Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits

An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

By: James Clear

A revolutionary system to get 1 per cent better every day

People think when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions – doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call.

He calls them atomic habits.

In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy.

These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.

Raising a Kid Who Can

Raising a Kid Who Can

Simple Strategies to Build a Lifetime of Adaptability and Emotional Strength

By: Catherine McCarthyHeather TedescoJennifer Weaver

Three mental health professionals cut through the “parenting advice” noise with this accessible, easy-to-skim book filled with actionable strategies and tips to help parents focus only what’s truly essential and build their child’s neurobiological capacity to thrive where they are planted, in good times and bad.  

It’s time to parent smarter, not harder. Filled with scientifically based and eminently actionable advice and strategies, The Parents’ Playbook boils down the ten essential things that every child needs to thrive so that parents can stop drowning in information and get to the business of raising healthier, happier humans. Written by three mental health professionals who work with families, organized for easy skimming, and designed to be useful at any stage in a child’s life, the book devotes one short, impactful chapter per principle, including Resilience, Attention and Self-Control, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Motivation, Compassion and Gratitude.  The result is a new approach to a parenting guide, one that takes a wholistic approach to nurturing a child’s development and help parents get right to the information they need, when they need it.

The Anxious Generation

The Anxious Generation

How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By: Jonathan Haidt

 

An urgent and insightful investigation into the collapse in youth mental health, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author

Jonathan Haidt has spent his career speaking truth and wisdom in some of the most difficult spaces – communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the mental health emergency hitting teenagers today in many countries around the world.

In The Anxious Generation, Haidt shows how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared, including time spent comparing oneself to a vast pool of others. Time engaging face-to-face with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health.

But this is not just a story about technology; this profound shift took place against a backdrop of declining childhood freedom and free-play, as parents over-supervised every aspect of their children’s lives offline, depriving them of the experiences they most need to become strong and self-governing adults.

In this book, Haidt makes a compelling argument that the loss of play-based childhood and its replacement with a phone-based childhood that is not suitable for human development is the source of increased mental distress among teenagers. The Anxious Generation delves into the latest psychological and biological research to show the four fundamental ways in which a phone-based childhood disrupts development – sleep deprivation, social deprivation, cognitive fragmentation and addiction. Haidt offers separate in-depth analyses of what has happened to girls, and what has happened to boys, offering practical advice for parents, schools, governments, and teens themselves. Drawing on ancient wisdom and cutting-edge research, this eye-opening book is a life raft and a powerful call-to-arms.

About the Author

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is the author of The Righteous Mind and co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind.

Body Keeps the Score

The Body Keeps The Score

Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma

By: Bessel Van Der Kolk

A world expert presents a sympathetic exploration of the causes of trauma and the new treatments making it possible for sufferers to reclaim their lives

What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress.

Neither talking nor drug therapies have proven entirely satisfactory. With stories of his own work and those of specialists around the globe, The Body Keeps the Score sheds new light on the routes away from trauma – which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium.

About the Author

Dr Bessel van der Kolk is one of the world’s foremost experts on traumatic stress. He is the founder and medical director of the Trauma Center in Boston, USA, and the director of the Complex Trauma Treatment Network. A past professor of psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, Dr van der Kolk is the author of several scholarly books and over a hundred scientific articles.

Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate

Scattered Minds

The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

By: Gabor Maté

Scattered Minds explodes the myth of attention deficit disorder as genetically based – and offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with the condition.

Gabor Maté is a revered physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry and psychology – and himself has ADD. With wisdom gained through years of medical practice and research, Scattered Minds is a must-read for parents – and for anyone interested how experiences in infancy shape the biology and psychology of the human brain.

Scattered Minds:

  • Demonstrates that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment and developmental delay
  • Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy – and why
  • Shows how ‘distractibility’ is the psychological product of life experience
  • Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviours
  • Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood
  • Presents a programme of how to promote this development in both children and adults

About the Author

Gabor Maté is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked extensively with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of four books published in over twenty languages, Dr Maté is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness.

His book on addiction received the Hubert Evans Prize for literary non-fiction. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada (his country’s equivalent of the MBE) and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His books include In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder and (with Gordon Neufeld) Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers.

The Brain Forest

The Brain Forest

By: Sandhya MenonKushla Ross (Illustrator), Donita Richards

Come explore The Brain Forest, which follows a mother and her son down the path of understanding the different ways brains can be.

Brains that go fast, brains that go slow, brains that do what they’re told, brains that say NO!

Whilst there are many ways brains can be, here are some brain types that get a mention:

  • Neurotypical
  • Autism
  • ADHD
  • Dyslexia
  • OCD
  • Pervasive Drive for Autonomy (PDA)
  • Intellectual Disability
  • Giftedness
  • Dual Diagnosis

A heart-warming read that helps celebrate neurodiversity without dismissing its challenges, and centers around building a strengths-based society where everyone is valued for what they have to offer. This book helps start conversations and offers ideas to the reader about what they can do to create more inclusive environments.

