Resources for Trauma

A curated collection of trauma-informed, body-aware, & justice-oriented resources to support healing, deepen understanding, & reconnect with yourself at your own pace.

Our resource pages are always a work in progress, please keep checking back for more updates!

Books

Trauma & Recovery by Judith Herman

A foundational framework for understanding trauma, outlining its psychological impact & the stages of recovery: safety, remembrance and mourning and reconnection. The book centers survivors’ experiences & emphasizes healing through empowerment, relationships, & social context.

Recommended for those with histories of trauma, abuse, or neglect who want to understand how trauma impacts the psyche & recovery over time; especially helpful for people seeking a clear framework for healing, safety, & reconnection after relational or systemic harm.

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk

Explores how trauma is stored in the body & brain, shaping emotions, relationships, & physiology long after the event has passed. He highlights the importance of integrating body-based & relational approaches in trauma healing.

This book is loved by some, hated by others.

Trigger Warning: this book includes detailed discussions of trauma, including physical & sexual abuse, violence, war, medical trauma, childhood neglect, dissociation, & related psychological & bodily responses that may be activating for some readers.

My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem

This book explores how racialized trauma is held in the body across generations & offers somatic practices for healing personal, ancestral, & collective harm rooted in white supremacy.

Recommended for those navigating racial trauma, intergenerational trauma, somatic symptoms tied to identity or oppression, or those seeking embodied approaches to healing racialized stress.

Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

This book reframes rest as a radical, liberatory practice in resistance to systems of grind culture, capitalism, and racialized exhaustion. The book invites reclaiming rest as a form of dignity, healing, and embodied freedom.

Recommended for those experiencing burnout, overwork, or chronic exhaustion, especially folks navigating systemic oppression, caregiving demands, or internalized pressure to constantly produce, who are seeking a more liberatory relationship with rest and worth.

Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker

A deeply validating guide to understanding Complex PTSD, especially as it develops from chronic childhood trauma, & offers practical tools for managing emotional flashbacks & shame. The book emphasizes self-compassion & reparenting as core pathways toward healing.

Recommended for those with complex trauma, chronic childhood emotional neglect, persistent shame, or emotional flashbacks; especially supportive for people learning to understand their nervous system responses & build self-compassion & inner stability.

The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate

This book challenges the idea of “normal” health by showing how trauma, stress, & disconnection from self & others shape illness and suffering. The book reframes healing as a process of reconnection to the body, emotions, authenticity, & relationships.

Recommended for those navigating chronic illness, burnout, addiction, autoimmune conditions, or a persistent sense of not fitting into “normal” expectations; especially for people exploring how trauma & systemic stress shape health

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

A deeply personal memoir of living with Complex PTSD, weaving together research & lived experience to illuminate the long-term effects of childhood trauma & the path toward healing & integration.

Recommended for those with complex trauma, childhood emotional neglect, chronic shame, or those seeking validation through both lived experience and research-informed healing narratives.

Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis by Mariame Kaba & Kelly Hayes

A collection of grounding, compassionate letters written to support activists navigating burnout, grief, & disillusionment while doing justice-oriented work. The book emphasizes sustainability, community care, & staying connected to purpose in the face of ongoing struggle.

Recommended for those engaged in activism, organizing, or social justice work who are experiencing burnout, overwhelm, or loss of hope & want support in continuing without sacrificing themselves.

No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz

Based around the IFS model that understands the psyche as made up of “parts” that all carry protective roles & inherent goodness. The book invites readers into a compassionate relationship with their inner world to foster healing, integration, & self-leadership.

Recommended for those with inner conflict, self-criticism, trauma histories, or a sense of fragmentation within the self; especially helpful for people interested in parts work, healing shame, and developing a more compassionate inner relationship.

Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine

This book introduces Somatic Experiencing as a body-based approach to resolving trauma by completing the nervous system’s natural survival responses. The book emphasizes gentle awareness of bodily sensations as a pathway to restoring regulation & resilience.

Recommended for those with trauma stored in the body, panic or shutdown responses, somatic symptoms without clear medical cause, or difficulty feeling safe in their nervous system; especially helpful for gentle, body-based trauma processing.

Trauma Stewardship by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky with Connie Burk

This book offers a framework for those exposed to others’ suffering, helping readers recognize trauma exposure responses & cultivate sustainable, compassionate engagement without burnout.

Recommended for those working in caregiving, healing, advocacy, or helping professions who are experiencing burnout, vicarious trauma, or emotional fatigue.

Workbooks

Helpful workbooks for working through traumatic events and experiences.

Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation by Boon, Steele, and van der Hart

A a structured, phase-oriented approach to understanding and treating trauma-related dissociation. The book provides practical tools for stabilization, internal cooperation, and gradual integration of dissociated parts of experience.

Recommended for those experiencing dissociation, memory gaps, identity fragmentation, or complex trauma, who are looking for structured, skills-based support to build safety, internal communication, & stability.

The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer

Finding Solid Ground by Bethany Brand, et al

A practical, skills-based workbook designed to help people with trauma-related dissociation build safety, grounding, & emotional regulation. The book provides structured exercises to strengthen internal stability, reduce dissociative symptoms, & support gradual, sustainable healing.

Recommended for those with trauma-related dissociation who want a more accessible, step-by-step workbook approach to grounding, emotion regulation, and strengthening a sense of internal safety and stability.

Trauma Informed Mindfulness with Teens by Sam Himelstein

Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven