MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Staying Safe While Sheltering in Place (Schnuelle, Adams, & Henderson) Introduction (by Hendereson) My eyes blinked open suddenly and I was immediately filled with dread, even terror! Now wide awake and worried, I envisioned a stay-at-home order being issued when I was a child. How would I have survived? I was immediately filled with fear as I imagined what it might have been like to be unable to escape the abuses of my father. Of course, my next thought was for all the children, women, girlfriends, or anyone else who might now be stuck at home with a person who is dangerous, someone who instills fear in their victims day and night. What is happening to these children? What is happening to whole families who are in lock-down with someone who can, has, and probably will hurt them, possibly fatally? I started talking to people, starting with my sisters. The thought of it was so awful they couldn’t really discuss it, but one of them, who has worked for years in Soc

  Staying Safe While Sheltering in Place (Schnuelle et al.) will be available for free through Kindle promotions Sep 21-Sep 25. For more posts about this book, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .

  excerpt from Life, Liberty, & Covid-19 SELF-COMPASSION When we blame others with such vehemence, it is a good indication of a hidden, unacknowledged self-blame. We used to say as kids, “It takes one to know one.” Another way of saying it, “If you spot it, you got it.” That is called projection, as we discussed regarding prejudice. What we hate in others is what we cannot tolerate in ourselves but disown. We get rid of what we despise in ourselves by casting it onto others and then berate them for it. There is only one way to escape the blame game. Beginning with ourselves, we give up the harsh self-judgment. The first step in self-compassion, forgiveness, is to become attuned to our own suffering, which has several aspects: Losses During the pandemic, we suffer so many unavoidable losses. Our lives have been turned upside down. Most tragically, family members may have become infected and died. We could not be by their sides during their sufferings because of the quaranti

    Excerpt from  Staying Safe While Sheltering in Place  (Schnuelle, Adams, & Henderson) (written as one of our pandemic books, much of the advice is pertinent even now) From chapter: You, Me, Staying at Home (Schnueel) Coping, Seriously As soon as practicalities were largely handled and as time stretched out, the themes that came up repeatedly boiled down to, “How do I not lose my mind?” Keeping one’s sanity lies in realizing this is an abnormal situation. In unprecedented circumstances, it is actually normal not to know what the hell is going on. We don’t live through world-wide novel virus pandemics\ often, and aren’t we all so thankful for that? In an abnormal situation, the usual routines will probably not work.  We have to do something new. Adapting to what is happening right now, instead of trying to impose the old ‘normal,’ will probably work better. Get relentlessly practical and find a new normal: here is what we can do today. Now we go to school online. Now we order gro

  As Women's History Month concludes, here are some books that may be of interest; they reflect hope in the aftermath of various kinds of violence against women. They also point out ways that women can manage violence when it appears -- survive it and recover from it. Healing from Incest ( Geri Henderson ) In speaking about Healing from Incest, Susan J. Lewis, Ph.D., J.D., Healing writes: “"Brave, profound, touching, healing. This well-written, honest book takes the reader inside the complexities of the therapeutic healing process from the patient and therapist's unique perspective. It is the story of hard work, hope, commitment and recovery!" Healing from Incest tells the journey of a victim-turned-survivor, working with her therapist to find healing. Readers are pulled into the therapeutic process as Henderson relates her conversations and feelings as a victim of child abuse and Emerton interprets those feelings and describes interventions. For those who recognize t

  We just released the 12th book in our pandemic series -- an unusual and very important: what to do if you are locked down with your abuser. Tastefully and frankly -- and helpfully -- written. The authors are specialists on this topic: S hari Schnuelle, LIMHP, LPC, has 20+ years of specialization in trauma study and treatment of a variety of traumas, fostering trauma resilience, and post-traumatic growth. Shari also offers life coaching focused on creative growth, particularly for women in transition, who envision different directions in their lives. Melissa Adams, LCSW, LIMHP, provides individual, marital and family therapy in a private practice setting. Her areas of specialty  include family violence, recovery from abuse, anxiety disorders, behavior disorders in children and divorced and blended families Geri Henderson, Ph.D., is a professor, living in Germany, teaching for the University of Maryland Global Campus. Her experience with trauma and recovery resulted in the co-authorshi

  Looking for something new to read on your Kindle? These are our newest -- fresh out: Click HERE for posts on Women, We're Only Old Once. Click HERE for posts on Weekly Soul . Click HERE for posts on Staying Safe While Sheltering in Place. Click HERE for posts on  How to Stay Calm in Chaos . Click HERE for posts on Exercising in a Pandemic . Click HERE for posts on Damascus amid the War .

FINDING OPPORTUNITY DURING THE PANDEMIC Making the Possible Possible We are older. We are vulnerable. We are taking our place as spectators of those younger and on the front lines of taking care of the ill and providing essential services. We are less able to see those who are working from home unless they appear in one of those boxes on the grid of people commenting on today’s news. We are missing being with some of our favorite people and doing some of our favorite things, but, for the moment, we’ve right sized our life during a pandemic to meet the needs of our unique selves and those for whom we care. No doubt we’ve had moments of what’s being called “quarantine fatigue.” A friendly grocery clerk likened it to the movie, Ground Hog Day , in which the same story repeats daily. Sometimes, we feel great progress is being made, and sometimes, we think it will never change. Depending upon the extent we’ve been directly exposed to the tragedy of COVID-19, we may be wonde