Ten Books Every Therapist Should Read

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As a passionate professor to counselors-in-training, I’m frequently asked by students what books they should read as part of their self-of-therapist development. Of course there are so many options out there on specialty topics, including things like private practice, IFS parts work, EMDR, and attachment theory. But there are a handful of books I think of again and again as a clinical supervisor, confidential grief specialist, and consultant to therapists. Here are ten books I continue to recommend, not to mention they are books I wish I’d had when I started in this field 15 years ago!

1. Sometimes Therapy is Awkward

   Full of authenticity and humor filled moments, this book serves to normalize that being a therapist comes with it’s own unique challenges, like clients ghosting sessions, client suicide, and sticking our professional foot in our mouth on occasion because we are human too.

2. For the Love of Therapy

   By the same author as the above book, this book speaks to the power of relationship rupture and repair in the mental health field. I love the emphasis that we all make mistakes, and it’s how we repair that makes us stellar therapists!

3. Letters to a Young Therapist 

   A book from a seasoned therapist on compassion and humanness in therapy, how can I not recommend a book that celebrates authenticity as the key ingredient to quality mental health care?

4. Bad Therapy

   Can we normalize the edges and mistakes made within our field? I believe this book serves that purpose, and it's been on my reading list for years.

5. Maybe you Should Talk to Someone

   Beautiful storytelling full of heart, this book serves as a glimpse into the day-to-day life and client interactions a clinician can have in private practice. Read by the masses, this book gives an inside look at what it’s like to be a therapist.

6. The Gift of Therapy

   A classic, this one is often recommended in graduate programs. I have to admit I haven’t read it personally, but I’ve heard from many colleagues how impactful it was to their journey of becoming a therapist.

7. Moving from ALERT to Acceptance: Helping Clinicians Heal from Client Suicide

   My own book baby, this resource not only teaches clinicians to engage in compassionate suicide assessment within their therapy practice, it normalizes the prevalence of client suicide and how we heal after it happens.

8. Trauma Stewardship

   An oldie but goodie on how we are at higher risk for vicarious trauma and burnout as professional caregivers, this book should be in every grad school curriculum!

9. Burnout, the Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

   A beautiful blend of conversation, curiosity, and science, this book puts language to the cycle of stress and burnout that is a significant part of our self-work for therapists to remain in the mental health field.

10. The Resilient Therapist: Healing from Career-Altering Adverse Psychological Events in Mental Health (Bloomsbury, Spring 2026)

    Coming soon! This book is a love letter to therapists who’ve experienced career-altering traumas like client violence, client suicide, grievance, and professional betrayal. These events are happening to clinicians around the world, so not only do we need to talk about them, we need to explore how to heal and how leadership can help!

    So there you have it, ten impactful books for clinicians both new to the field and seasoned! I hope you’ll reach out to share other favorites and the impact these books have on your practice. Happy Reading!

The Human in the Helper: I found out on Facebook

Cathy has a disarming, warm personality that shows up well on video and in person. When she’s not writing her next book or offering workshops, she’s enjoying her dogs or recording new content for her online classes. Cathy isn’t afraid to talk about things that feel heavy, like being scammed or death and dying. It’s one of the many things that makes her the ideal person to talk to therapists about professional wills. She also has the lived experience of losing two colleagues suddenly. “Grant and I worked together on projects and I asked him to be the executor of my professional will,” Cathy shared. Grant said yes, and asked Cathy to be his executor as well. But then Grant didn’t get around to writing a will before he died suddenly. “Amidst my grief, I had to find a way to get his files.” Cathy went on to describe how she learned of his sudden death. “I found out on Facebook. It was sad and difficult.”

Cathy shares how she had to compartmentalize her grief in order to take care of things for Grant. “I had to figure out how to reach his family. I had to find his calendar to notify his clients.” Cathy describes a frantic search for Grant’s files, which were in three different places. She worried about clients showing up to sessions and wondering where he was. She worried that clients would find out about his death through social media too, adding a traumatic layer to their loss. “Every phone call was hard,” Cathy named. She held space for Grant’s clients in their grief and helped them connect with new providers, which felt like a process for both her and them.

That wasn’t the end of Cathy’s grief. Two years later, a second colleague died suddenly. It was another tragic example of someone who didn’t have a professional will in place. Although Cathy wasn’t the executor for this colleague, she had some realizations from her experiences of loss. “I knew my professional will wasn’t going to cut it.” She also realized that more colleagues needed to understand the importance of a professional will, for themselves, their clients, and their families. “I needed to take some action,” Cathy shared.

Cathy began gathering materials for a more in-depth professional will template, in honor of her experiences with Grant and her second colleague who had died. She started offering workshops to help therapists craft their professional will, and noticed how her experiences with colleague loss had changed her profoundly. “I noticed that I didn’t shy away from saying death or dying.” C

Cathy saw firsthand how crafting a professional will triggered her colleagues. It caused a fear of death to surface, and it asked people to look at their own mortality. “It showed up in every single workshop,” Cathy named. She describes how some colleagues needed to take a break, while others wanted to pause and come back to writing their will at a later time. Cathy recognizes this is a difficult but necessary process for many.

“Just get something written down,” she says. “Anything helps. Talk to a colleague, or tell someone where you keep your key.” Cathy shares how the more someone can plan and get into the details, the more it helps others. She also suggests exploring the wording of what you want your executor to say about your death. Are details important? Is there wording that feels least harmful to the clients left behind? Professional wills represent more than just details of where to find your files or client information. “It’s something to guide a colleague,” Cathy says, “it shows care for your clients, it shows care for the person doing this process for you, and it shows care for your family members who are in grief.”

You don’t have to do this by yourself. Access Cathy’s online course for writing your professional will HERE.

Things happen to us as humans, even as we support our clients as professional helpers. Do you have a story you want to share the mental health community? Email us at croswaitecounselingpllc@gmail.com to learn more about the Human in the Helper Series!