SOUTHBOROUGH – The Southborough Youth and Family Services (SYFS) has started a community book discussion group called “Shelf Help.”
While SYFS has held book discussion groups in the past, “Shelf Help,” which is a partnership with the Southborough Library, is new to the organization, said Director Sarah Cassell.
The first book in the series discussed supporting parents of children with anxiety. Over the first three months of the year, the community will discuss “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression One Small Change at a Time.”
Cassell said the book was intentionally chosen for the cold and dark months of winter as it discusses how to make small behavioral changes to help reverse the course of depressive symptoms.
“We’re big fans of bibliotherapy in our office,” she said.
One of the nice things about SYFS, Cassell said, is they do not have barriers when it comes to insurance or other restrictions that other clinicians may face while delivering mental health services.
“We really try to diversify how we offer mental health support,” she said.
The SYFS office contains books that the staff like to recommend to people, thus spawning the idea for the “Shelf Help” book series. Some of the books may be daunting for readers.
“I think it’s beneficial for folks who are reading it to have the support and facilitation of somebody who’s a licensed mental health counselor to be able to talk about some of those pieces,” Cassell said. “Then, if people wanted to share their own personal challenges or had follow-up questions, we would be able to support them in that.”
The last book of the year will be “Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen” by Michelle Icard.
The deadline to register for this round of Shelf Help is Dec. 20. The discussions will take place on Jan. 14, Feb. 11 and March 11 at 4 p.m. in the Southborough Library.
To register, visit https://tinyurl.com/4hmfjsnd/.
SYFS is happy to loan copies of the book or have one-on-one discussion, if you are more comfortable. Southborough Library also has copies of the book.
For more information, visit https://www.southboroughma.gov/197/Youth-FamilyServices.
