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What to Do When You Feel Broken: How to Let Go of Negative Patterns, Heal Your Relationships and Find Freedom
‘Trauma doesn't have to be the end of your story—it can be the beginning of a new, stronger chapter.
What to Do When You Feel Broken
dives deep into the transformative process known as post-traumatic growth, revealing how even life's most challenging moments can fuel your resilience, strength, and growth.’
Mel Robbins, bestselling author and host of
The Mel Robbins Podcast
You’re not broken. Learn how your past impacts your present and develop the mindset you need to break damaging patterns.
Clinical psychologist Dr Laura Williams’ life turned upside down when her husband suddenly died at the age of 37, when they had three young children. This trauma forced her to reconsider the psychological teachings she’d used professionally to help hundreds of others and apply them to her own life.
Dr Laura uses her own personal story to illustrate key psychological concepts we can all benefit from applying to our own lives. You'll learn how
Get to know yourself fully and understand what drives your behaviour and how it impacts your relationships Examine your early conditioning to gain new insight into destructive feelings that you may have repressed for years Use Dr Laura’s four-step HEAL framework to move forward consciously on a new path The toolbox of knowledge and techniques in this book will empower you to pick up your ‘broken parts’ and put them back together to live life with resilience, wisdom and fortitude.
You’re not broken. Learn how your past impacts your present and develop the mindset you need to break damaging patterns.
Clinical psychologist Dr Laura Williams’ life turned upside down when her husband suddenly died at the age of 37, when they had three young children. This trauma forced her to reconsider the psychological teachings she’d used professionally to help hundreds of others and apply them to her own life.
Dr Laura uses her own personal story to illustrate key psychological concepts we can all benefit from applying to our own lives. You'll learn how
Get to know yourself fully and understand what drives your behaviour and how it impacts your relationships Examine your early conditioning to gain new insight into destructive feelings that you may have repressed for years Use Dr Laura’s four-step HEAL framework to move forward consciously on a new path The toolbox of knowledge and techniques in this book will empower you to pick up your ‘broken parts’ and put them back together to live life with resilience, wisdom and fortitude.
240 pages, Paperback
Published February 18, 2025
42 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 26, 2025
This is an incredibly helpful book, which manages to achieve a very difficult balance. It illustrates psychological concepts and provides examples and tools that connect and apply to everyday life. Whenever the book utilises academic and professional terminology, it provides clear explanations so that the reader never feels lost or overwhelmed. It is extremely well written and it has a very curated pace.
The author, Dr Laura Williams, often uses her personal story to talk about trauma, feelings and relationships, and this helps create a very strong emotional connection with the reader.
I absolutely recommend reading this book as it has helped me gain a better understanding of my own feelings and behaviours and the tools that are available to work on healthy emotional resilience.
The author, Dr Laura Williams, often uses her personal story to talk about trauma, feelings and relationships, and this helps create a very strong emotional connection with the reader.
I absolutely recommend reading this book as it has helped me gain a better understanding of my own feelings and behaviours and the tools that are available to work on healthy emotional resilience.
August 16, 2025
In What To Do When You Feel Broken, Dr Laura Williams writes with a unique authority. Dr Laura weaves her experience as a skilled and compassionate Clinical Psychologist, alongside her own experience of trauma, to create a deeply important and compelling read. This authenticity of experience, coupled with information and techniques that are grounded in evidence based psychological therapies, gives the reader a powerful and trustworthy means to understand and work through psychological distress.
This book will appeal to a range of readers, particularly those looking to understand their own psychology and to find practical tools. Moreover, as a Clinical Psychologist myself, I consider that professionals at all stages in their careers will benefit from reading Dr Laura’s book.
I particularly enjoyed Dr Laura’s accessible explanation of psychological formulation and the opportunity she gives readers to develop and understand their own formulation. Throughout the book, Dr Laura draws from a range of psychological therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Schema Therapy.
What To Do When You Feel Broken is a moving, informative and inspirational read. I took a lot from this book, both personally and professionally. Dr Laura writes with a genuine care and understanding of the experience of trauma, whilst providing the hope and the steps needed to rebuild.
