Healing is a Story Away: How Bibliotherapy Can Help You Reclaim Joy

In this powerful and tender episode of Black Girl Burnout, Kelley is joined by licensed clinical social worker and bibliotherapist Emely Rumble for a deeply affirming conversation about the healing power of stories. As part of our “Summer of Yes,” this episode explores what happens when we slow down, find ourselves in fiction, and use storytelling as a path to emotional integration and liberation.

Kelley and Emely talk about the role of literature in Black healing, how stories help us reclaim fragmented parts of ourselves, and why culturally rooted narratives matter in the therapeutic process. This episode is your invitation to reflect on the books that shaped you, the characters who gave you language, and the stories that helped you survive. If you’ve ever felt healed by a page, this one’s for you.

Key Takeaways

Stories are mirrors and medicine. Literature offers language, validation, and emotional integration when we’re navigating trauma or transformation.

Healing must be culturally grounded. For Black women, therapy and story must reflect our lived experiences—not just clinical frameworks.

You don’t need to be a therapist to use stories to heal. From poetry to journaling, storytelling is a tool we all have access to.

Reclaiming your narrative is radical healing. Naming your truth through story is a form of resistance and restoration.

Episode Timestamps

00:00 – Setting the Summer Tone

Kelley opens the episode with reflections on the Summer of Yes—and why Emely’s work in bibliotherapy is the perfect fit for a season rooted in ease, healing, and affirmation.

02:00 – What is Bibliotherapy?

Emely defines bibliotherapy and explains how literature can support emotional healing, identity exploration, and personal growth.

05:30 – Books as Emotional Companions

A heartfelt discussion about how fiction and poetry can give us language, belonging, and connection—especially when we’ve never had the words ourselves.

09:00 – Real-Life Impact: From Prison to Poetry

Kelley shares her early experience introducing poetry in the prison system and the unexpected healing that followed.

13:30 – Representation in Storytelling

Emely and Kelley reflect on why representation in literature matters and how seeing ourselves in books shifts our inner narratives.

17:15 – Fragmentation and Integration

Emely explains how trauma fragments the self and how storytelling helps us piece ourselves back together.

21:00 – Language as Liberation

They explore how reading and storytelling give Black women a powerful framework for naming emotions, setting boundaries, and reclaiming joy.

25:00 – Books That Healed Us

Kelley and Emely share the characters and books that shaped them—and how those stories continue to guide their healing journeys.

29:00 – Reflection + Closing

The episode ends with a loving invitation for listeners to reflect on the books that helped them heal and how storytelling might be the next step on their path to wholeness.

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