Healing doesn't just happen in the therapy room. Need some more tools for your toolbox? Looking for information on something specific? Whatever it is you need, hopefully you'll find something helpful here.

​​Did you know that every county in Oregon has their own crisis line, staffed by local therapists or other trained mental health professionals? Most are open 24h a day, and all of them are part of the health department (NOT the police department). Use the link above to find the crisis line for your community.
Disclaimer: Because the language around mental health and disability continues to evolve, there may be resources on this page that don't use up-to-date terminology, or use terminology which you may find objectionable. The contents of these resource links are periodically reviewed by the owner of this site for general relevance and accuracy, but as these sites are hosted and maintained by outside organizations, their relevance and accuracy can't be guaranteed. When known, Content Warnings [CW] about sensitive topics are noted.​
Disability and Deaf/HoH
Podcasts  Accessibility Language Use Parenting as a Disabled Person For Family Members and Loved Ones Specific Populations Books
  • Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally by Emily Ladau
    • "An approachable guide to being a thoughtful, informed ally to disabled people, with actionable steps for what to say and do (and what not to do) and how you can help make the world a more inclusive place."
  • Unmasking Autism by Devon Price
    • A deep dive into the spectrum of Autistic experience and the phenomenon of masked Autism, giving individuals the tools to safely uncover their true selves while broadening society’s narrow understanding of neurodiversity.
  • The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
    • In The Future Is Disabled, Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha asks some provocative questions: What if, in the near future, the majority of people will be disabled - and what if that's not a bad thing? And what if disability justice and disabled wisdom are crucial to creating a future in which it's possible to survive fascism, climate change, and pandemics and to bring about liberation?
  • Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
    • In their new, long-awaited collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award-winning writer and longtime disability justice activist and performance artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores the politics and realities of disability justice, a movement that centres the lives and leadership of sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people, with knowledge and gifts for all.
Trauma
Books
  • My Grandmother's Hands (2017) by Resmaa Menakem
    • "My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. [This book] paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. [It also] offers a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods, in addition to incisive social commentary."
  • Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing (2019) by Suzanne Methot
    • "With passionate logic and chillingly clear prose, author and educator Suzanne Methot uses history, human development, and her own and others' stories to trace the roots of Indigenous cultural dislocation and community breakdown in an original and provocative examination of the long-term effects of colonization. But all is not lost. Methot also shows how we can come back from this with Indigenous ways of knowing lighting the way."
  • Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience (2020) by Sheila Wise Rowe
    • "Rowe, a professional counselor, exposes the symptoms of racial trauma to lead readers to a place of freedom from the past and new life for the future. In each chapter, she includes an interview with a person of color to explore how we experience and resolve racial trauma. With Rowe as a reliable guide who has both been on the journey and shown others the way forward, you will find a safe pathway to resilience."
  • Humanual: A Manual for Being Human by Betsy Polatin
    • Humanual is a unique and comprehensive approach to self-knowledge and self-improvement, offering a clear, concise, and rather simple set of explanations and exercises to facilitate understanding and unity of body, mind, and spirit.


Websites/Blogs
  • The Empath Sanctuary by Marina Yanay-Triner offers somatic work to heal trauma and chronically dysregulated nervous systems

Research
  • Trauma Research Foundation: A community of researchers and clinicians who are committed to developing innovative methods for the treatment of people of all ages who have experienced trauma.
Gender and Sexuality Expansive, LGBTQ+
Local Organizations
Relationships and Boundaries
Books
Anxiety and Stress
Books
  • Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle (2021) by Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski​, DMA
    • Burnout, it turns out, is a gendered experience. It develops and affects women/those AFAB differently than men/those AMAB. This book offers a light-hearted yet science-infused look at burnout, and offers practical ways to mitigate and respond to stress, challenge and undo some of our social programming, and reclaim our feelings of self-compassion and value.
Depression and Grief
Books
  • The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Sadness Tells Us About Bereavement (2009) by George A. Bonanno
    • The conventional view of grieving--encapsulated by the famous five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance--is defined by a mourning process that we can only hope to accept and endure.
      Psychologist and emotions expert George Bonanno argues that our inborn emotions--anger and denial, but also relief and joy--help us deal effectively with loss. To expect or require only grief-stricken behavior from the bereaved does them harm. In fact, grieving goes beyond mere sadness, and it can actually deepen interpersonal connections and even lead to a new sense of meaning in life.
  • Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief (2017) by Joan Cacciatore
    • Dr. Joanne Cacciatore—bereavement educator, researcher, Zen priest, and leading counselor in the field—accompanies us along the heartbreaking path of love, loss, and grief. Through moving stories of her encounters with grief over decades of supporting individuals, families, and communities—as well as her own experience with loss—Cacciatore opens a space to process, integrate, and deeply honor our grief.
  • An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness (1995) by Kay Redfield Jamison
    • "The writing is clear and beautiful, the descriptions accurate, the interior world she evokes is furiously alive. In the 16 years since An Unquiet Mind was first published, no greater book about manic depression – or bipolar disorder – has appeared." -The Guardian
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
    • Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

