How to conduct Bibliotherapy

Bibliotherapy needs to be conducted carefully when you are first starting with a new client. You have to know if the child or youth is ready to start working on their trauma. "Readiness is impacted by the relationship between the ... [client] and therapist, an understanding of the issue by both, trust and rapport, and an agreement between the ... [client]  and therapist to work on the problem" (DeVries et al, 2017, p. 53). 

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After you have built rapport with the client and are ready to start bibliotherapy you need to pick the right book. The book should reflect the clients specific situation, ethinitiy, religious background, and family beliefs. That is what this website aims to help with. This website will give you any relavent information about the stories that are here. "If a book does not align with ... [the clients] support systems, even though the story may be interesting and appropriate for other ... [clients], the story may not be effective in meeting the unique needs of ... [that] particular ... [client]" (Heath et al., 2005, p. 7). As mentioned in Allen et al., (2012) when looking for a book to read you have to think of the items above as well as how you introduce the story to them as to not retraumatize the child. In Heath et al., (2005) they state that when selecting a book you need to be careful about the storyline. You shouldn't start with books that have an unrealistic point of view as we want to help the clients heal from the horribleness of the world, not create a fantasy. Reading stories where the main character saves the world before the client is emotionally and mentally ready to understand that it is just a story, can set the client up for disappointment. 

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When you start the implementation of Bibliotherapy you should follow the steps of pre-reading, guided reading and closure as discussed by DeVries et al., (2017). "During pre-reading activities, such as talking about the book cover, the ... [client] is introduced to the topic and book, discussion of what might happen during the story is facilitated, and the ... [client] shares [their] related experiences. Next in guided reading, the therapist reads the story and directs questions to the ... [client] to encourage a connection with the characters. Following this, a time for reflection is conducted to allow the ... [client] to digest the experience. Closure and reflection allow the therapist to monitor the ... [client's] reaction and help the ... [client] process emotions that may be difficult to cope with or express". (p. 54). 

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Once you have read the story with the client, as a way to reflect on the story and the client's situation, you should participate in some sort of leisure activity. It could be a number of things such as writing in a journal, writing a letter to a character in the story, making a painting or drawing, or roleplaying. 

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While Bibliotherapy is a great tool to use in your practice you must remember that it should not be used as the only therapy the client is receiving (Heath et al., 2005). 

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