Whidbey Island resident and psychotherapist Sarri Gilman saw a dire need and did something about it. She created housing for homeless teens when she founded Cocoon House in Everett. Then she wrote a memoir about that experience.

The Bard’s Boutique is hosting Gilman for a reading of her memoir “Cocoon: How One Woman Created a Shelter for Teens and Found Hope Along the Way.” The event will be 1:30-3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4, upstairs in the Front Room Gallery at the Bayview Cash Store.

“I wrote this book because the lessons I learned in the shelter are essential for these times as we continue to navigate through challenges and face problems that on the surface seem impossible,” Gilman said.

Gilman became acutely aware that many of the teenage students attending the Everett school where she worked had nowhere to go at night. She then realized they were victims of a devastating loophole in the state’s system, which provided housing for adults and young children who were homeless but had no space for teens.

What happened next was not in Gilman’s career plan, but the family therapist could not turn her back on the problem unfolding around her. Instead, she became the executive director of a nonprofit organization, Cocoon House, which served – and continues to serve – as a home for the most vulnerable teens in her workplace community, giving them the chance to find stability and a new lease on life.