Archived Books
September 2023
The Wild Edge of Sorrow
by Francis Weller
Noted psychotherapist Francis Weller provides an essential guide for navigating the deep waters of sorrow and loss in this lyrical yet practical handbook for mastering the art of grieving. Describing how Western patterns of amnesia and anesthesia affect our capacity to cope with personal and collective sorrows, Weller reveals the new vitality we may encounter when we welcome, rather than fear, the pain of loss. Through moving personal stories, poetry, and insightful reflections he leads us into the central energy of sorrow, and to the profound healing and heightened communion with each other and our planet that reside alongside it.
The Wild Edge of Sorrow explains that grief has always been communal and illustrates how we need the healing touch of others, an atmosphere of compassion, and the comfort of ritual in order to fully metabolize our grief. Weller describes how we often hide our pain from the world, wrapping it in a secret mantle of shame. This causes sorrow to linger unexpressed in our bodies, weighing us down and pulling us into the territory of depression and death. We have come to fear grief and feel too alone to face an encounter with the powerful energies of sorrow.
Those who work with people in grief, who have experienced the loss of a loved one, who mourn the ongoing destruction of our planet, or who suffer the accumulated traumas of a lifetime will appreciate the discussion of obstacles to successful grief work such as privatized pain, lack of communal rituals, a pervasive feeling of fear, and a culturally restrictive range of emotion. Weller highlights the intimate bond between grief and gratitude, sorrow and intimacy. In addition to showing us that the greatest gifts are often hidden in the things we avoid, he offers powerful tools and rituals and a list of resources to help us transform grief into a force that allows us to live and love more fully.
Order Now
August 2023
What Made Maddy Run: The Secret Struggles and Tragic Death of an All-American Teen
by Kate Fagan
It’s time to heal the invisible wounds of complex trauma and reclaim your mind, body, and spirit.
The heartbreaking story of college athlete Madison Holleran, whose life and death by suicide reveal the struggle of young people suffering from mental illness today in this #1 New York Times Sports and Fitness bestseller.
If you scrolled through the Instagram feed of 19-year-old Maddy Holleran, you would see a perfect life: a freshman at an Ivy League school, recruited for the track team, who was also beautiful, popular, and fiercely intelligent. This was a girl who succeeded at everything she tried, and who was only getting started. But when Maddy began her long-awaited college career, her parents noticed something changed. Previously indefatigable Maddy became withdrawn, and her thoughts centered on how she could change her life. In spite of thousands of hours of practice and study, she contemplated transferring from the school that had once been her dream.
When Maddy’s dad, Jim, dropped her off for the first day of spring semester, she held him a second longer than usual. That would be the last time Jim would see his daughter. What Made Maddy Run began as a piece that Kate Fagan, a columnist for espnW, wrote about Maddy’s life. What started as a profile of a successful young athlete whose life ended in suicide became so much larger when Fagan started to hear from other college athletes also struggling with mental illness.
This is the story of Maddy Holleran’s life, and her struggle with depression, which also reveals the mounting pressures young people — and college athletes in particular — face to be perfect, especially in an age of relentless connectivity and social media saturation.
Order NowJuly 2023
The Pain We Carry
Healing From Complex PTSD For People of Color
It’s time to heal the invisible wounds of complex trauma and reclaim your mind, body, and spirit.
If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma—such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence—you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may feel very alone in your pain. But you are not alone. This groundbreaking work illuminates the phenomena of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) as it is uniquely experienced by people of color, and provides a much-needed path to health and wholeness.
In The Pain We Carry, you’ll find powerful tools to help you understand and begin healing from repeated trauma. You’ll discover ways to feel safer in your body, build self-compassion and resilience, and reclaim your health and wellness by reconnecting with your sense of self and your ancestral wisdom. You’ll learn how trauma is connected to grief, how it can affect both the mind and the body, and how it can persist from one generation to the next. Most importantly, you’ll find the validation you need to begin mending your heart, and the skills you need to live a life of intention—even in the midst of an oppressive system.
It’s time to find relief from the trauma and burdens you have been carrying and start celebrating and rediscovering who you are. With this guide, you will uncover your own strength in order to work toward healing C-PTSD within the external constraints you face to live a life of resilience, empowerment, reflection, and perseverance.
