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Live Well @ Your Library

Live Well @ Your Library

Wellness is not just about physical health; it’s also about having a healthy mind and relationships. Madison Public Library can help you stay informed through our free resources and help you reach your wellness goals through our workshops by the community, for the community.

Want to stay in the know about future wellness events at your library? Sign up for the Live Well @ Your Library Insider email newsletter.

 

Adults talking to each other

Free Virtual Resource: Wisconsin Mental Health Forums

This free series will identify the inequalities that diverse and marginalized groups face in the Behavioral Health System and share concepts of how to improve their experiences when seeking treatment.

Health providers are especially encouraged to attend. The series will focus on the following underserved populations: African American, Native American, Hispanic/Latinx and Hmong Ethnicity, people with whom English is not a primary language, including the deaf and hard of hearing populations, and the LGBTQ+ community.

These are all groups of people who are marginalized and who experience a disproportionate risk for behavioral health challenges. Access to needed services is constrained by marginalizing policies and practices.

Schedule/Topics:

  • New Date! Equity and Racial Justice in Mental Health Service Provision
    October 5, 2023 @ 10:00am CDT
  • Intersection of Race, Trauma, and Mental Health
    October 10, 2023 @ 11:00am CDT
  • Assuring Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services
    November 6, 2023 @ 10:00am CST
  • Affirming and Supportive Services for LGBTQ+ Individuals
    January 9, 2024 @ 10:00am CST
  • The Ethics of Advancing Mental Health Equity
    February 7, 2024 @ 10:00am CST

Please visit the Employment Resources, Inc. (ERI) website to create a free login, enroll for upcoming webinars, and view past program recordings.

Webinars developed by Employment Resources, Inc. (ERI) and made possible by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Care and Treatment Services (DCTS); this series is not associated with Madison Public Library.

Wellness At Home: Make Your Own Gratitude Journal

The practice of daily gratitude is perfect for the cold, winter months. While you're reflecting on the previous year or gearing up for the new one, take a little time out to make your own gratitude journal! Artist Angela Johnson created this helpful kit so that you can design your journal using watercolor techniques and common materials found around the house. Each kit also includes 30 journal prompts to guide your gratitude practice. Download the instructions by clicking the images below and get started today! 

This kit is intended for older adults as part of the Live Well @ Your Library Senior Initiative.

Wellness Books

A few highlights of new and newer wellness books available at your library.

Cover of Arguing for a Better World
Arianne
Shahvisi
Penguin Books
2023

A book that shows us how to work through thorny moral questions by examining their parts in broad daylight, equipping us to not only identify our own positions but to defend them as well. It demonstrates the relevance of philosophy to our everyday lives, and offers some clear-eyed tools to those who want to learn how to better fight for justice and liberation for all.

Cover of Better Living Through Bird
Christian
Cooper
Random House
2022

Christian Cooper is a self-described Blerd (Black nerd), an avid comics fan, and an expert birder who devotes every spring to gazing upon the migratory birds that stop to rest in Central Park, just a subway ride away from where he lives in New York City. When birdwatching in the park one morning in May 2020, Cooper was engaged in the ritual that had been a part of his life since he was ten years old. But when a routine encounter with a dog-walker escalates age old racial tensions, Cooper's viral video of the incident would send shockwaves through the nation. In Better Living Through Birding, Cooper tells the story of his extraordinary life leading up to the now-infamous encounter in Central Park and shows how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in American today. From sharpened senses that work just as well in a protest as in a park, to what a bird like the Common Grackle can teach us about self-acceptance, Better Living Through Birding exults in the pleasures of a life lived in pursuit of the natural world and invites you to discover your own. Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, this is Cooper's story of learning to claim and defend space for himself and others like him, from his days as a writer for Marvel Comics, where Cooper introduced the first gay storyline, to vivid and life-changing birding expeditions through Africa, Australia, the Americas and the Himalayas. Better Living Through Birding is Cooper's invitation into the wonderful world of birds, and what they can teach us about life, if only we would stop and listen.

This title is also availible in ebook and audiobook format.

Cover of Foraged & Recycled Art
Clare
Youngs
CICO Books
2023

With ideas for makes from gifts and accessories to homewares and decorations, this collection shows you how to craft innovative projects from foraged and upcycled materials. The 35 designs include a patchwork weekender bag made from fabric scraps, gift-wrapped soap decorated with sprigs of berries, a vintage paper lampshade and buttons embroidered with acorn details. Expert maker Clare Youngs guides you through all the techniques you'll need, showing you how to use a wide range of materials including fabric and paper off-cuts as well as natural elements such as twigs, leaves and shells. With just a few inexpensive supplies and tools to get you started, you'll soon be making beautiful works of art and developing your creativity while being kind to the planet.

This title is also available in ebook format.

Cover of Transmogrify!
G. Haron
Davis
HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
2023

Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. In Transmogrify!, you'll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences--because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration!

This title is also available in ebook format.

Check out even more great wellness reads!

Black Women's Wellness Book List

Mental Health Awareness Book List

Community Wellness Survey

Community responses from a wellness survey conducted in summer 2021 as part of the Live Well @ Your Library series, in collaboration with Be Well Madison and Midwest Mujeres. 

Highlights:

  • 84% respondents said they would use wellness services if they were offered in their neighborhood
  • In response to the question "What do you feel gets in your way of accessing wellness services three  stood out: cost/financial (25.7%), cultural stigma (15.8%) lack of trust in providers (12/9%)
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