Desirée's Book Recommendations

Desirée Luerene Israel is a licensed social worker and sought-after reproductive mental health leader. She has specialized in perinatal mental health and reproductive justice for 8 years and is the founder and owner of MotherlandCo. Additionally, she is a cofounder of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for People of Color.

 

Desirée's Book Recommendations TikTok Link
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months
Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches
Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case Examples, and Tips (Revised)
The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom (Revised)
Teaching in Social Work: An Educators' Guide to Theory and Practice
Teaching in Social Work: An Educator's Guide to Theory and Practice
Integrative Statistics for the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Study Guide)
The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain
The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins--Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, and the Minimum Wage
Man's Search for Meaning
Wednesday's Children: The Memoirs of a Nurse-Turned-Social-Worker in Rural Appalachia
Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again
From Poor Law to Welfare State, 6th Edition: A History of Social Welfare in America (Original)
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth
Birthing Liberation: How Reproductive Justice Can Set Us Free
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organizing for Reproductive Justice
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundation, Theory, Practice, Critique
Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy, and Childbirth
Reproductive Justice: An Introduction Volume 1
Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma
Birth Story Brave, Reimagined: An Updated Guide for Reflecting on Your Childbirth Experience
The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality
The Pregnancy and Postpartum Anxiety Workbook: Practical Skills to Help You Overcome Anxiety, Worry, Panic Attacks, Obsessions, and Compulsions
Postpartum Action Manual: How to Provide Comfort, Encouragement, and Guidance to New Families
Parental Mental Health: Factoring in Fathers
Community Support for New Families: Guide to Organizing a Postpartum Parent Support Network in Your Community
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Perinatal Distress
Therapy and the Postpartum Woman: Notes on Healing Postpartum Depression for Clinicians and the Women Who Seek Their Help
The Art of Holding in Therapy: An Essential Intervention for Postpartum Depression and Anxiety
Trauma Informed Care in the Perinatal Period
This Isn't What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing (Revised)
Birth Story Brave, Reimagined: An Updated Guide for Reflecting on Your Childbirth Experience
The Afrominimalist's Guide to Living with Less
Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance
The Set Boundaries Workbook: Practical Exercises for Understanding Your Needs and Setting Healthy Limits
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself
Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto
The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months
Transforming Ethnic and Race-Based Traumatic Stress with Yoga
Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma
Affirmations for Black Women: A Journal: 100+ Positive Messages and Prompts to Affirm Your Self-Worth, Empower Your Spirit, & Attract Success
Self-Care for Black Women: 150 Ways to Radically Accept & Prioritize Your Mind, Body, & Soul
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
Black Women's Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability
Postpartum Action Manual: How to Provide Comfort, Encouragement, and Guidance to New Families
The Doula Business Guide, 3rd Edition: How to Succeed as a Birth, Postpartum or End-of-Life Doula
The Doulas: Radical Care for Pregnant People
The Birth Partner 5th Edition: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions
The Ayurvedic Guide to Fertility: A Natural Approach to Getting Pregnant
Fat and Fertile: How to get pregnant in a bigger body
Queer Conception: The Complete Fertility Guide for Queer and Trans Parents-To-Be
Awakening Fertility: The Essential Art of Preparing for Pregnancy by the Authors of the First Forty Days
Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma
Birth Story Brave, Reimagined: An Updated Guide for Reflecting on Your Childbirth Experience
Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto
Affirmations for Black Women: A Journal: 100+ Positive Messages and Prompts to Affirm Your Self-Worth, Empower Your Spirit, & Attract Success
Self-Care for Black Women: 150 Ways to Radically Accept & Prioritize Your Mind, Body, & Soul
Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines
We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood
Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy
The Fourth Trimester: A Postpartum Guide to Healing Your Body, Balancing Your Emotions, and Restoring Your Vitality
Queer Conception: The Complete Fertility Guide for Queer and Trans Parents-To-Be
The Postpartum Husband: Practical Solutions for Living with Postpartum Depression
Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood--And Trusting Yourself and Your Body
The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother
Nine Golden Months: The Essential Art of Nurturing the Mother-To-Be
Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma
Birth Story Brave, Reimagined: An Updated Guide for Reflecting on Your Childbirth Experience
What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Born Whole: Heal your pre-birth trauma. Guide and protect your baby from conception to birth.
Birth Trauma (Second Edition): A guide for you, your friends and family to coping with post-traumatic stress disorder following birth
Coping with Birth Trauma
More Than a Healthy Baby: Finding Strength and Growth After Birth Trauma
Early Trauma: Pregnancy, Birth and First Years of Life
The Trauma Of Birth
Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood--And Trusting Yourself and Your Body
The Woman's Herbal Apothecary: 200 Natural Remedies for Healing, Hormone Balance, Beauty and Longevity, and Creating Calm
Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals
Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing
The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide
African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions
Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals
Obeah, Orisa, and Religious Identity in Trinidad, Volume II, Orisa: Africana Nations and the Power of Black Sacred Imagination Volume 2
Ritual: Power, Healing and Community
Finding Soul on the Path of Orisa: A West African Spiritual Tradition
Seven African Powers: The Orishas
Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in the African Religious Traditions
Ori: The Ifa Concept of Consciousness
Awo: Ifa Concept of Divination