Order NowJune 2023
I Have Something To Tell You (Young Adult)
Growing up, Chasten Glezman Buttigieg didn’t always fit in. He felt different from his father and brothers, who loved to hunt and go camping, and out of place in the rural, conservative small town where he lived. Back then, blending in was more important than feeling seen. So, when Chasten realized he was gay, he kept that part of himself hidden away for a long, painful time. With incredible bravery, and the support of his loved ones, Chasten eventually came out—and when he did, he learned that being true to himself was the most rewarding journey of all. Finding acceptance and self-love can seem like a tremendous challenge, but it’s never impossible. With honesty, courage, and warmth, Chasten relays his experience of growing up in America and embracing his identity, while inspiring young people across the country to do the same.
Order Now
I Have Something To Tell You (Adult)
Throughout the past year, teacher Chasten Glezman Buttigieg has emerged on the national stage, having left his classroom in South Bend, Indiana, to travel cross-country in support of his husband, former mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Pete’s groundbreaking presidential campaign. Through Chasten’s joyful, witty social media posts, the public gained a behind-the-scenes look at his life with Pete on the trail—moments that might have ranged from the mundane to the surprising, but that were always heartfelt. Chasten has overcome a multitude of obstacles to get here. In this moving, uplifting memoir, he recounts his journey to finding acceptance as a gay man. He recalls his upbringing in rural Michigan, where he knew he was different, where indeed he felt different from his father and brothers. He recounts his coming out and how he’s healed from revealing his secret to his family, friends, community, and the world. And he tells the story of meeting his boyfriend, whom he would marry and who would eventually become a major Democratic leader. With unflinching honesty, unflappable courage, and great warmth, Chasten Buttigieg relays his experience of growing up in America and embracing his true self, while inspiring others to do the same.
Order Now
May 2023
Emotions Coloring Book for Kids
About this coloring book:
★ Beautiful simple Illustrations.
★ The perfect size: The book comes in a squared print format of size 8.5 x 11 inches.
★ This book is suitable for both boys and girls, preferably ages 3-8.
★ Great for all coloring mediums. White-Color HighQuality Paper For pencil colors, crayons, or markers.
★ The pages have designs on one side to prevent the coloring from bleeding through to the other side, and so the pages can be removed and hung up without losing the picture on the reverse side.
Order Now
Self Care
Create a little oasis of calm and happiness with this serene coloring book.
★ Each page contains a beautifully illustrated self-care affirmation, so that as you color, you’re reminded to treat yourself, ditch the ”should,” and love who you are becoming.
★ Affirmations include ”You Are Enough,” ”Be You, Do You, for You,” ”Be Kind to Your Mind,” and 28 more.
★ 31 complex yet relaxing pages in all!
★ Heavyweight paper is superior to that of other coloring books.
★ Designs are printed on only one side of a page — no bleed-through.
★ Each page is micro-perforated for ease of removal and display of your artwork.
★ Acid-free archival-quality paper helps preserve your work.
★ For artists and colorists of all abilities!
★ Coloring book measures 9-1/2” wide x 9” high.
April 2023
The Self-Healing Mind by Gregory Scott Brown, MD
Self-care is a powerful, evidence-based medicine for the mind.
Mental health is the driving force behind every decision we make—how we live, work, and love. Many of us suffer from depression and anxiety, which impede our choices and quality of life, and despite the proliferation of prescription drugs, the numbers are growing across the globe. But there is another, proven way to achieve mental wellness, beyond antidepressants and talk therapy. Practicing psychiatrist Gregory Scott Brown believes that mental health begins with actionable self-care.
The Self-Healing Mind is a holistic approach to emotional and psychological healing that focuses on how evidence-based self-care strategies can be used to improve and sustain mental health. Dr. Brown challenges the current state of mental health care and the messaging around it, showing us how to move past outdated notions of “broken” brains and chemical imbalances. While he agrees that prescription drugs and talk therapy in many cases are important for healing, his personal and professional experience has taught him that lifestyle interventions are also key to sustainable mental wellness.