This book will appeal to a range of readers, particularly those looking to understand their own psychology and to find practical tools. Moreover, as a Clinical Psychologist myself, I consider that professionals at all stages in their careers will benefit from reading Dr Laura’s book.
I particularly enjoyed Dr Laura’s accessible explanation of psychological formulation and the opportunity she gives readers to develop and understand their own formulation. Throughout the book, Dr Laura draws from a range of psychological therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Schema Therapy.
What To Do When You Feel Broken is a moving, informative and inspirational read. I took a lot from this book, both personally and professionally. Dr Laura writes with a genuine care and understanding of the experience of trauma, whilst providing the hope and the steps needed to rebuild.
March 8, 2025
i will never be able to praise or recommend this book enough.
beautifully vulnerable and candid, Dr Laura opens up about her own traumas and struggles in a way that makes you feel less alone. through sharing the heartbreaking story of her husband's sudden death, Laura takes us on an exploration of how we can heal from our own traumas and difficult life events.
Dr Laura teaches us that there can be joy after sadness, that joy and sadness can coexist, and that it is okay to feel how you feel. she teaches us to be kind and compassionate to ourselves, how to live a beautifully imperfect life, how to find our own power. through her kind words and practical exercises and prompts at the end of every chapter, this book truly helps you to do the work on yourself.
this book is so much more than a book. it is a companion for life and i know it is something i will come back to again and again throughout my life. it's filled with hope, reassurance, and practical strategies that will help you to heal yourself and find the strength to keep going.
beautifully vulnerable and candid, Dr Laura opens up about her own traumas and struggles in a way that makes you feel less alone. through sharing the heartbreaking story of her husband's sudden death, Laura takes us on an exploration of how we can heal from our own traumas and difficult life events.
Dr Laura teaches us that there can be joy after sadness, that joy and sadness can coexist, and that it is okay to feel how you feel. she teaches us to be kind and compassionate to ourselves, how to live a beautifully imperfect life, how to find our own power. through her kind words and practical exercises and prompts at the end of every chapter, this book truly helps you to do the work on yourself.
this book is so much more than a book. it is a companion for life and i know it is something i will come back to again and again throughout my life. it's filled with hope, reassurance, and practical strategies that will help you to heal yourself and find the strength to keep going.
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January 13, 2026Wasn’t prepared to read the details of her trauma. Probably a useful book to start processes but not much new or helpful when you’ve already been in therapy for a while. Some good prompts for writing, but was an audio book.
Also the Scottish accent was beautiful but hard as an audiobook - spent all the time between words reworking and deciphering to be able to understand it, instead of taking it in. A lot of effort
Also the Scottish accent was beautiful but hard as an audiobook - spent all the time between words reworking and deciphering to be able to understand it, instead of taking it in. A lot of effort
April 16, 2025
The opening chapters made me bawl my eyes out, and I don’t really have much else to say other than I’m still broken, and now I feel horrible for the author.
December 31, 2025
So good I made my mum read it and it got her going to therapy
July 24, 2025
Fascinating and simple
Rarely does a book tackle genuine academia and deliver it in such a palatable manner. Accessible, thoughtful, relatable; I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from reading this.
Rarely does a book tackle genuine academia and deliver it in such a palatable manner. Accessible, thoughtful, relatable; I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from reading this.
June 26, 2025
This is an incredibly helpful book, which manages to achieve a very difficult balance. It illustrates psychological concepts and provides examples and tools that connect and apply to everyday life. Whenever the book utilises academic and professional terminology, it provides clear explanations so that the reader never feels lost or overwhelmed. It is extremely well written and it has a very curated pace.
The author, Dr Laura Williams, often uses her personal story to talk about trauma, feelings and relationships, and this helps create a very strong emotional connection with the reader.
I absolutely recommend reading this book as it has helped me gain a better understanding of my own feelings and behaviours and the tools that are available to work on healthy emotional resilience.
The author, Dr Laura Williams, often uses her personal story to talk about trauma, feelings and relationships, and this helps create a very strong emotional connection with the reader.
I absolutely recommend reading this book as it has helped me gain a better understanding of my own feelings and behaviours and the tools that are available to work on healthy emotional resilience.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews