Book Promo – Moving Past PTSD: Consciousness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Military Veterans and their Families

Expert Speaker On PTSD Discusses
US Air Force One-Day Operational Pause To Help
Curb Increased Suicide Rates In Military Personnel

From World War I through the present, the United States has neglected to provide adequate transition support to millions of veterans leaving military service. Instead of meaningful jobs, access to quality healthcare and education, and fair and equitable housing, what our veterans find when they return home is a new battle — against a failed bureaucracy that has let them down for the past 100 years.

As a nation, our misguided perception is that GI Joe and Jane can simply return home and pick up right where they left off. In truth, the military member who deployed overseas is often markedly different than the one coming home.  The Joe and Jane who joined the military in the first place are gone, and they’re not coming back.

After months or years in highly structured organizational environments, often with deployments and horrific battlefield experiences, many military veterans have undergone paradigm shifts in their thinking, their character, and in the way they view themselves and others.

In his compelling new book, Moving Past PTSD: Consciousness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Military Veterans and Their Families, expert speaker and retired Lieutenant Colonel Jaime B. Parent tackles many issues facing our nation’s veterans, including mental illness, unemployment, discrimination, and many other challenges related to transitioning to civilian life. Using thought-provoking interviews with veterans, caregivers and family members, Lt. Col. Parent hopes to break the relentless cycle of misunderstanding that prevents far too many veterans from successfully reintegrating themselves into family lives and careers. Moving Past PTSD aims to change our understanding of who the 21st century veteran is. Through this understanding, we can change their lives — and the lives of those who love them — for the better.

Author Jaime B. Parent is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Biomedical Science Corps, United States Air Force.
He continues to serve by creating a unique fast track IT career internship, the EN-Abled Vet (http://www.en-abledvet.net), which has been adopted across 15 states. Lt. Col. Parent is a passionate advocate for inclusive communities. He now writes about his experiences with his fellow veterans. He is also a sought-after speaker at veterans and disability events as well as conferences in healthcare, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

For more information, please visit the website at: https://movingpastptsd.net.

Moving Past PTSD:  Consciousness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Military Veterans and their Families
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Released: August 14, 2019
ISBN-10: 1538126966
ISBN-13: 978-1538126967
Order at Amazon.com

 

Review: Audience of Chairs” directed by Deanna Foley

A Bittersweet Story of Time Lost

This movie certainly made me feel the full range of emotions including frustration, anger, hopelessness, optimism, and bittersweet joy. It was beautifully performed by Carolina Bartzcak, Gord Rand and Peter MacNeill.

Bartzcak, playing the lead as Maura, successfully portrayed a woman betrayed by a callous and self-centered husband (Christopher Jacot) and driven to complete despondency and mental illness. Maura’s father (Peter MacNeill) showed an unending love and concern for his daughter throughout her ordeal. And Ben (Gord Rand), a long-distance truck driver, saves Maura’s life and helps her find her way with his love.

Throughout the heartache and Maura’s losses throughout the story, the ending, though bittersweet because of so many years lost with her daughters, is uplifting and joyful. This is a must see movie that will speak directly to your heart.

(reviewed by Chelle Cordero)

AN AUDIENCE OF CHAIRS
GETS U.S RELEASE

A film that “showcases the beauty of the province as much as the talents of its performers” (National Post), this universal story of the redemptive power of a mother’s love is adapted from the popular, award-winning novel, “An Audience of Chairs” by Joan Clark.

Maura Mackenzie (Carolina Bartczak) believes the world is hers to conquer. With her career as a concert pianist gaining momentum, it seems her beauty and talent will be strong enough to mask the demons that threaten to engulf her. But with an absent husband (Chris Jacot) and two young daughters at home, her precarious sanity begins to unravel until one summer day, burning with manic energy, she makes a terrible mistake —a mistake that will change her life forever. The consequences for Maura are catastrophic: her ambitious husband runs for his life, taking the children with him, leaving Maura to lapse into a full-scale breakdown. Life as she knew it is now over. With the help of her father, Ian (Peter MacNeill), Maura works to reclaim her life and waits for a miracle to bring her daughters home. But when the fates align, can the past be forgiven?