Dr. Brown’s clinical philosophy supports an integrative approach that combines conventional treatments (medication and psychotherapy) with what he calls the Five Pillars of Self-Care: breathing mindfully, sleep, spirituality, nutrition, and movement. These purposeful lifestyle practices, backed by science and proven in his clinical practice, can be adopted by everyone. Dr. Brown’s advice and insight put the power of healing back in your control.
Order Now
March 2023
The Sudden Loss Survival Guide: Seven Essential Practices for Healing Grief (Bereavement, Suicide, Mourning)
“The Sudden Loss Survival Guide is a must-read guidebook for everyone who has experienced an unexpected loss of any kind in their life.” – The Grief Reiki
Healing after loss. When a loved one passes unexpectedly, the person left behind can lose their bearings. After the sudden death of her mother, Chelsea Hanson, a nationally-recognized grief educator and founder of With Sympathy Gifts and Keepsakes, didn’t know where to turn for help, what to do next, or how to put the pieces of her life back together. Hanson’s The Sudden Loss Survival Guide gathers everything that she learned during her own recovery process and provides an indispensable road map to aid those who’ve experienced a life-changing loss.
A proactive, intentional approach. While you cannot control losing a loved one, you can consciously guide your own recovery. Through the application of simple, proactive practices, The Sudden Loss Survival Guide will empower you to overcome the darkness and anxiety of grief.
Action-based tools. The Sudden Loss Survival Guide includes heart-lifting prompts and action steps that guide you towards reengaging in life and discovering deeper meaning. Through Hanson’s grief healing practices, this book delivers the essential answers and tools needed to survive, cope, and heal from the devastating impact of sudden loss.
The Sudden Loss Survival Guide is a distinctive grief recovery handbook. In this book, discover:
- Seven practices for healing, including creative memorialization and maintaining an ongoing spiritual connection
- Skimmable, stand-alone passages with immediate, usable information for the trauma you’re facing
- A transformative method for living a meaningful, fulfilling life in remembrance of your loved one
Readers of grief books like Your Grief, Your Way, I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye, or Grief Day By Day will learn how to live again with the help of The Sudden Loss Survival Guide.
Order Now
February 2023
Bottled up Inside: African American Teens and Depression
Bottled up Inside: African American Teens and Depression seeks to educate and inform individuals who work with youth through the authors own, personal and professional lived experiences. Depression is a huge health concern for African Americans due to a variety of issues affecting their families and communities. Too many people are not seeking help and treatment, and this has prevented many from healing due to the stigma associated with mental illness. The suicide rate among black teens is increasing with this being the third leading cause of death for young people 15-24. It is essential to discuss the issues of mental health and how it affects people, so when help is needed, people will not be afraid to ask for help. In this book, the reader will learn how to assist youth dealing with the turmoil of adolescence, gain an understanding of depression, identify potential risk factors and protective factors, and learn an intervention to help youth in non-crisis and crisis situations. Rose Jackson-Beavers is the author of 10 books. She is an advocate for teens and works in close collaboration with others to encourage young people never to give up. She resides in Florissant, MO with her family. Rev. Jermine Alberty has worked in the mental health field as an educator and trainer for 12 years and is a national trainer of Mental Health First Aid. He is Executive Director of Pathways to Promise and Senior Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church. Alberty holds a bachelor’s degree and his Master of Divinity. He resides in Columbia, Missouri with his wife, Dyone Alberty.
Order Now
January 2023
Finding Meaning: The 6th Stage of Grief by David Kessler
In this groundbreaking and “poignant” (Los Angeles Times) book, David Kessler praised for his work by Maria Shriver, Marianne Williamson, and Mother Teresa journeys beyond the classic five stages to discover a sixth stage: meaning.
In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross first identified the stages of dying in her transformative book On Death and Dying. Decades later, she and David Kessler wrote the classic On Grief and Grieving, introducing the stages of grief with the same transformative pragmatism and compassion. Now, based on hard-earned personal experiences, as well as knowledge and wisdom gained through decades of work with the grieving,
Kessler introduces a critical sixth stage: meaning. Kessler’s insight is both professional and intensely personal. His journey with grief began when, as a child, he witnessed a mass shooting at the same time his mother was dying. For most of his life, Kessler taught physicians, nurses, counselors, police, and first responders about end of life, trauma, and grief, as well as leading talks and retreats for those experiencing grief. Despite his knowledge, his life was upended by the sudden death of his twenty-one year-old son. How does the grief expert handle such a tragic loss? He knew he had to find a way through this unexpected, devastating loss, a way that would honor his son. That, ultimately, was the sixth stage of grief—meaning. In Finding Meaning, Kessler shares the insights, collective wisdom, and powerful tools that will help those experiencing loss.
