Bibliotherapy

Good books make you reread them.  Great books make you re-examine your soul

Bibliotherapy emanating from the Greek, ‘book therapy’' is the use of literature for therapeutic gain. It is an intervention that is seen to confer psychological benefits in the reading of imaginative literature (novels, short stories, plays and poems) for the purposes of personal wisdom, growth and healing .   Reading for pleasure is an active activity as it engages the imagination, the intellect and the emotions of the reader. 

Stories capture our imagination sending us on a powerful journey of self-exploration, opening up our minds to new ideas and possibilities.  They expand our sense of what it means to be human, teaching us about deep human experience, heightening our sense of empathy and compassion, our emotional intelligence.  By plumbing the depths of another's experience and gaining an insight into their fears and triumphs, we can be reassured as to what human beings are capable of as we survive our own lives every day, our own mysterious journeys

Bibliotherapy, as a practice, uses literature to guide you through life's challenges and hurdles: 

• Struggling with loneliness and anxiety

• Finding the complex landscape of relationships difficult to navigate

• Sensing that you need more adventure and wonderment in your life

• Feeling disconnected from the world around you

• Looking to discover a new author to bewitch you

• Needing direction in developing a reading habit

Bibliotherapy can also help you discover and contemplate how great writers and thinkers grappled with life's existential questions. Find out more. 

"I love listening to Sonya's reading....especially the poetry. It's balsam to our souls. She brings Spring to our place. I wish she could come every day..." - Alfred, 94, Victoria Gardens Aged Care