Welcome to Shelf Care—your new favorite excuse to curl up with a good book and good company.
Hosted in person by the clinicians of Galia Collaborative, each session features a carefully chosen book that encourages us to explore meaningful themes in our lives. Whether it’s identity, relationships, resilience, or change, each discussion offers space for insight, connection, and care.
You’re welcome to join one session or many—no long-term commitment required. Just bring your curiosity, your perspective, and maybe a friend. We’ll provide the cozy space, snacks, drinks, and a warm welcome.
Shelf Care is your invitation to nourish your inner life through the power of story and community.
These events are free, but we are kindly suggesting a donation of $15 to support Women Writing for (a) Change. You do not need to donate to attend. Donations can be made via Venmo or on site at the event.
Monthly Selections
February 19, 2026 7pm-9pm
2245 Gilbert Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45206
The Second Mountain by David Brooks
Facilitated by: Casey Frazee Katz, LPCC-S
In The Second Mountain, David Brooks invites us to think differently about what makes a life truly meaningful. Drawing from inspiring stories and deep reflection, Brooks shows how shifting our focus from self-centered goals to a life of connection and commitment can bring a deeper kind of fulfillment.
Discussing The Second Mountain together gives us space to reflect on where we are in our own journeys, and what it means to live a life that feels rich and whole. In conversation, we can explore how challenges, changes, and choices can move us toward lives anchored in meaning, belonging, and joy.
March 5, 2026, 7pm-9pm
2245 Gilbert Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45206
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Facilitated by: Kelly Jewell, MS, RD, LD
Jacqueline Harpman’s spare and haunting novel begins with forty women imprisoned underground, their lives stripped of history, freedom, and even touch with the outside world. When they are suddenly released into a desolate landscape, survival becomes only part of the journey—the deeper challenge is how to make sense of existence itself.
Our discussion will open space to consider the novel’s profound themes: isolation and community, memory and identity, and what remains of our humanity when everything else has been taken away. Stark yet deeply poetic, this story promises to spark a rich and searching conversation.
April 16, 2026 7pm-9pm
2245 Gilbert Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45206
The Tell by Amy Griffin
Facilitated by: Ashley Solomon, PsyD
Amy Griffin’s gripping memoir traces her quest for understanding beneath a life that appeared finely composed—successful career, loving family, and a relentless dedication to doing everything “right.” When a course of MDMA-assisted therapy begins to surface long-buried memories, she’s thrust into a reckoning with trauma, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
Our discussion will create space to explore the memoir’s layered themes: the complexity of memory, the evolving landscape of therapeutic healing, and the pressures placed on women to carry pain quietly while projecting strength. The book offers a powerful opportunity to reflect on truth-seeking, resilience, and the winding paths of personal recovery. Several elements of the book have prompted important debate, and we will have space to explore those tensions.
May 14, 2026 7pm-9pm
2245 Gilbert Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45206
All the Way to the River by Elizabeth Gilbert
Facilitated by: Casey Frazee Katz, LPCC-S
Elizabeth Gilbert’s All the Way to the River is a clear-eyed and deeply human exploration of addiction in its many forms—substance use, but also other compulsions that pull us toward escape, longing, and the promise of being chosen. Through a winding journey, Gilbert traces the often-controversial terrain of love addiction: the urge to merge, to disappear into another’s desires, and to mistake intensity for intimacy. The book examines what it costs to lose yourself in relationships, and what it takes to return to your own center.
The conversation will give opportunity to discuss the cultural scripts that encourage women to sacrifice themselves for connection. Ultimately, Gilbert’s story invites reflection on the ways we seek fulfillment outside ourselves—and how true recovery begins with reclaiming our own desires and boundaries.