As a book lover, I will always crave the weight of a text in my hands, the feel of turning a page, the smell of ink on paper, and the satisfaction of highlighting or annotating something I'm reading.
However, I also value simplicity and having a single membership that gives me access to a wide array of resources, for a flate fee. And this is where I think Kindle Unlimited is pretty incredible for therapists (and honestly, any vivacious reader) as a supplement to using your public library and the Libby app. Amazon has a wide selection of psychology, counseling, and self-help books that are a part of this lending program (what is featured below is a small selection, though likely some of the most familiar titles, that are currently available as I write this post).
Where this membership really shines for therapist is that it allows you to check out up to 20 titles at a time. So even if you used 50% of your rental space for explicitly clinical material, you still have 10 book rentals that you can use for personal reads. If your discipline's professional code of ethics includes self-care (like mine does as a social worker), and reading is part of how you support your overall well-being, protecting you from burnout and ensuring you are delivering good quality care to your clients, I feel incredibly justified in using this membership for whatever books I find myself curious about.
Before I joined KU, I had a line item in my business budget of $30 a month for professionally related books I felt I could benefit from. Since the fee for KU is not even half of that budget ($11.99, though you can usually find a promo to get 1-3 months free), I balance supporting Amazon (by using this service) and supporting small businesses by spending the difference purchasing physical copies of what I want from my favorite local independent bookstore or online through a great queer owned bookstore that does profit sharing with authors.
Another really convenient function within the KU system is if you choose to highlight and take notes in the book, you can still return it (to check out another) and all your annotations will be saved and repopulated if you check it out again in the future. So it's almost like returning it is the equivalent of putting it back on your bookshelf and when you check it back out (pull it back off your shelf) all your tabs and markings are right there.
While you can do all of this through the Kindle app on any device you already have, I am going to put a BIG plug in for the Kindle Scribe e-reader and paper tablet. I recently purchased one for myself and it has streamlined my professional life when it comes to managing and engaging with powerpoint PDFs for trainings, planning out business needs and tracking to-do tasks in the notebook section, and being able to actually write a comment in an e-book (instead of just type them). It has a "convert to text" feature that lets you send yourself writings in a .text document that has surprisingly good accuracy (which could be very convenient for jotting psychotherapy notes in session and then exporting them for your record (though you will have to be mindful of PHI as you would in any notebook or transmission).
I will mention, I purchased mine refurbished since it came with the same warranty as a new one, allowing me to save over $150 off retail. I've only had it a little over a month but have been really benefiting from having one place to go to for everything and will probably do a post in the future about the ways I've been using it to support my practice.
At the end of the day, while both the KU membership and the purchase of the Kindle Scribe are appropriate business expenses (yay for tax deductions!) and save me money in the long run, I'm also always open to savings right off the bat by not buying new.
Please let me know what books, therapy related or for personal pleasure, you have been enjoying lately... maybe we will eventually see them on KU if they aren't already there! And if you are a therapist who is looking for more community, particularly around books, you may want to consider joining my Bloom in Books Reading Group which is an offering within my Clinicians in Community group.
This post was not sponsored in any way and I have no financial affiliation with any entities cited, I'm sharing them simply because I find value in them and hope you might as well.