful collection is filled with illuminating reflections on loss, fear, bravery, healing, love, acceptance, and more. Readers follow along her journey as she transforms challenging experiences—a difficult childhood, painful romantic relationships, and single parenting as a young mom—into fuel for her career as a successful entrepreneur and author driven by purpose and passion.

  • Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life

    By: Sarah Jakes Roberts

    Everyone faces trials, and everyone will mess up. But failure should not be the focus. Your focus should not be on who you were but rather the pursuit of who you can become. In Woman Evolve, Sarah helps you understand that your purpose in life does not change; it evolves.

  • The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You

    By: Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.

    Do you have a keen imagination and vivid dreams? Is time alone each day as essential to you as food and water? Are you noted for your empathy? Your conscientiousness? Do noise and confusion quickly overwhelm you? If your answers are yes, you may be a highly sensitive person (HSP) and Dr. Elaine Aron’s The Highly Sensitive Person is the life-changing guide you’ll want in your toolbox.

  • For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color

    By: Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez

    For generations, Brown girls have had to push against powerful forces of sexism, racism, and classism, often feeling alone in the struggle. By founding Latina Rebels, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez has created a community to help women fight together. In For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, she offers wisdom and a liberating path forward for all women of color.

  • My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
    • Healing & Trauma
    My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

    By: Resmaa Menakem

    In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

  • Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations

    By: William Ury

    In Getting Past No, William Ury of Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation offers a proven breakthrough strategy for turning adversaries into negotiating partners.

  • Help Me, I'm Stuck: Six Proven Methods to Shift Your Mindset From Self-Sabotage to Self-Improvement
    • Anxiety & Depression
    Help Me, I’m Stuck: Six Proven Methods to Shift Your Mindset From Self-Sabotage to Self-Improvement

    By: Vaughn Carter

    Are you dispirited and unfocused? Do you catch yourself being too harsh of a critic on your own actions? Do you want to change how you think about yourself but feel lost? If you found the above questions relatable, then there’s a good chance you’re stuck in a self-sabotaging mindset – one that revolves around negative thoughts that limit you from growing.

  • Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
    • Healing & Trauma
    Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself

    By: Melody Beattie

    Melody Beattie’s compassionate and insightful look into codependency—the concept of losing oneself in the name of helping another— has helped millions of readers understand that they are powerless to change anyone but themselves and that caring for the self is where healing begins.