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 59 books
  • 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.

  • The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
    • Healing & Trauma
    The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)

    By: Philippa Perry

    In this Sunday Times bestseller, leading psychotherapist Philippa Perry reveals the vital do’s and don’ts of relationships. This is a book for us all. Whether you are interested in understanding how your upbringing has shaped you, looking to handle your child’s feelings or wishing to support your partner, you will find indispensable information and realistic tips in these pages. Philippa Perry’s sane, sage and judgement-free advice is an essential resource on how to have the best possible relationships with the people who matter to you most.

  • 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.

  • The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children
    • Parenting & Family
    The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children

    By: Dr. Shefali Tsabary

    Instead of being merely the receiver of the parents’ psychological and spiritual legacy, children function as ushers of the parents’ development. Parents unwittingly pass on an inheritance of psychological pain and emotional shallowness. To handle the behavior that results, traditional books on parenting abound with clever techniques for control and quick fixes for dysfunction. In Dr. Shefali Tsabary’s conscious approach to parenting, however, children serve as mirrors of their parents’ forgotten self. Those willing to look in the mirror have an opportunity to establish a relationship with their own inner state of wholeness.

  • Bible Promises for Moms: Inspirational Verses of Hope & Encouragement for Christian Mothers
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Bible Promises for Moms: Inspirational Verses of Hope & Encouragement for Christian Mothers

    By: Heidi St. John

    God understands the heart of a mom, as well as the daily cares and worries that can weigh you down. No matter where you are in your mothering journey, God’s mercies and promises are for you. This pocket-size book of Scriptures provides hundreds of Bible promises that are relevant to the needs of every mother, interweaving them with personal reflections from popular author Heidi St. John.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

    By: Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen, Roger Fisher

    We attempt or avoid difficult conversations every day-whether dealing with an underperforming employee, disagreeing with a spouse, or negotiating with a client. From the Harvard Negotiation Project, the organization that brought you Getting to Yes, Difficult Conversations provides a step-by-step approach to having those tough conversations with less stress and more success.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
    • Faith & Spirituality
    Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

    By: Craig Groeschel

    Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Craig Groeschel understands deeply this daily battle against self-doubt and negative thinking, and in this powerful new book he reveals the strategies he’s discovered to change your mind and your life for the long-term.

  • Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World

    By: Jenn Granneman, Andre Sólo

    Everyone has a sensitive side, but nearly 1 in 3 people have the genes to be more sensitive than others—both physically and emotionally. These are the people who pause before speaking and think before acting; they tune into subtle details and make connections that others miss. They tend to be intelligent, big-hearted, and wonderfully creative; they are wired to go deep, yet society tells them to hide the very sensitivity that makes them this way. These are the world’s “highly sensitive people,” and Sensitive is the book that champions them.

  • 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.

  • The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind
    • Parenting & Family
    The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind

    By: Daniel J. J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson

    In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson offer a revolutionary approach to child rearing with twelve key strategies that foster healthy brain development, leading to calmer, happier children. The authors explain—and make accessible—the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain.

  • You Got This: 90 Devotions to Equip and Empower Hardworking Women
    • Faith & Spirituality
    You Got This: 90 Devotions to Equip and Empower Hardworking Women

    By: Melissa Horvath, Sweet Water Decor

    It’s easy for women to get wrapped up in all that we do and then forget who God created us to be. Whether we’re hardworking inside the home or outside the home or both we all need encouragement and grace to meet the demands life puts on us. This 90-day devotional helps women de-stress by focusing on how we’re blessed.

  • Self-Love Workbook for Women: Release Self-Doubt, Build Self-Compassion, and Embrace Who You Are
    • Empowerment & Leadership
    Self-Love Workbook for Women: Release Self-Doubt, Build Self-Compassion, and Embrace Who You Are

    By: Megan Logan MSW LCSW

    Embrace who you are with this guided self-love book for women of any age and any background. This year, you’ll embark on your journey of self-discovery by learning what self-love is, and then immersing yourself in activities that help you build your self-esteem and improve your relationships. This book includes a variety of exercises to engage with your sense of self-love, and the companion journal encourages you to go even deeper with writing and reflection.

  • 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 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?