Bibliotherapy is using shared reading to support mental health, improve wellbeing, and help people process their emotions.
Humans are attracted to stories and they help us to learn and safely express our emotions. To find out more about why they support us to learn and connect with others, click here.
How to use bibliotherapy with children
To use bibliotherapy with children, select a book that is relevant to their needs. Create a comfortable environment free from distractions. Encourage discussion by asking open-ended questions after reading the book. Focus on listening empathetically, allowing the child to connect with characters to understand their own feelings and experiences, and follow up with creative or reflective activities.
1. Preparation
- Choose the right book: Select a book that is relevant to the child’s specific concerns, interests, and age level. Consider the child’s background, beliefs, and emotional context.
- Pre-read the book: Read the book yourself first to understand the content and anticipate any potentially sensitive material.
- Create a comfortable setting: Ensure the reading environment is free from distractions. You can include family if desired.
- Offer choices: Allow the child to help select the book and control the pace of the reading, if appropriate.
2. Reading and Discussion
- Introduce the book: Start by acknowledging the topic and, if necessary, the potentially difficult content.
- Encourage dialogue: Treat spontaneous comments as opportunities to discuss. Ask gentle, open-ended questions like, “How do you think the character felt?” or “Has something similar ever happened to you?”.
- Listen empathetically: Allow the child to express their feelings without judgment or interruption. Avoid trying to “solve” their problems for them; instead, validate their feelings.
- Model your own feelings: Sharing your own thoughts and feelings about the book can encourage your child to open up.
- Connect to their life: Help the child make connections between the story and their own experiences by asking questions that bridge the gap between the book and their life. However, they might not yet feel comfortable discussing these issues. That is okay. You can revisit it at another time, or they might open the discussion up again at a later stage.
3. Follow-up and Activities
- Use artistic expression: Younger children may benefit from drawing, acting out scenes, or creating something related to the story to process their emotions.
- Try creative prompts: Use prompts to encourage deeper thought. Examples include:
- Feelings connectors: Identify a feeling in the story, a similar event in their own life, and their personal feelings about it.
- Comparison charts: Create a Venn diagram to compare the characters with themselves, identifying similarities and differences.
- Journaling: For older children, suggest journaling or using a log book to record thoughts and reactions. They might want to write a song or rap. They may or may not want to share this with you.
- Reinforce positive aspects: Use activities that focus on a child’s strengths and interests. This can include drawing, painting, sculpture, crafts, songs, rhymes and raps, storytelling, puppet play, role play, dance, woodwork and other creative persuits to represent something in the book. This might be a feeling, something they learned, or simply a scene or a character of the book.
These sites might be useful to learn more:
- Bibliotherapy with kids with the State Library of Victoria
- A parent’s guide to helping children through bibliotherapy by the University of Connecticut
- “How I Approach” the Use of Bibliotherapy in Caring for Children with Oncologic and Hematologic Conditions (clinician’s academic paper) in PubMed.
- How to use bibliotherapy with children (with various types of bibliotherapy explained)