97% of young people would recommend their Reading Well book to a friend
Reading Well
What is Reading Well?
Reading Well supports you to understand and manage your health and wellbeing using helpful reading.
Reading Well books are all recommended by health experts, as well as people with lived experience of the conditions and topics covered and their relatives and carers.
You can be recommended a title by a health professional, or you can visit your local library and take a book out yourself.
Reading Well for dementia
“I’ve become very involved in the world of dementia awareness after caring for my late mother who had the disease. I’m delighted The Reading Agency has developed this book collection to encourage people to read about dementia. When my mother developed dementia 20 years ago, I knew very little about it. I needed a great deal of help to learn how to cope and to help my mother live well with the disease. I believe Reading Well for dementia will be a step forward. The books are going to be the catalyst that will bring people together, inform them and educate them to become much more aware and most importantly, less frightened of what a future with dementia holds.”
Angela Rippon CBE, journalist and broadcaster and Reading Well for dementia champion
Where can I find the books?
You can borrow books from the collections from your local library. Many of the Reading Well titles are also available to borrow as e-books and audiobooks. Reading Well is a shared programme with Libraries Connected as part of the Universal Public Library Health and Wellbeing Offer.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has funded a universal roll-out of the reading lists to support mental health to every library service across England. Welsh Government have funded every library authority in Wales to deliver the scheme bilingually in Welsh and English.
Partners
Reading Well is delivered by The Reading Agency in partnership with Libraries Connected as a core delivery partner for their Universal Public Library Health and Wellbeing Offer.
It is funded by Arts Council England, The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Welsh Government.
Our research
Reading Well is evaluated each year to ensure that it delivers positive outcomes.
Over 3.8 million Reading Well books have been borrowed from libraries and 92% of people surveyed found their book helpful.
90% of health professionals surveyed said Reading Well books helped support people outside of consultation time
Get involved
Reading Well is part of the Universal Public Library Health and Wellbeing Offer. Download our delivery model for a guide to running Reading Well in your library.
You can also download specialist guides for other settings interested in getting involved with Reading Well: Schools, Parents and carers, Link workers and the health sector.
Other print materials supporting Reading Well, including user leaflets and posters, can be ordered from our online shop.
For more information, please get in touch.
Resources
We have lots of free downloadable resources to support you with promoting and embedding Reading Well.
World Mental Health Day 2024 - library toolkit
A toolkit to support libraries to get involved with World Mental Health Day (10 October 2024). The toolkit includes useful information, resources, display and activity…
Promotional toolkit - Reading Well for children
A promotional toolkit for the Reading Well for children booklist. Contains display ideas; online and social media content including template tweets and quote cards from children,…
Reading Well - plasma screen artwork collection
Plasma screen artwork for all available Reading Well schemes, including a general slide and scheme-specific slides.
Reading Well digital leaflets - all schemes
Digital leaflets for all Reading Well schemes available: - Reading Well for dementia - Reading Well for mental health - Reading Well for teens -…
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