Showing results by publisher "She Writes Press" in Personal Development

A soul-searching LGBTQ memoir about one woman’s attempt to plan her way to happily ever after—only to realize that healing, self-discovery, and love happen in their own time.

Where Have I Been All My Life? is a compelling memoir recounting one woman’s journey through grief and a profound feeling of unworthiness to wholeness and healing. It begins with the chillingly sudden death of Rice’s mother, and is followed by her foray into the center of mourning.

Anne grew up in an abusive home, leading to severe depression and a determination to do better as a mother. One of her sons wants a dog from the time he is a baby; Anne very much does not. For years she appeases him with creatures who live in cages and tanks, but on his tenth birthday she can no longer say no—and she proceeds to fall in love with their new four-legged family member, Mattie. Then Mattie dies a sudden and tragic death, and Anne feels herself begin to sink back into depression.

Raw and riveting, Girl, Groomed is seasoned psychotherapist Carol Odell’s evolving story of deepening her understanding of how the crisis she blindly imposes on her marriage is rooted in her own history of sexual abuse and violence at the hands of a predatory horse trainer who, for far too much of her young life, held all the reins. Chapters toggle back and forth between scenes of her childhood growing up jumping horses on the show circuit in Virginia and the therapy sessions she later undergoes as an adult sitting in “the other chair.”

Mary Carlson didn't plan to become a veterinarian, but her husband's work inspired her to leave teaching, become a vet herself, and open a feline-exclusive clinic. Along the way, there were grueling years of vet school, a shattered hip, an enduring love, illness, and death - and the rediscovery that life, especially one filled with delightful animals, is worth living.

For fans of No Matter Our Wreckage, this memoir explores the emotional impact of sexual abuse and how this debut author not only faces it but recovers from the trauma. Stephanie Maley’s life is beautiful. She has her husband of thirty years and two sons—all healthy and making their way in the world. Other than the unwelcome memories of the past that flash in her mind like blinding television ads, things couldn’t get much better. But when COVID-19 comes to the United States in 2020, Stephanie is seized by a deep panic, certain that she is going to die.

Covering seven decades of living, traveling, and growing, Does My Voice Matter? follows James’ journey of self-discovery and authenticity as she gradually recognizes that she has a voice—and learns how to use it. She uses her own life experiences as a backdrop for her exploration of how the voice is used as a tool of engagement.

Years later, Willa Goodfellow revisits this account of her antidepressant-induced hypomania that hijacked a Costa Rican vacation and tells the rest of the story: the wrong medications, an overlooked diagnosis of bipolar 2, and finally a path to recovery. Prozac Monologues: A Voice from the Edge is a book within a book, part memoir of misdiagnosis and part self-help guide about the bipolar spectrum. This edgy and comedic collection of essays offers information about a mood disorder frequently mistaken for major depression as well as resources for recovery. Plus, Costa Rica.

When her brother dies of AIDS and her husband dies of cancer in the same year, Rosemary is left on her own with two young daughters and antsy addiction demons dancing in her head. This is the nucleus of The Art of Losing It: a young mother jerking from emergency to emergency as the men in her life drop dead around her; a high-functioning radio show host waging war with her addictions while trying to raise her two little girls who just lost their daddy.

I’m So Glad You’re Here is the story of a family disrupted by ramifications of a father’s mental illness. Poignant and powerful, I’m So Glad You’re Here is author Pamela Gay’s exploration of the idea that while the wounds we carry from growing up in fractured families stay with us, they do not have to control us - a reflective journey that will inspire listeners to think about their own relational lives.

In 1960, six years before Marty Ross-Dolen was born, her maternal grandparents were killed in an airline disaster involving the collision of two commercial jets over New York City. They were traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to seek placement for their family’s iconic magazine, Highlights for Children, on the newsstands. Their daughter—Marty’s mother—was fourteen years old at the time. This genre-bending memoir tells Marty’s story of being raised by a mother in protracted mourning.

Part recovery journal, part travel log, Recovery Road Trip follows one woman's solo road trip through America after her alcoholic father’s death. Through chance encounters, she creates inspiration for those seeking to overcome addiction and find their path. Meg thought giving up alcohol would lead her to a life of comfort, wisdom, and happiness. Years later, she still hasn’t gotten there. What is it that she’s missing? When her father—a raging alcoholic himself—dies, Meg, an only child, has to fly to California from her home in New Zealand to clean up the mess that was his life.