“Beautiful, tender, and wise” (Katy Butler, author of The Art of Dying Well), Finding Meaning is “an excellent addition to grief literature that helps pave the way for steps toward healing” (School Library Journal).
Order Now
December 2022
Surviving the Holidays While Grieving by Janet K. Johnson
The loss of a loved one can change our lives forever. Healing from the pain of losing a loved one doesn’t happen overnight.
Each day can be a battle to keep unpredictable emotions under control—especially around holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, which can bring losses into full focus. Traditions and expectations often add more stress to an already grieving heart. Even simple tasks, such as walking through a store during the holidays, can surface memories that turn on emotions like a light switch. Finding joy may seem impossible. Janet Johnson knows. She lost a brother to murder, a son to a car accident, and a brother-in-law to suicide. She has experienced firsthand how the holidays have a peculiar way of activating emotions—and why it’s important to process those emotions, not ignore them. In Surviving the Holidays While Grieving, Janet comes alongside readers who have lost a loved one or are journeying with someone dealing with grief. With tenderness and compassion, she offers ideas for managing emotions, hands-on activities for expressing feelings in tangible ways, and tips for communicating those feelings to others. Readers will be encouraged to remember meaningful traditions and create new memories about their loved ones with others. Through the pages of this tenderly composed book written from a Christian perspective, readers will find hope for healing and a toolkit for taking steps forward with joy.
Order Now
November 2022
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD
“Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress and the scope of its impact on society.” —Alexander McFarlane, Director of the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies
A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times bestseller
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer
new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
Order Now
October 2022
Build a mentally healthy workplace
Mental health is just as important as physical health. Yet being honest about depression, anxiety, and other psychological conditions at work can feel risky–and hasn’t always been welcome. How can you ensure that you and your colleagues feel as though mental health is supported at the office?
The HBR Guide to Better Mental Health at Work contains practical tips and advice to help you bring mental health out of the shadows and into everyday conversations. You’ll learn how to:
- Build habits to support your mental health
- Stay productive even when you’re not feeling like yourself
- Talk about mental health with peers and managers
- Reach out to someone who might be struggling
- Consider the impact of intersectionality
- Offer the benefits people really need
- Fight the stigma and reduce shame
September 2022
You Are Not Alone by Dr. Ken Duckworth
Written with authority and compassion, this is the essential resource for individuals and families seeking expert guidance on diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, featuring inspiring, true stories from real people in their own words.
Millions of people in the United States are affected by mental illness every year, and the Covid-19 pandemic only further exposed the shortcomings of the American mental health system. Too many are confused, afraid, and overwhelmed, with many asking themselves the same questions: What does it mean when different doctors give me different diagnoses? What if my insurance won’t cover my treatment? Will I ever feel better? Families and friends are often left in the dark about how best to help their loved ones, from dealing with financial and logistical issues, to handling the emotional challenges of loving someone who is suffering.
You Are Not Alone is here to offer help. Written by Dr. Ken Duckworth with the wisdom of a psychiatrist and the vulnerability of a peer, this comprehensive guide centers the poignant lived experiences of over 125 individuals from across the country whose first-person stories illustrate the diversity of mental health journeys. This book also provides:
- Practical guidance on dealing with a vast array of mental health conditions and navigating
- care
- Research-based evidence on what treatments and approaches work
- Insight and advice from renowned clinical experts and practitioners
This singular resource—the first book from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and with all sales proceeds going back to the NAMI community—is a powerful reminder that help is here, and you are never alone.
August 2022
Surviving Suicide Loss by Rita A. Schulte, LPC
Nothing could hurt worse. But even in the darkness . . . there’s hope.
The pain of suicide loss is indescribable. It seems beyond survival. Yet with faith, perseverance, and the tools of brain science, there is a way through. It will take time. It will take struggle. But hope is real, for there are things you can do to make it to the other side.
