Books That Have Helped Me As A Graduate Student Therapist (Best Books For Counseling that have nothing to do with counseling)

1. The holy Trinity 
2. 1. Bell Hooks All About Love 
   2. Salvation: Black People and Love 
   3. Communion: The Female Search For Love
3. Toni Morrison 
   1. Sula
   2. The Bluest Eye 
4. Terry McMillan's Novel Mama 
5. What My Mother And I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence 
6. Native Son By Richard Wright 
7. What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day... By Pearl Cleage 

What makes these books the best Books for new therapists? 

While these books are not "therapy books" per say, they do highlight presenting issues that may present within your sessions. The role of the therapist is to provide a safe space with ethical and cultural considerations. While, I did find the textbooks and assigned reading insightful, there was deficit in diversity and inclusion. Therefore, I found it necessary to supplement my reading. These book (in my humble opinion) serve as great books for therapists generally, but specifically new therapists. 

These books are not a therapy book, but still helpful to the theraputic process because... 

1. Bell Hooks addresses:
   1. Attachment Theory 
   2. Childhood Development 
   3. Interpersonal Relationships 
   4. Womanhood 
   5. Intersectionality 
   6. Barriers to couplehood 
   7. Systemic Racism and Oppression 
2. Toni Morrison addresses: 
   1. Trauma 
   2. Racial-identity formation 
   3. Mother-daughter dynamics
   4. Womanhood 
   5. Motherhood 
   6. Incest 
   7. Grief 
3. Terry McMillan addresses: 
   1. The parentification of the eldest daughter 
   2. Golden-child syndrome 
   3. Mother-daughter dynamics 
   4. Enmeshment 
   5. Womanhood 
   6. Barries 
   7. Addiction 
4. What My Mother and I Don't Talk about addresses: 
   1. Trauma
   2. Healing 
   3. Radical Acceptance 
   4. Borederline Personality Disorder 
   5. Childhood Sexual Abuse and Grooming 
   6. Mother-daughter dynamics 
   7. Mother-son dynamics 
5. Richard Wright addresses: 
   1. Race 
   2. Poverty 
   3. Trauma
   4. Systemic Racism 
   5. Religion 
   6. Racial Identity 
   7. Henry J. Long's Inferiority Complex in African Americans
   8. The Judicial System 
6. Pearl Cleage addresses: 
   1. HIV/AIDS
   2. Sexual Health 
   3. Community 
   4. Love and Healing 
   5. Self-advocacy 
   6. Adoption 
   7. The Parentification of the Eldest Daughter 
   8. Palliative Care 
   9. Grief 
   10. Loss of Parent by Suicide