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 76 books
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 100 Days of Believing Bigger: Devotional Journal
    • Faith & Spirituality
    100 Days of Believing Bigger: Devotional Journal

    By: Marshawn Evans Daniels

    Join reinvention strategist and life coach, Marshawn Evans Daniels on a 100 day devotional, journaling, prayer adventure and discover your true identity.

  • Soul Talk: How to Have the Most Important Conversation of All
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Soul Talk: How to Have the Most Important Conversation of All

    By: Dr. Kirk Byron Jones

    Though your soul may be more mystery to you than familiar reality, you are not a stranger to soul moments. When you smile for no reason, know something for sure without having learned it, or feel peace amid broken pieces, your soul is manifesting itself. Your soul is your pool of deep wisdom, peace, and joy within. Your soul is the part of you God held last as God released your free flight into the world.

  • The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People: How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People: How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators

    By: Shahida Arabi MA

    If you’re a highly sensitive person, or identify as an “empath,” you may feel easily overwhelmed by the world around you, suffer from “people-pleasing,” experience extreme anxiety or stress in times of conflict, or even take on the emotions of others. Due to your naturally giving nature, you may also be a target for narcissists and self-centered individuals who seek to exploit others for their own gain. So, how can you protect yourself?

  • No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model
    • Healing & Trauma
    No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model

    By: Richard Schwartz Ph.D., Alanis Morissette

    Is there just one “you”? We’ve been taught to believe we have a single identity, and to feel fear or shame when we can’t control the inner voices that don’t match the ideal of who we think we should be. Yet Dr. Richard Schwartz’s research now challenges this “mono-mind” theory. “All of us are born with many sub-minds―or parts,” says Dr. Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us―and the key to health and happiness is to honor, understand, and love every part.”

    • Boundaries
    Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life

    By: Henry Cloud, John Townsend

    This companion guide to Boundaries by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend provides practical readings and prompts that will encourage you and teach you how to set healthy, necessary boundaries with your parents, spouse, children, friends, bosses, coworkers, social media, and more in order to help you become the best version of yourself.

  • Dare to Lead: Brave Work Tough Conversations Whole Hearts
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.

    By: Brené Brown

    Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.

  • Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships
    • Boundaries
    Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships

    By: Henry Cloud, John Townsend

    In Boundaries in Marriage, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, counselors and authors of the New York Times bestseller Boundaries, teach us that healthy boundaries are the property lines that define and protect you and your spouse as individuals. Once you have them in place, a good marriage can become better, and a less-than-satisfying one can even be saved.

  • The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
    • Boundaries
    The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

    By: Don Miguel Ruiz

    In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

  • 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 Gifts of Imperfection
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    The Gifts of Imperfection

    By: Brené Brown

    What transforms this book from words on a page to effective daily practices are the ten guideposts to wholehearted living. The guideposts not only help us understand the practices that will allow us to change our lives and families, they also walk us through the unattainable and sabotaging expectations that get in the way.

  • Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and Being Ridiculously in Charge
    • Boundaries
    Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and Being Ridiculously in Charge

    By: Henry Cloud

    In Boundaries for Leaders, clinical psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Henry Cloud leverages his expertise of human behavior, neuroscience, and business leadership to explain how the best leaders set boundaries within their organizations–with their teams and with themselves–to improve performance and increase employee and customer satisfaction.

  • Prayers to Share: 100 Pass-Along Notes for Believing Bigger
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Prayers to Share: 100 Pass-Along Notes for Believing Bigger

    By: Marshawn Evans Daniels

    God has big plans for all of us, but sometimes we let doubt and fear get in the way. Prayers to Share: 100 Pass-Along Notes for Believing Bigger gives multiple opportunities to empower and encourage others to boldly embrace the love of God and step out confidently, knowing that He has a magnificent future planned for them.

  • 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.

  • Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't
    • Boundaries
    Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren’t

    By: Henry Cloud, John Townsend

    Safe People will help you discover why good people can get tangled in bad relationships, how to avoid repeating your own mistakes, and how to pick safe, healthy people for the friends you make and the company you keep.

  • Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers

    By: Dane C. Ortlund

    Christians know what Jesus Christ has done—but who is he? What is his deepest heart for his people, weary and faltering on their journey toward heaven? Jesus said he is “gentle and lowly in heart.” This book reflects on these words, opening up a neglected yet central truth about who he is for sinners and sufferers today.

  • Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

    By: Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen

    Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen have spent the past fifteen years working with corporations, nonprofits, governments, and families to determine what helps us learn and what gets in our way. In Thanks for the Feedback, they explain why receiving feedback is so crucial yet so challenging, offering a simple framework and powerful tools to help us take on life’s blizzard of offhand comments, annual evaluations, and unsolicited input with curiosity and grace. They blend the latest insights from neuroscience and psychology with practical, hard-headed advice. Thanks for the Feedback is destined to become a classic in the fields of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.