Mental Health Awareness Month: Resources for Self-Care & Personal Growth

This Mental Health Awareness Month resource list from the Drexel Libraries offers a collection of informative materials to support understanding, empathy, and self-care. It includes memoirs, personal narratives and practical guides for promoting mental health and wellness. Whether you're interested in learning about mental health conditions or exploring public health approaches, these resources offer valuable insights and information.  

We hope you will explore these highlighted materials and then visit our Mental Health and Wellness Resources Guide and our second list of mental health resources, which includes information on therapeutic practices, counseling, and research-based works that address common challenges in mental health, such as homelessness, substance abuse, and stigma, as well as emerging trends in mindfulness and self-care. 

Memoirs and Personal Experiences 

• A Body, Undone: Living on after Great Pain by Christina Crosby
• Becoming Unbecoming by Una
• Billy, Me & You: A Memoir of Grief and Recovery by Nicole Streeten
• Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
• Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green
• Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir by Ellen Forney
• Rx: A Graphic Memoir by Rachel Lindsay 

Education & Self-Improvement: Self-Care and College Life

• Frame Your Degree: How to Avoid Pain While Seeking a College Degree by Veronica Carey
• Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change and Grow by William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick 
• Self-Care for College Students: From Orientation to Graduation, 150+ Easy Ways to Stay Happy, Healthy, and Stress-Free by Julia Dellitt
• The Her Campus Guide to College Life, Updated and Expanded Edition: How to Manage Relationships, Stay Safe and Healthy, Handle Stress, and Have the Best Years of Your Life! by Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, Annie Chandler Wang, and Windsor Hanger Western
• Using Art Therapy with Diverse Populations: Crossing Cultures and Abilities edited by Paula Howie, Sangeeta Prasad, and Jennie Kristel 

Health & Wellness 

• Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke 
• Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health edited by Brigham Narins 
• Homelessness and Mental Health edited by João Castaldelli-Maia, Antonio Ventriglio, and Dinesh Bhugra 
• Humanizing Mental Illness : Enhancing Agency through Social Interaction by Abigail Gosselin 
• Nature in Mind: Systemic Thinking and Imagination in Ecopsychology and Mental Health by Roger Duncan 
• Nature Through a Hospital Window: The Therapeutic Benefits of Landscape in Architectural Design by Shan Jiang 
• Space, Place and Mental Health by Sarah Curtis 
• The Anxiety Healer’s Guide: Coping Strategies and Mindfulness Techniques to Calm the Mind and Body by Alison Seponara 

Social and Cultural Awareness 

• Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit by Mary-Frances Winters 
• Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss by Juliet Hooker 
• Deep Kindness: A Revolutionary Guide for the Way We Think, Talk, and ACT in Kindness by Houston Kraft 
• Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin 
• Let’s Talk about Hard Things by Anna Sale 
• McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality by Ronald Purser 
• More Than Our Pain: Affect and Emotion in the Era of Black Lives Matter edited by Beth Hinderliter and Steve Peraza 
• Relatable: How to Connect With Anyone, Anywhere Even If It Scares You by Rachel DeAlto 
• Right Within: How to Heal From Racial Trauma in the Workplace by Minda Harts
• We Move Together by Anne McGuire and Kelly Fritsch 
• What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Oprah Winfrey 

Personal Growth and Inspiration

• A Universal Declaration of Human Well-Being by Annie Austin
• Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh 
• The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by Howard C. Cutler 
• The Bad Doctor: The Troubled Life and Times of Dr. Iwan James by Ian Williams 
• The Ecological Self by Freya Mathews 
• The Future of the Mind : The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind by Michio Kaku 
• When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron 
• You Are Awesome: How to Navigate Change, Wrestle with Failure, and Live an Intentional Life by Neil Pasricha