Resources
Resources
Here is a list of resources, including books, podcasts, websites, and services, across a wide range of subjects and concerns. Many of them cover multiple subjects, so rather than list them multiple times I’ve just listed them once. I’ve read or engaged with most of these, with some being trusted recommendations. Please email me if you have any comments or if anything is out of date — I update periodically. Some resources are Vancouver-specific.
I haven’t included content warnings, so please explore mindfully.
Spirituality and meditation
Affordable counselling and group support
Reduced-cost or free counselling provided by organizations
Private sliding-scale counselling, often provided by counselling interns
Queer/trans
The Care We Dream Of, by Zena Sharman
HIM (Health Initiative for Men) Vancouver
Climate grief/hope/action
Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, by Britt Wray
This Changes Everything, by Naomi Klein
Political organizing and community
Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation by Adrienne Maree Brown
When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, by Norma Kawelokū Wong
Creativity
The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron
Bird by Bird, by Annie Lamott
How to Do Nothing, by Jenny Odell
Substance use
Access Central, central addiction services intake line for Vancouver Coastal Health region (primarily for detox and treatment): 1 (866) 658-1221
Naloxone training and harm reduction
The Junction, a recovery community, inclusive to all, with 6 locations and online
Crisis support lines
Suicide prevention hotline
1-800-784-2433
BC Crisis Line
604-310-6789
Kids Help Phone
1-800-668-6868
Indigenous Crisis and Support Line - KUU-US Crisis Support Line: 1-800-588-8717
Love, dating, polyamory/
nonmonogamy
Polysecure, by Jessica Fern
Love in a Fucked Up World, by Dean Spade
The Art of Loving, by
Erich Fromm
Frontline work and caregiving
Trauma Stewardship, by Lipsky, Laura van Dernoot, and Connie Burk
Race, racism, colonialism
Black Skin, White Masks, by Franz Fanon
Women, Race, and Class, by Angela Davis
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future, by Patty Krawec
Warrior Life: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence, by Pamela Palmater
Boundaries
Empowered Boundaries: Speaking Truth, Setting Boundaries and Inspiring Social Change, by Christien Storm
Mental health assessment
Mental health assessment and treatment in Vancouver For moderate to severe cases but not active crisis requiring 911
Grief
The Wild Edge of Sorrow, by Francis Weller
Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief, by Cindy Milstein
Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, by Dr. Joanne Cacciatore
Self-help/mental health and wellbeing
It’s Not Always Depression, by Hilary Jacobs Hendel
The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brene Brown
How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend, by Rachel Barr
No Bad Parts, by Dr. Richard Schwartz
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Disability and neurodiversity
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Adult Autism Diagnosis Toolkit
Is This Autism? A Guide for Clinicians and Everyone Else, by Donna Henderson, Sarah Wayland and Jamell White
Mind-body illness
LET THIS DARKNESS BE A BELL TOWER by Rainer Maria Rilke (trans. Joanna Macy)
Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.
Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29