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Letter Therapy is written for those who have suffered emotional, physical, and/or sexual trauma. Written by a therapist who has 25 years of working in the field of counseling, the book relates her strategy of using written (but not necessarily sent) letters for healing. This 117-page book, with twelve chapters, explores the process of writing healing letters and gives examples of letters her clients have written to parents, mothers, fathers, spouses/lovers/partners, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings. The final chapters are about the tools of recovery and making a decision about whether or not to confront the offender. The book ends with a ten-step process which she calls a "Bill of Rights" regarding the rights people have in setting boundaries, letting go of past wounds, and nurturing the self.
These letters may be helpful for those individuals who need to begin to heal from their traumas and also, they can be a guide for beginning therapists. The letters themselves are difficult to read due to the emotional content they portray, but they give readers real-life examples of how to begin coping by writing down their thoughts and feelings. The letters also allow readers to see that they are not alone. The process of the letter writing is nicely spelled out with eight steps. While the author takes credit for developing "a process that heals many of these old wounds," letter therapy has been utilized with success for decades. Also this reviewer notes significant style errors in the galley prior to publication. Finally, the Bill of Rights offers a quick, valuable lesson of remembering how to go through the process of grief and trauma, while becoming one who thrives in life and not just survives.