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GRIEF-Books Below are a sampling of books I have found comforting. If you would like to add, please email me at info@wkswithsma.com The summaries have been supplied by various sources. How to Survive the Loss of a Child : Filling
the Emptiness and Rebuilding Your Life Parents who suffer the death of a child must endure excruciating grief, and they often need help to reach the final stage of healing and renewal. Writing from personal experience and with professional expertise, Dr. Catherine M. Sanders provides a healing guide for one of life's most devastating experiences. Dr. Sanders explains the grieving process with compassion and insight. She also advises other family members and friends in how to assist the grieving parents and to cope with their own sense of loss. Synopsis Recovering from the Loss of a Child by >Katherine Fair Donnelly Firsthand accounts from people who have survived the devastating loss of a child, accompanied by helpful, healing advice, offers bereaved parents comfort and support as they struggle to cope with grief. Synopsis The Worst Loss : How Families Heal from the Death of a Child by Barbara D. Rosof Synopsis A child psychotherapist combines anecdotal case histories and the latest research to help bereaved parents cope with the loss of a child, offering practical and comforting advice on how to overcome the disabling symptoms of grief. Reprint. After the Darkest Hour the Sun Will Shine Again: A Parent's Guide to Coping With the Loss of a Child by Elizabeth Mehren, Harold Kushner This inspiring guide to coping with the loss of a child combines the author's own story with the experiences and wisdom of others who have gone through this tragedy. The Bereaved Parent by Harriet Sarnoff-Schiff Finding Hope When a Child Dies : What Other Cultures Can Teach Us by Sukie Miller & Doris Ober FINDING HOPE WHEN A CHILD DIES gives voice to the unpronounced fears and consuming guilt that most people in Western cultures experience at the loss of children they have loved. This is a book about grief and healing, a book that invites us to look at the heartening possibilities of other cultures to seek a meaning in what seems senseless, to try to become whole people again, even if we cannot ever be the same. "Finding Hope When a Child Dies is a wise and courageous response to the painful questions that arise for us all after the death of a child. Dr. Sukie Miller speaks directly and compassionately to the parts of ourselves which can remain hidden, mute, and frozen for years, and encourages them to return to life. Written for both families and health professionals, Finding Hope When a Child Dies offers a new way to speak of and cope with this greatest of all life's tragedies. Dr. Miller has written a book that will revolutionize our thinking and restore our hearts." —Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom "Dr. Sukie Miller provides comfort and hope for one of the most difficult moments of life: the death of a child. There are ways to deal effectively with the grief and bereavement of these dark periods, as Miller compassionately reveals." —Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Reinventing Medicine and Healing Words and executive editor of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine A Child Dies : A Portrait of Family Grief by Joan Hagan Arnold & Penelope Buschman Gemma Parental Loss of a Child by Therese A Rando Surviving Pregnancy Loss : A Complete Sourcebook for Women and Their Families by Friedman, Rochelle This updated book is for the one million women who annually suffer a pregnancy loss - whether by a miscarriage, stillbirth, or ectopic pregnancy - and their husbands, relatives, friends, and physicians. Surviving Pregnancy Loss includes: first-person accounts of women who have experienced pregnancy loss; a discussion by health care professionals of the physical and emotional consequences of pregnancy loss; an exploration of options for the future - trying again, choosing childlessness, or considering adopting (with all the latest information on agency, international, and private adoptions); sensitive advice on the partner's experience, the reactions of family and friends, dealing with multiple losses, and explaining loss to children; and more. Anyone who has suffered a pregnancy loss is searching for answers, searching for a friend. This book provides both. Healing Grief : a Mother's Story by Rosalie Deer Heart Healing Grief tells the story of one woman whose journey takes her from tragedy to a new vision of her life's meaning and a reinvestment in joy. When her 15 year old son, Mike, died suddenly Rosalie was thrust into grief and a world she had no preparation for. All she wanted were mother's stories to give her hope. She found none. Her own journal became this book. This book offers practical dynamics for coping with the sudden death of a child, wisdom from the inspirited, and fresh insights into each stage of grief. It is not only for parents who are actively grieving but for anyone who wonders about the meaning of dreams, inexplicable impressions, death, and life itself. About the Author The Bereaved Parents' Survival Guide by Juliet Cassuto Rothman NEVER give your only copy of this book away! We are never prepared for the loss of a child, yet this beautifully written, and compassionate book wisely prepares us for what comes next. Though we don't believe there will ever be a sane or normal moment again, ever so gently, author Rothman guides the reader/parent through stages of grieving and Kubler-Ross's stages of dying...and, we will survive. A grief counselor herself, Rothman shares her own and others' experiences of this incomprehensible pain. If there ever can be a "guide book" for the treacherous journey of losing a child, this book is the one. Succinct yet thorough, Rothman provides information about where to reach out for support from others, including a toll-free telephone number. Share the wisdom when it is needed, but NEVER, NEVER give your only copy of this book away! When Goodbye Is Forever : Learning to Live Again After the
Loss of a Child In 1985, John and Mairi Bramblett's youngest child, two-year-old Christopher,
died in an accident, leaving them and their three older children devastated by
shock and grief. Four months later, John began writing this deeply moving and
honest story of how he and his family coped with the nearly unbearable pain of
losing their son.
