'Restart Bibliotherapy' conference successful
- Alexander Lethen
- Mar 3
- 2 min read

Our MADE-Life conference "Restart Bibliotherapy" and "Stories for the Future" on Monday afternoon, March 3rd, at the Utrecht Library was a resounding success. More than 60 people (capacity was limited) attended this mini-conference.
The conference consisted of six stimulating sessions on the various perspectives on bibliotherapy, such as:
History of Bibliotherapy - University of Amsterdam, Book Science, Lisa Kuitert
Library Practice for Adolescents - Library of Utrecht, Mieke van Eijsden
Leesjebeter.nl initiative - Dutch Foundation for Literature, Agnes Vogt
Research into willingness of GP's to subscribe Bibliotherapy - Open Universiteit, Master thesis, Lucienne Bongers
Common Practice of a Bibliotherapist - Culturele Apotheek, Akke Visser
Searching & Finding - NDB Biblion, Jeroen Storm
This was followed by three panels, where we delved even deeper into a number of aspects of this topic, such as:
Four pillars of bibliotherapy: 1. which book: (non)fiction, 2. by whom: literary/medical evaluation, 3. how: (un)supervised, 4. for whom: preventive/ curative
human and machine: custom made & data driven
how to make this restart successful?: (general discussion)
The presentations from the six sessions can be downloaded at www.made-life.nl/bibliotherapie
As an intermezzo, two writers read excerpts from "Stories for the Future," and we showed one wonderful visual story (which will be published later):
Jaimy Kerkhof, 'dedagdatallesveranderede'
Robin Chardon, 'Brieven'
Isa Uittenbogaard, 'Klimmen'
After just over three hours, everyone left the event with a wealth of new information, innovative insights, and a huge dose of enthusiasm. This restart might just be a success! Watch this space!
We—MADE-Life—have been given a lot of homework and are going to work on it right away to actually restart bibliotherapy.
P.S. We've also launched a competition to find a new, more appropriate term for bibliotherapy. You can also submit these alternatives at www.made-life.nl/bibliotherapie
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