If you are struggling with suicide loss or you need to come alongside someone who is, Rita Schulte wants to help you move forward. As a suicide loss survivor herself, she understands the pain you’re feeling because she has been there too. Rita, an experienced therapist and expert in traumatic loss, offers a science-based therapy model that also takes into account the role of human spirituality. Chapters in this book include:
- Making Sense of the Desire to Die
- The Mind-Body Connection
- Unfinished Business
- Making Peace with Ourselves
- Facing the Dark Side
- Children—Living Behind the Shadow
- The Time that Remains
When it comes to suicide loss, you’ll never have all the answers. But one thing is certain: there are real pathways to help you heal—body, mind, and spirit.
Order Now
July 2022
The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook: CBT Skills to Reduce Emotional Pain, Increase Hope, and Prevent Suicide by Kathryn Hope Gordon
If you or someone you love is dealing with a crisis right now, please call 1-800-273-8255 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741741 to reach a crisis counselor at the Crisis Text Line.
A compassionate guide to managing suicidal thoughts and finding hope.
If you’re struggling with suicidal thoughts, please know that you are not alone and that you are worthy of help. Your life and well-being matter. When you’re suffering, life’s challenges can feel overwhelming and even insurmountable. This workbook is here to help you find relief and solutions when suicidal thoughts take over.
Grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this compassionate workbook offers practical tools to guide you toward a place of hope. It will help you identify your reasons for living, manage intense emotions and painful thoughts, and create a safe environment when you are in a crisis. You’ll also find ways to strengthen social connections, foster self-compassion, and rediscover activities that bring joy and meaning to your life. This workbook is here to support you. However you are feeling at this moment, remember the following: You are worth it, you are loved, and you matter.
Order Now
June 2022
Guns and Suicide: An American Epidemic by Michael D. Anestis
The majority of gun deaths in the United States are suicide deaths, and the majority of suicide deaths are gun deaths. Most people are unaware that suicide, at nearly 43,000 deaths per year, is more common than homicide and other widely publicized tragedies. And yet, suicide is typically absent from discussions of gun violence. As such, the national conversation on gun violence is inadequate and unrelated to the majority of gun deaths in this country.
In Guns and Suicide, Michael Anestis reframes our perspective on gun violence by shifting the focus to suicide. Guns play a uniquely profound role in American suicide, and Anestis explains how they have this effect-not by making otherwise non-suicidal people want to die, but by facilitating suicide attempts among suicidal individuals. He reviews the evidence – in suicide and other public health concerns – that focusing on specific means for contracting an unwanted outcome (e.g., HIV) can successfully reduce the frequency of that outcome. With suicide, this could mean the passage of legislation related to firearm ownership and storage, non-legislative encouragement of safe storage of private firearms, voluntary and temporary removal of firearms from the home during times of distress, or a combination of these factors. Importantly, this is not a book about gun control. Anestis does not argue in favor of tighter restrictions on ownership, assault weapon bans, or longer waiting periods for purchase because these will not substantially reduce the staggering gun suicide rate. Rather, Anestis aims for a cultural shift towards suicide-specific safe gun ownership and puts forth unemotional suggestions in hopes of leveraging common ground in the pursuit of a lower suicide rate.
Order Now
April 2022
Grief Is Love, Living with Loss – Marisa Renee Lee
In Grief is Love, author Marisa Renee Lee reveals that healing does not mean moving on after losing a loved one—healing means learning to acknowledge and create space for your grief. It is about learning to love the one you lost with the same depth, passion, joy, and commitment you did when they were alive, perhaps even more. She guides you through the pain of grief—whether you’ve lost the person recently or long ago—and shows you what it looks like to honor your loss on your unique terms, and debunks the idea of a grief stages or timelines. Grief is Love is about making space for the transformation that a significant loss requires.
In beautiful, compassionate prose, Lee elegantly offers wisdom about what it means to authentically and defiantly claim space for grief’s complicated feelings and emotions. And Lee is no stranger to grief herself, she shares her journey after losing her mother, a pregnancy, and, most recently, a cousin to the COVID-19 pandemic. These losses transformed her life and led her to question what grief really is and what healing actually looks like. In this book, she also explores the unique impact of grief on Black people and reveals the key factors that proper healing requires: permission, care, feeling, grace and more.