  • Healthline.com's list of best books for depression, broken down by need/interest
Neurodivergent Resources
Books
  • Transforming ADHD (2017) by Greg Crosby and Tonya K Lippert
    • Transforming ADHD offers a breakthrough, scientifically-grounded approach to attention and action regulation skills and strategies. Looking at ADHD through the latest research and the broad perspective of interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB)--a model that views one's mind, brain, body, and relationships as intimately connected--you'll discover how to work with your brain instead of against it, and transform the way you live your life.
  • Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve (2017) by Stanley Rosenberg
    • Vagus exercises for reducing anxiety, healing trauma, and rebalancing your autonomic nervous system. This comprehensive guide offers an easy-to-understand overview of the vagus nerve—and helps you unlock your body’s innate capacity to heal from stress, trauma, anxiety, and injury, from Dr. Stanley Rosenberg, PhD
  • Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome by Liane Holliday Willey
    • Pretending to be Normal tells the story of a woman who, after years of self-doubt and self-denial, learned to embrace her Asperger's syndrome traits with thanksgiving and joy. Chronicling her life from her earliest memories through her life as a university lecturer, writer, wife and mother, Liane Holliday Willey shares, with insight and warmth, the daily struggles and challenges that face many of those who have Asperger's Syndrome.
  • Autism in Heels (2018) by Jennifer Cook O'Toole
    • An intimate memoir reveals the woman inside one of autism’s most prominent figures. At the age of thirty-five, Jennifer was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and for the first time in her life, things made sense. Now, Jennifer exposes the constant struggle between carefully crafted persona and authentic existence, editing the autism script with wit, candor, passion, and power.
  • Workplace NeuroDiversity Rising (2022) by Lyric Rivera
    • Having a supportive environment can be the difference between employee success and failure. This handy guide helps empower other people and organizations to consider what they can do to support NeuroDivergent employees.
  •  Autism Works: A Guide to Successful Employment across the Entire Spectrum By Adam Feinstein
    • People with autism are being left behind today, with only 16 per cent in full-time employment. This inspiring book addresses the lack of understanding of the wonderful contributions people across the autism spectrum can make to the workplace, drawing attention to this vast untapped human resource.


Workbooks
Websites/Blogs
General: Mental Health
Organizations
  • NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness: Resources for education, advocacy, and support for people with all mental health diagnoses and their loved ones. 
  • Self-Compassion with Dr. Kristen Neff: Mindful Self Compassion and community website, with more information on Dr. Neff's MSC program
  • The Happiness Trap with Dr. Russ Harris: An 8-week course built on the principles of simplicity, clarity, and having fun, this program will teach you how to use the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) model to live a more meaningful and joyful existence, regardless of your current circumstances.

Books
  • No Bad Parts (2021) by Richard C. Schwartz
    • Dr. Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems (IFS) model has been transforming psychology for decades. With No Bad Parts, you’ll learn why IFS has been so effective in areas such as trauma recovery, addiction therapy, and depression treatment―and how this new understanding of consciousness has the potential to radically change our lives.
  • [CW: explicit descriptions] Man's Search for Meaning (orig. 1946) by Viktor Frankl
    • ​A psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust chronicles his experiences and considers how humans make meaning and move forward even in the most devastating and hopeless circumstances
  • Maybe You Should Talk To Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed (2019) by Lori Gottlieb
    • A conversational and candid memoir of a therapist, weaving together her client's stories and her own therapy, and exploring the questions we all (yes, even us therapists!) navigate every day: Why do we do what we do? What does it mean to be happy? How do we love when we have lost?
  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
    • In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts—from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions.
General: Financial/Life
Local Resource Lists:
  • Rose City Resource (Street Roots): Reduced cost or free services in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Categories: food, housing & shelter, goods, transit, health & wellness, work, money, care & safety, legal, day services, specialized assistance (Youth, LGBTQ+, veterans, families).