Written by Rosemary House and directed by Deanne Foley, An Audience of Chairs is “an experience to be shared” (TorontoNOW). See it September 24 on digital from Indiecan Entertainment.

(Copyright © 2019 October Coast Publicity)

Why Did She Jump? by Joan Childs

Turning Personal Tragedy Into Inspiration For
Others To Learn How To Find Healing And Peace

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported the incidence of suicide is up by 24% since 1999.

A mother of five and grandmother to nine, married and divorced four times, and a clinical social worker in private practice for nearly forty years, Joan Childs thought she had experienced or seen it all. But nothing could have prepared her for the death of her beautiful daughter, Pam.  A brilliant psychotherapist, Pam battled constantly with Bipolar Disorder until one fateful summer day in 1998 when her demons overwhelmed her, she plunged to her death from a 15th floor balcony. Even with their combined credentials and medical knowledge, Pam still could not be saved. She became the driving force behind Joan Childs’ latest book, Why Did She Jump? (HCI Books), and brings hope to anyone struggling with grief from the loss of a child or loved one to mental illness, that there is hope for better tomorrows.

Fierce and tender, Joan’s compelling storytelling gives us an insightful yet sensitive look at her daughter’s life dealing with Bipolar Disorder. Peeling back the layers of pain and despair, Joan takes readers through the dark days of grief and guilt she felt both as a mother and as a frustrated professional who doesn’t understand why more hasn’t been done about this disease. With brutal honesty, Joan recalls how the lives of her entire family became entwined with her daughter’s illness as they watched her sink deeper into a place where no one could reach her. It is a powerful story of courage, hope, acceptance, and finally, forgiveness. Now, Joan reflects on her daughter’s many accomplishments, in spite of her illness, and sees them as Pam’s legacy to the world.

In an earlier book, The Myth of the Maiden: On Being a Woman, the author looks at the evolution of women from helpless maidens to dragon-slayers. Both books are excellent resources for personal growth and development after life changes and loss. In spite of many personal losses, Joan ‘walks the talk;’ she lives life to its fullest and maintains a level of energy and passion at age 76 that would put a 40-year-old to shame! A strikingly beautiful woman and energetic and inspiring speaker, Joan ignites the passion in others to find their own path to courage, healing and hope after the heartbreak and struggle of losing a loved one/child to suicide or any other cause of death.

Joan’s television series, Solutions, was dedicated to the memory of her daughter Pamela, and offered information and resources for anyone suffering from mental and mood disorders.  She provides lectures, workshops and seminars dedicated to her profession of mental health and women’s issues and is a spokesperson for bipolar disorder and suicide.

About the Author:

Joan E. Childs, LCSW, has been in private practice since 1978. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in couples therapy, known as Encounter-Centered Couples Therapy. An expert in Codependency, Inner Child Work, Original Pain Work, and Second Stage Recovery, she is certified in many modalities including a master practitioner in NLP, (neuro-linguistic programming), a master practitioner in EMDR, (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), Supervision, Hypnosis, PAIRS, (Practical Applications for Intimate Relationship Skills), and is a Certified Grief Counselor. She was the first affiliate of the John Bradshaw Center in the United States and has made appearances on national TV shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Mark Wahlberg Show, Maury Povich, The Montel Williams Show, and many more.

For more information on this remarkable woman and her work, please visit the website:  www.joanechilds.com.

Available at all online outlets and Amazon
Why Did She Jump?
My Daughter’s Battle with Bipolar Disorder
By Joan E. Childs, LCSW
Publisher: HCI Books
ISBN-13: 978-07573-1697-5 (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 07573-1697-2 (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-07573-1698-2 (ePub)
ISBN-10: 07573-1698-0 (ePub)

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Excerpts from five-star reviews on Amazon.com:

“… I lost my 23 year old daughter Kaitlyn to suicide… she was just starting her 3rd year of medical school… I have come to know (Joan’s) daughter through her eyes and memories and she was a beautiful person and was so loved. Her book has truly touched my heart.”