The transformation we each undergo after loss is the indelible imprint of the people we love on our lives, which is the true definition of legacy. At its core, Grief is Love explores what comes after death, and shows us that if we are able to own and honor what we’ve lost, we can experience a beautiful and joyful life in the midst of grief.
Order Now
March 2022
Aftermath: Picking Up The Pieces After a Suicide – Gary Roe
The unthinkable has happened.
Painful. Crushing. Traumatic. Confusing.
Complicated.
No chance to say goodbye. No final embrace, kiss, or touch. No opportunity to clear the air, ask and
give forgiveness, or make amends.
A life gone.
The tsunami has come, and now you’re left standing amid the aftermath.
What do you do?
Reach out and grab the hand of multiple award-winning author and grief counselor Gary Roe. Let him walk with you through this uncharted, forbidding territory. You need a companion who can be a source of comfort, perspective, hope, and healing. Let Gary journey with you through the aftermath and help you pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild your heart and life.
Aftermath was written to…
- Connect with your heart in all the pain, grief, and confusion.
- Be a companion for you in this unwanted, heart-crushing process that has been thrust upon you.
- Be a source of comfort, perspective, healing, and peace.
- Provide practical tools to help you pick up the pieces and begin to rebuild your heart and life.
In Aftermath, you can discover how to…
- Be kind to yourself and patient with yourself during this incredibly hard time.
- Manage the racing thoughts and volatile emotions that come.
- Deal with other people and the unhelpful words and weird reactions that come your way.
- Navigate the tough spiritual issues and faith questions that confront your soul.
- Grieve in healthy ways that honor the one you lost, take your own heart seriously, and express kindness and compassion to those around you.
- Abandon the notion of quick fixes, self-medicating relief, and the lying voice of addiction as a way out.
- Latch onto the truth that no one is beyond repair and that anyone can heal – including you.
- Use your grief as fuel for good and make this death count by living with more purpose and meaning than ever before.
- Save lives and become part of the solution to this raging suicide epidemic.
You didn’t choose this road. You woke up on day and found you were on it. You’re left standing in
amid the aftermath.
But you are not alone. Far from it. Let Aftermath become a understanding companion for you in the
days ahead.
February 2022
I Understand: Pain, Love, and Healing after Suicide – Woodrick, Vonnie
Time doesn’t heal—love heals
When Vonnie Woodrick lost her husband Rob to suicide in 2003, she was faced with a series of decisions. How would she move on? How would she support and raise her three children as a young widow? How would she talk about Rob and honor his memory? These questions had no easy answers, but Vonnie found herself longing for one thing in particular: understanding. The stigma of mental illness loomed large over Rob’s death and made healing difficult. But Vonnie found the common assumptions surrounding suicide to be false. Rob was not “crazy.” He did not choose to take his own life. He was in agony and only wanted the pain to end. His death was a direct result of his mental illness. Why didn’t more people understand this?
Over a decade later, Vonnie and her children created the nonprofit organization i understand to help others enduring this same grief and loneliness. Since its founding in 2014, i understand has become a haven of compassionate comfort and a powerful voice in the movement to change the way we talk about suicide so that it can be seen for what it truly is: a terminal effect of mental illness, rather than a deliberate choice.
This is the story of how love transformed Vonnie’s brokenness into hope—not only for herself and her family, but for anyone struggling to emerge from the darkness of suicide.
Order Now
January 2022
When Someone You Love Completes Suicide – Sondra Sexton-Jones
Sondra Sexton-Jones’ husband, Ray, died by suicide. In this supportive book, she shares her story, her grief and healing. You’ll learn what to expect, what may happen, how you may feel. “It takes a long time to digest death, and in trying to do so, we are transmuted into new people, never again to be what we were, innocent from some of the horrors life throws our way. The pieces of my life’s puzzle will never again fit together as they once did.”
Order Now
December 2021
Rethinking Suicide: Why Prevention Fails, and How We Can Do Better – Craig J. Bryan
An examination of how suicide prevention efforts largely fail due to the mistaken assumption that greater mental health awareness is the key to saving lives.
