Books for the soul
There is a growing evidence base that therapeutic writing and reading can support people with long-term physical health conditions as well as improving mental health.
More about bibliotherapyReading
Writing
Therapy
Fiction as
therapy
Supporting your mental health and physical wellbeing through a therapeutic programme of bibliotherapy.
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The ZunTold Platform
Looking for a more creative way to get support with your mental health and wellbeing? Look no further! If you are 11 +, here's what you can do.
Living Books
Take you inside the story where you can make it your own. Interact with the characters and record your thoughts, feelings, memories and ideas. Discover yourself when you read a Living Book.
More about living books
Therapy Sessions
Book these with your counsellor. One to one sessions offering a structured but creative experience with therapists trained in the bibliotherapeutic approach.
More about therapy sessions
Therapeutic Writing
Use our templates to get started with writing your story. You can share your writing with your bibliotherapist as well if you want to.
More about therapeutic writing
Happy users
Take their word for it
“There was a lot of emphasis on creative writing, and you would explore if there's something difficult, you're going through. It's back and forwards like that, it's so wonderful and calming and it helps me feel more like me again.
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“Seeing it in writing and getting it in black and white, allows you to understand what you've been through.
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“I like that you can choose what you do with your writing; keep it to yourself, share with a therapist or make public.
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“I would use this service and so would my friends.
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“I use CAMHs and have lots of medication, I have a therapist but I really like the website and I would love to use this service.
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“It's great that you can upload gifs and images (and the site auto corrects image size).
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“Thinking more about the authors I love to be able to watch video's or podcasts with them, talking more about their lived experience in relation to the story.
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“The books are great. Some are small (quick reads) which is brilliant for me.
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“I honestly enjoy these sessions so much, the way you dissect language is amazing!
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“Thank you for starting this site. It has (and you have) honestly changed my life.
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Book Store
Our books are written by award winning authors. We publish children's books, Young Adult and New Adult fiction in print, ebook and for the bibliotherapy service as Living Books.
Go to book store
Frequently asked
Your safety is important to us.
- Our service is co designed with our service users, stakeholders and partners
- Our aim is to provide a space that allows you to speak out and feel heard without fear of reprisals. Our safeguarding, confidentiality, data protection and other policies and procedures are robust and supportive. Allowing high levels of trust and ensuring that appropriate steps are taken to keep you safe
- Anything you submit for posting on the Zuntold platform is pre moderated and community comments can be reported
- Our team are from diverse backgrounds and are suitably qualified and experienced to deliver mental health therapeutic services
- Our team all have Enhanced DBS and two references before starting work with us
- We are organisational members of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society; our delivery team are members of relevant professional bodies and the Zuntold Bibliotherapy training is accredited by CPDUK.
We understand that finding the right therapist can be difficult. If you feel that you are not getting on with your therapist it can be helpful to try discussing your feelings with them. If you are unable to do this or you find that after the discussion you still don't get on with them you can either;
- Ask your Bibliotherapist to refer you to another member of the Bibliotherapy team
- Message us directly through 'contact us' and request a change of therapist
Our confidence in the service comes from our extensive experience of delivering online therapeutic interventions alongside our interest and involvement in a range of research activities.
Our programme is based on humanistic person-centred counselling principles alongside other evidence- based interventions, including CBT and psychodynamic therapy. Bibliotherapy is a relational approach.
Our programme structure has also been informed by the evidence-based programme created by Arts for the Blues - see Arts for the Blues: The development of a new evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for depression Joanna Omylinska-Thurston, Vicky Karkou, Ailsa Parsons, Kerry Nair, Linda Dubrow-Marshall, Jennifer Starkey, Scott Thurston, Irene Dudley-Swarbrick, Surina Sharma.
Further information has been provided on the commissioners page.
Please email elaine@zuntold.com if you would like further details of the evidence base for this approach and for our most recent research projects.
ZunTold deliver a 10-week Bibliotherapy training and placement opportunity for Qualified Counsellors and those nearing the end of their Diploma in Counselling and/or Psychotherapy. Eligibility to apply for paid roles is offered on completion of the programme. If you would like further information, please contact Jan Clitheroe e. janclitheroe@zuntold.com .
The service is offered free of change at the point of delivery. This means that if you live in an area where ZunTold is commissioned, and you meet the eligibility criteria you will not be charged for using our service. If you are not sure about where ZunTold is available or who can access the service, please contact janclitheroe@zuntold.com for further information.
If you are a commissioner and would like to know more, please contact elaine@zuntold.com
Anyone using ZunTold's services can be assured that anything they share with us will be handled on a confidential basis.
We only breach confidentiality in exceptional circumstances. This would be if there were serious concerns about your safety or someone else's safety. Your safety and well-being are important to us and therefore we will always listen to and (where possible) agree next steps with you.
We value your feedback, comments, compliments and complaints as these help us to improve the service we provide.
If you have a complaint or concern, you can let us know in any of the following ways;
- Share it with your assigned Bibliotherapist (if you are a service user)
- Use the contact us page on the platform to message us
- Email the Operations Lead janclitheroe@zuntold.com
A copy of our Complaint policy can be found here
Something magic happens when we read
Books are 'healers for the soul' and creative and therapeutic wriitng brings many health benefits.
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Publishing
We publish for Middle Grade, Young Adult and New Adult fiction in print and ebooks and for the bibliotherapy service, as ZunTold Living Books. We also publish
adult non-fiction.
Commissioners
If you are interested in trialling our service we'd love to hear from you. Just contact janclitheroe@zuntold.com or elaine@zuntold.com .
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