Introduction to Internal Family Systems by: Richard C. Schwartz

Introduction to Internal Family Systems by: Richard C. Schwartz

A highly accessible introduction to a therapeutic approach that brings our inner “parts” into harmony and allows our core Self to lead

We’re all familiar with self-talk, self-doubt, self-judgment yet most of us still view ourselves as if we have one uniform mind. Dr. Richard Schwartz’s breakthrough was recognizing that we each contain an “internal family” of distinct parts and that treating these parts with curiosity, respect, and empathy vastly expands our capacity to heal.

Over the past two decades, Internal Family Systems (IFS) has transformed the practice of psychotherapy. With Introduction to Internal Family Systems , the creator of IFS presents the ideal layperson’s guide for understanding this empowering, effective, and non-pathologizing approach to self-discovery and healing. Here, Dr. Schwartz shares evidence, case studies, and self-care tools to help you:

  • Shift from the limiting “mono-mind” paradigm into an appreciation of your marvelous, multidimensional nature
  • Unburden your wounded parts from extreme beliefs, emotions, and addictions
  • Demystify the most commonly misunderstood parts the Exiles, Managers, and Firefighters
  • Transform your most challenging parts from inner obstacles to invaluable allies
  • Embrace the existence of innate human goodness in yourself and others
  • Connect with the true Self that is greater than the sum of your parts

“The most wonderful discovery I have made is that as you do this work, you release, or liberate, what I call your Self or your True Self the calm, compassionate essence of who you are,” says Dr. Schwartz. “When the Self becomes the leading intelligence in our lives, we create more harmony both within ourselves and in our external lives.” For therapists, their clients, and anyone interested in understanding and healing themselves, here is an essential guide to a revolutionary approach to self-realization, mental wellness, and transformation.

About the Author

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, is the creator of Internal Family Systems, a highly effective, evidence-based therapeutic model that de-pathologizes the multipart personality. His IFS Institute offers training for professionals and the general public. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and has published five books, including No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model.

Parents’ Guide to PANDAS, PANS, and Related Neuroimmune Disorders

Parents’ Guide to PANDAS, PANS, and Related Neuroimmune Disorders

Having a child who suddenly develops PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Strep), PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) or related conditions such as encephalitis can be a daunting challenge for parents. This clear guide explains the symptoms and diagnosis of PANDAS and PANS, with treatment options and recommended strategies for supporting children at home, at school, and in community settings. The book covers key symptoms including OCD, tics, anxiety, sensory issues and personality changes, with practical advice on medical management, nutrition, lifestyle, and addressing social and behavioural needs. Each chapter also includes handy sidebars with key information to remember, and action steps for overcoming challenges, managing relapse, family self-care and providing children with the best possible support.

PANDAS and PANS in School Settings

PANDAS and PANS in School Settings

A Handbook for Educators

PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Strep) and PANS (Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) occur when an abnormal immune response produces brain inflammation, leading to unusual psychological symptoms in children. Symptoms can include OCD, tics, ADHD, anxiety disorders, sensory issues and marked personality changes.

This practical handbook explains how educators can distinguish between these symptoms and pre-existing conditions, and offers strategies for supporting students with PANDAS and PANS in school settings. Contributions from experts provide educators with the understanding needed to be able to collaboratively identify PANDAS and PANS, and carry out effective interventions. As the rate of incidence of PANDAS and PANS increases, this book will be an essential resource for school staff in getting to grips with these complex disorders and overcoming the challenges they present.

Demystifying PANS/PANDAS

Demystifying PANS/PANDAS

A Functional Medicine Desktop Reference on Basal Ganglia Encephalitis

Demystifying PANS/PANDAS is a unique and long overdue resource in the field of pediatric neurobehavioral health, providing a comprehensive overview of the “three-pronged approach” to assessment and care, conventional and naturopathic interventions, a trove of case studies, and plenty of clinical pearls along the way.

Even more importantly, this book provides a roadmap for practitioners and families feeling confused and isolated by this condition, empowering them to make better decisions and sparking a greater conversation about this devastating illness.

My Story About PANS/PANDAS

My Story About PANS/PANDAS

Once a typical boy, Owen’s journey with PANS/PANDAS began after he was exposed to an infection that changed everything. Abruptly faced with severe anxiety, OCD, tics, and rage, Owen finds himself navigating a world full of doctors, medical tests, IVIG, and even weird smoothies. Likening his journey to a climb up a challenging hill, Owen helps the reader understand that sometimes the path is straight and easy, but sometimes you must zig-zag or find another way to the top.

Bark Parental Controls

Bark Parental Controls

Curious about how Bark works? Learn about our parental control features, including content monitoring, screen time management, and website blocking, and discover how they provide online safety for kids.