Over the last two decades, the US suicide rate has steadily grown despite extensive awareness campaigns, wide implementation of suicide prevention programs and initiatives, and increased mental health advocacy. To the confusion and frustration of researchers, healthcare providers, and many others, these efforts have largely failed to reverse the trend. Why do suicide rates continue to climb despite our best efforts? Why aren’t we better at this? What are we doing wrong?
Rethinking Suicide is a critical examination of what we think we know about suicide, with particular focus on the assumed role of mental illness. Craig J. Bryan, a leading expert on suicide prevention, argues that most prevention efforts have failed because they disproportionately emphasize mental health-focused solutions such as access to treatment and crisis services. Instead of classifying suicide as a mental health issue, careful analysis of research findings suggest it should instead be seen as a highly complex problem with many risk factors – from personal decision-making styles, to the availability of lethal means, to financial uncertainty. As such suicide rates will not be curtailed by conventional solution-oriented thinking; rather, we need process-based thinking that may, in some cases, defy or contradict many of our long-held assumptions about suicide. Rethinking Suicide interweaves the author’s firsthand experiences with explanations of scientific findings to reveal the limitations of widely-used practices and to introduce new perspectives that may trigger a paradigm shift in how we understand and prevent suicide.
Order Now
November 2021
Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief – Martha W. Hickman
The classic guide for dealing with grief and loss
For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, here are thoughtful words to strengthen, inspire and comfort
Order Now
September 2021
Saving Ourselves From Suicide – Before and After: How to Ask for Help, Recognize Warning Signs, and Navigate Grief – Linda Pacha
Linda Pacha is refreshingly transparent, holding nothing back in this moving and uplifting help book. With the detailed table of contents, you will refer back to her recommendations and warm advice time and time again. Read warning signs in her son’s last text messages that are labeled for you. Learn what Nick could not feel or understand: the options and hope that were still there. And if suicide has already happened, she will help you move forward in your grief, release any guilt or anger, and find the hope in life again. Pacha is a parent who has been through the worst and shares everything to help others in pain. Book Club discussion questions available.
Order Now
July 2021
After a Parent’s Suicide: Helping Children Heal – Margo Requarth
The premature death of a parent can be devastating for young children- with the consequences far more profound when the parent dies by suicide. Amidst the resulting grief, turmoil and confusion, the surviving parent is faced with the monumental task of tending to the emotional lives of the children left behind. In this instructive and impassioned work, longtime children’s bereavement counselor and psychotherapist Margo Requarth, M.A., M.F.T., charts the complex emotional waters every family must navigate in the wake of a previously unimaginable suicide death. Starting with the haunting tale of her own mother’s suicide, Requarth weaves together her experience counseling “survivors,” poignant interviews with children, teens and parents, and the latest research on suicide and its aftermath. What emerges is a groundbreaking “how-to” guide for parent survivors: how to manage both the immediate and long-term implications of the suicide, how to talk to your children, how to see them through the heart-rending anguish to a place of acceptance, healing, and finally, a renewed and deepened capacity for joy.
Order Now
June 2021
The Invisible Front: Love and Loss In An Era of Endless War – Yochi Dreazen
The Invisible Front is the story of how one family tries to set aside their grief and find purpose in almost unimaginable loss. The Grahams work to change how the Army treats those with PTSD and to erase the stigma that prevents suicidal troops from getting the help they need before making the darkest of choices. Their fight offers a window into the military’s institutional shortcomings and its resistance to change – failures that have allowed more than 3,000 troops to take their own lives since 2001. Yochi Dreazen, an award-winning journalist who has covered the military since 2003, has been granted remarkable access to the Graham family and tells their story in the full context of two of America’s longest wars. Dreazen places Mark and Carol’s personal journey, which begins when they fall in love in college and continues through the end of Mark’s thirty-four year career in the Army, against the backdrop of the military’s ongoing suicide spike, which shows no signs of slowing. With great sympathy and profound insight, The Invisible Front details America’s problematic treatment of the troops who return from war far different than when they’d left and uses the Graham family’s work as a new way of understanding the human cost of war and its lingering effects off the battlefield.
Order Now
May 2021
Still With Us: Voices of Sibling Suicide Loss Survivors: Edited by- Lena M. Q. Heilmannn
Lena Heilmann lost her sister, Danielle, to suicide in 2012. Experiencing the enormous weight of grief, she reached out to other sibling suicide loss survivors to find comfort, healing, and connection. Still With Us contains 23 stories of sibling suicide loss survivors who, after experiencing devastating losses, navigated through their grief and found a path forward.