After the Death of a Child : Living With Loss Through the Years by Ann K. Finkbeiner A book that explores our own resilience in the midst of one of the most distressful forms of human suffering, the death of a child. Because children aren't supposed to die, the loss is not only painful but profoundly disorienting. Finkbeiner, whose only child died in 1987, refers to her own experience and the experience of others to show that while bereaved parents can never really let go, they can and do recover, often developing a new appreciation for their own lives. Says one parent: "You just don't treat life as lightly, and if you don't treat things lightly, they do become richer. For her book [Finkbeiner] interviewed other parents who lost children ... their experiences are the heart of the book. Synopsis For a parent, losing a child is the most devastating event that can occur. Most books on the subject focus on grieving and recovery, but as most parents agree, there is no recovery from such a loss. This book examines the continued love parents feel for their child and the many poignant and ingenious ways they devise to preserve the bond. Through detailed profiles of parents, Ann Finkbeiner shows how new activities and changed relationships with their spouse, friends, and other children can all help parents preserve a bond with the lost child. Refusing to fall back on pop jargon about "recovery" or to offer easy suggestions or standardized timelines, Finkbeiner's is a genuine and moving search to come to terms with loss. Her complex profiles of parents resonate with the honesty and authenticity of uncomfortable emotions expressed and, most importantly, shared with others experiencing a similar loss. Finally, each profile exemplifies the many heroic ways parents learn to live with their pain, and by so doing, honor the lives their children should have lived. Angel Catcher by Kathy Eldon After the death of her son Dan, Kathy Eldon and her daughter Amy created a special book dedicated to all he meant to them. ANGEL CATCHER, a guided journal for people who have lost someone close, gives to others what Kathy and Amy discovered during the years after Dan's death. Its pages are filled with beautiful quotations and original art, but mostly it offers space--to record memories, paste photographs, or draw reminders of the loved one. Color throughout To Begin Again : The Journey Toward Comfort, Strength and Faith in Difficult Times by Naomi Levy "Then what good is God?" a rape victim asked Rabbi Naomi Levy after Levy said she didn't think preventing tragedies was in God's hands. Levy realizes that the question after a personal tragedy should not be, "Why did this happen?" but rather, "How can I go on?" To Begin Again is a book of comfort and faith to lead us through tragic times. Her advice is wise, gentle, and compassionate, dotted with stories of people Levy knows who have endured terrible pain--and healed. She teaches us to get comfort from asking others for help, letting ourselves cry, seeking a community of faith, studying something new, and keeping memories alive. She shows us how to rebuild our lives by facing the truth, loving and forgiving ourselves, repairing relationships with loved ones, teaching our hearts to remain open, holding onto our faith, and, finally, transforming ourselves. Levy understands emotional agony firsthand: she lost her beloved father to a robber's gun when she was 15. Levy's message in this beautiful, moving book is, "Each of us possesses the power to overcome the unthinkable and be reborn, to live life not as survivors but as partakers, rejoicers, participants." --Joan Price - Following in the tradition of books such as Harold Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People (1981), another rabbi, Naomi Levy, helps readers navigate life's rocky shores with compassion, understanding, and excellent advice. Levy's own world was shattered when her father was murdered when she was 15 years old. She recounts her struggle to comes to terms with that tragedy, as well as describing the adversity that many of her friends and congregants have had to overcome. Naturally, some of this makes for difficult reading, but Levy's ability to find strength, even beauty, in life's sufferings will provide genuine support for many readers, at least those willing to stick with her tragic stories--the mother whose child is stillborn or the vital young man diagnosed with ALS. The author's willingness to share her frailties will encourage readers to look more closely at their own weaknesses, and the prayers with which Levy ends each chapter will inspire others to do something about the things in their lives that need to be changed. Unlike other self-help authors who profess to have solutions for every problem, Levy recognizes that for some of life's events, there are no answers, only questions. The real wisdom in her counsel comes from helping others to live with those unanswered questions. Book Description Synopsis |