Yaron White

Bibliotherapy is a creative arts practice that weaves stories and texts into therapy. It connects to the understanding that creativity is central to self-actualisation and growth, where stories function like dreams: expressions of unconscious material that can be explored safely. Sometimes I’ll share a poem or passage that reflects what you’re experiencing. Sometimes you’ll bring something that speaks to you. Sometimes we’ll explore the stories you tell about your own life. The bibliotherapy happens through our conversations – it's not homework or formal exercises, but a way of using narrative and metaphor to access ourselves. I chose bibliotherapy because life is a story. We learn from stories and think in stories. Will I give you a poem for homework? Heaven forbid. Will we find echoes of your struggles in a tale? Will you look at your story in a new light? I hope so. I also offer correspondence therapy — a structured exchange of letters by encrypted email. Writing accesses experience differently from speaking. For some people it's the more natural way in.

My experience began in a student placement in a residential care home working with children and young adults who had been removed from their homes by social services. I came for a year and stayed for six – progressing from student to staff. I learned the depth and darkness of the pain we carry with us and how connecting to that pain brings growth that’s beautiful, strange and powerful. It’s hard to explain without vagueness. Confidentiality. I can’t tell another person’s tale; I’ll never tell yours. Therapy works in practice. Seen from the outside, it can be daunting. The promises so grand, the cost so high, the rewards so ill-defined. The knot and the butterfly. If you feel them – if you need to feel them – I’m here to help.

I hold a Master of Arts in Art Therapy (M.A.A.T.) with a specialisation in bibliotherapy from Kibbutzim College in Tel-Aviv, and a B.A in English and Critical Theory from London Metropolitan University.