The essays in Still With Us are arranged chronologically to move the reader from the first years of grieving to decades of healing. The authors commemorate the love that they continue to have for their siblings by telling us stories of grief, support, and strength.
All of these essays share a common message: No matter how much time passes, our siblings are still with us.
April 2021
Understanding Your Suicide Grief: Ten Essential Touchstones for Finding Hope and Healing Your Heart (Understanding Your Grief) – By Alan D Wolfelt
For anyone who has experienced the suicide of a loved one, coworker, neighbor, or acquaintance and is seeking information about coping with such a profound loss, this compassionate guide explores the unique responses inherent to their grief. Using the metaphor of the wilderness, the book introduces 10 touchstones to assist the survivor in this naturally complicated and particularly painful journey.
The touchstones include opening to the presence of loss, embracing the uniqueness of grief, understanding the six needs of mourning, reaching out for help, and seeking reconciliation over resolution. Learning to identify and rely on each of these touchstones will bring about hope and healing.
Order Now
March 2021
“Sitting Still: Like a Frog” – Eline Snel
Mindfulness—the quality of attention that combines full awareness with acceptance of each moment, just as it is—is gaining broad acceptance among mental health professionals as an adjunct to treatment. This little book is a very appealing introduction to mindfulness meditation for children and their parents. In a simple and accessible way, it describes what mindfulness is and how mindfulness-based practices can help children calm down, become more focused, fall asleep more easily, alleviate worry, manage anger, and generally become more patient and aware.
The book contains eleven practices that focus on just these scenarios, along with short examples and anecdotes throughout. Included with purchase is an audio CD with guided meditations, voiced by Myla Kabat-Zinn, who along with her husband, Jon Kabat-Zinn, popularized mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) as a therapeutic approach.
Order Now
February 2021
“The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health” – Rheeda Walker
We can’t deny it any longer: there is a Black mental health crisis in our world today. Black people die at disproportionately high rates due to chronic illness, poverty, under-education, and the effects of racism. This book is an exploration of Black mental health in today’s world, the forces that have undermined mental health progress for African Americans, and what needs to happen for African Americans to heal psychological distress, find community, and undo years of stigma and marginalization in order to access effective mental health care.
This breakthrough book will help readers recognize mental and emotional health problems, understand the myriad ways in which these problems impact overall health and quality of life and relationships, develop psychological tools to neutralize ongoing stressors, live more fully, and navigate a mental health care system that is unequal.
Order Now
January 2021
Answering the Cry for Help: A Suicide Prevention Manual for Schools and Communities – David A. Opalewski
Every year it is estimated that in excess of 100,000 people in the United States end their lives by suicide. These people are not just statistical numbers, They are husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, friends and/or classmates.
Answering the Cry for Help will help to bridge the gap between schools and communities by providing guidelines for developing a Community Suicide Prevention Program that:
- Promotes awareness about risks,
- Discusses methods for suicide prevention,
- Establishes guidelines and resources for intervention,
December 2020
Why People Die by Suicide by Dr. Thomas Joiner
Drawing on extensive clinical and epidemiological evidence, as well as personal experience, Thomas Joiner brings a comprehensive understanding to seemingly incomprehensible behavior. Among the many people who have considered, attempted, or died by suicide, he finds three factors that mark those most at risk of death: the feeling of being a burden on loved ones; the sense of isolation; and, chillingly, the learned ability to hurt oneself. Joiner tests his theory against diverse facts taken from clinical anecdotes, history, literature, popular culture, anthropology, epidemiology, genetics, and neurobiology–facts about suicide rates among men and women; white and African-American men; anorexics, athletes, prostitutes, and physicians; members of cults, sports fans, and citizens of nations in crisis
Order Now
November 2020
“Dying to be Free-a Healing Guide for Families after Suicide”
Surviving the heartbreak of a loved one’s suicide – you don’t have to go through it alone. Authors Beverly Cobain and Jean Larch break through suicide’s silent stigma in Dying to Be Free, offering gentle advice for those left behind, so that healing can begin.
Order Now
