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On leaving the military

Changing Step – From military to civilian life: people in transition: the Amazon blurb reads: ‘Civvy street – in the streamlined, fast turn-around world of today’s military, few servicemen or women have the time or the inclination to think about the end of their service – life after the military. Yet, the day comes and the reality, for many, is frightening. This book looks at a cross-section of men and women who left the forces several years ago to construct for themselves new identities as civilians. It asks why some people are eminently successful in making this transition whilst others never manage it, remaining for ever “ex-servicemen”. It looks at the issue of major life change in general, and identifies the processes at work in the adaptation of individuals to altered circumstances. Most importantly, the book draws on the personal experiences of a wide variety of military leavers, to learn directly from them the pitfalls and the satisfactions of beginning again as civilians’.

War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

On illness

The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, And Ethics, Second Edition: Arthur Frank’s penetrating essays on the human need to make sense and meaning from illness have become ‘required reading’ for many of us (Larry Churchill, author of Healers: Extraordinary Clinicians at Work)

On career development

Introduction to Career Counselling & Coaching: I found this particularly useful on the role of biography in determining career direction.

Career Counseling (Theories of Psychotherapy Series): Rather than assuming that a person’s interests and traits exist a already and and ready to be matched to a particular career, Savickas’ book recognises the power of the individual to construct their own career story and focuses on using their biography to do that (looking at career in terms of an individual’s life story and what motivates them).

Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work

On ‘posttraumatic growth’

 Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth

Other

Lost Connections: Uncovering the real causes of depression – and the unexpected solutions. Fascinating read.  Explains to me why I returned ‘home’ after and experience of illness and job loss.  Needed to feel grounded and nurtured etc, surrounded by ‘real’ people.