Our bibliotherapy groups are not like a readers group where everyone has to read the same book; we use fiction, poetry and song lyrics as a jumping off point to start conversations and discussions that engage people, support their mental health and wellbeing and create a sense of connection and self- worth. Often there is laughter too. 

Over many years we have developed and trialled different methods and resources in order to be able to work with people whether they are at the acute stage of their illness or in recovery, enabling us to access the person beneath their diagnosis. We do read aloud in our groups, but also use the written word in many different ways; if we only delivered sessions in one format our appeal would be limited and we would have fewer positive outcomes as groups  would be in danger of becoming too  formulaic.  

Neither are we prescriptive in the way we work. We don’t just work with the classics but with chick lit, family sagas, song lyrics, modern poetry and everything else in between. Our experience has taught us that “one size does not fit all” , for example one person with depression might find a novel containing  a character in it who is also experiencing depression might be very helpful, whereas another person experiencing depression might find that type of book is the last thing that they would want to read. So we tailor our work to fit the individual.

Our partners value the work we do as it is quite unique in that it is often reciprocal i.e. the participants are just as much an ‘expert’ as the bibliotherapist and the bibliotherapist often gets recommendations and insights from the participants. This is very good for the self- esteem of the participants.