“… A true story of how Pamela, a young, beautiful psychotherapist, lived with a chronic debilitating mental illness and how her family got caught up in the whirlwind. It is also a story of how the mental health system continually failed her in not being able to provide her with any kind of useful assistance… This is a book for anyone who is contemplating a career in the health care field to make them aware of the challenges ahead.”

“This book should be read by anyone who’s lost a loved one due to mental illness and/or suicide. As a mother, I can’t imagine the pain Joan must have felt after losing her beautiful daughter. Her strength is inspiring.”

“Readers will learn more about Bipolar I Disorder, which thankfully, not every family has to deal with, but also about the grieving process, which we do all deal with. Despite being a heart-breaking story about illness, death and grief, Joan skillfully leaves you feeling better and actually hopeful at the end.”

Book Promo: SKY by William Dale West

Sky: Immensely Compelling and Highly
Emotional Story of Love, Faith and Hope

Early in the decade of 2000, the Department of Human Services of Ellsworth, Maine, Child Protective Division, along with other municipalities, came under scrutiny for their questionable policies and immoderate tactics. Discover how a toothache led to a two-year nightmare for this quiet and law-abiding family. (Well… kinda quiet and law-abiding) SKY is a multi-emotion provoking love story about a mismatched couple and their struggle to save their marriage amidst their valiant battle for custody of their child against this powerful but once highly criticized state agency. An essential read for any parent who has picked up a drink or a drug. Interspersed with actual documents from the case, including brief news clippings, highly-personal letters and court decisions, Mr. West offers in chronological exposé, a passionate exploration and stark contrast to the realities of substance abuse and parenting, with mental illness and morals and with his occasional awareness of a presence of God. Written with wry humor, seemingly at times to mask his own heartbreak, West lays out his perspective with blunt, piercing honesty while allowing the reader to be the ultimate judge.

About the Author

William West is a laid-back, easy-going, family-oriented gentleman from the carefree times of the sixties, coping with Asperger’s Syndrome in today’s fast-paced, often nonsensical world of confusion. He resides in Bucksport, Maine, a ritzy little town, located halfway up the Maine Coast. He has two adult daughters from a previous marriage to Janet. In 1996, after their daughters had come of age, Bill and Janet divorced after twenty-two years. In 1998, at the age of forty-six, and after twenty-plus tiresome years of tediously painting wealthy people’s million dollar homes for a meager living, Bill attended Hesser Community College in Nashua, New Hampshire.  There, he took many courses in psychology and sociology in hopes of perhaps becoming a substance abuse counselor. However, he found himself receiving far better grades in the many writing courses they offered; achieving nearly all A’s and making the President’s Lists and Dean’s Lists on numerous occasions. Through the college curriculum, he began an internship at Keystone Rehab in Nashua. After about a week into his internship, and during his less than half-hearted attempt at becoming a substance abuse counselor, he met and fell in love with an inpatient of the rehab; a former NYC erotic dancer with anger issues named Rinska. The next five years of their lives play out in Bill’s emotion-packed love story about a family’s struggle with Child Protective Services to regain custody of their little girl caught up in a system of corruption, entitled SKY : CHILD, INTERRUPTED.

Customer Review

Emotional, with clever wit and sarcasm and an original and refreshing style of narration  by Jill Wagner

OH MY GOD! I love this book! This is an amazingly beautiful and thought-provoking book and everything it’s hyped up to be and much, much more! I was so moved by reading this true and endearing family story. The nightmare this family went through in battling this particularly cold and heartless Child Protective Services for custody of their little daughter has stayed with me since I finished the book. It made me cry, it made me laugh and it made me get angry, sometimes all at the same time.

Although a very serious topic, the author manages in keeping the reader amused with clever wit and sarcasm and with a very appealing and refreshing style of humor and narration. The story is so enticing and intriguing to the point where you’ll almost want to skip ahead to see what happens next. But what happens next is rarely what you might expect.

I totally fell in love with the characters. Bill, the father of SKY is sweet, lovable and totally wimpy, but I particularly loved Rinska. Rinska is Sky’s mom. She’s a streetwise, former NYC erotic dancer who takes crap from no one, especially these power-hungry caseworkers that the family has to deal with. It’s not likely they’ve ever met the likes of her, which makes her even more captivating to the reader.

Buy it on
Amazon