Grief

The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss by Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD
HarperOne, 2023, Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, and Audiobook, 256 Pages
ISBN 9780062946249

In The Grieving Brain, neuroscientist and psychologist Mary-Frances O’Connor gives us a fascinating new window into one of the hallmark experiences of being human. O’Connor makes cutting-edge neuroscience accessible through her contagious enthusiasm, and guides us through how we encode love and grief. With love, our neurons help us form attachments to others; but, with loss, our brain must come to terms with where our loved ones went, or how to imagine a future without them.

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Opening to Grief: Finding Your Way from Loss to Peace by Claire Willis and Marnie Crawford Samuelson
Red Wheel Weiser Publisher, October 2020, 144 pages
ISBN 978-1-59003-512-2

Opening to Grief: Finding your way from Loss to Peace is an invitation to be with your grief in all its depth and to find your unique way to peace, balance and acceptance. Begin wherever you are and offer yourself kindness at a time of losses and suffering.  Open to any page and you'll find comfort and inspiration, as well as profound practices anchored in mindfulness and meditation.

Author's website: https://openingtogrief.com/

Wife, Widow, Now What?: How I Navigated the Cancer World and How You Can, Too by Rachel Engstrom MSW, CHES
Published September 2020, Paperback, 346 pages
ISBN 979-8690475741

Wife, Widow, Now What? chronicles Rachel’s journey as a 28-year-old wife whose husband is diagnosed with leukemia, the life-altering changes they faced together, and eventually the death and dying process when her husband passes away and she is widowed at age 31.  Using her narrative along with original Facebook, CaringBridge, and Instagram posts, Rachel provides resources for caregivers on how to navigate a cancer diagnosis, treatment, insurance, disability, finances, health care directives, emotions, patient and caregiver self-care and support, and much more.  In addition, Rachel shares how she has to rebuild her life and how she learns to start over as a widow.   Includes mention of the music she listened to during her journey.

Cycle of Lives: 15 People's Stories, 5,000 Miles, and a Journey Through the Emotional Chaos of Cancer by David Richman
River Grove Books, 2020, 376 Pages
ISBN 978-1-63299-299-4 Paperback
ISBN 978-1-63299-300-7 eBook

Cycle of Lives chronicles the lives of 15 people affected by cancer, including patients, doctors, researchers, and caregivers.  These moving stories cover many aspects of a cancer diagnosis.  Readers are able to examine a wide range of experiences and viewpoints to help them grow in empathy, and to better understand how issues affect the way people deal with the traumas that shape their lives.

For more information: www.cycleoflives.org

How Do We Tell the Children? A Step-by-Step Guide for Helping Children Two to Teen Cope When Someone Dies By Dan Schaefer and Christine Lyons Newmarket
Press, 2001, 203 pages
ISBN: 1557044252

This classic step-by-step guide helps adults, as well as children, cope with the impact and aftermath of traumatic events. Timely advice is offered, not only to parents, but also for anyone in a caregiving role, as well as older siblings, grandparents, extended family members and friends.