Health and Nutrition

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Coming to Grief: A Survival Guide to Grief and Loss by Pam Heaney. ISBN 187713564X. Published by Longacre Press. Recommended retail price $19.95

“Grief is the inevitable consequence of loving and will come to us all at some time in our life. It is a normal, natural response to a loss of any kind.” – Pam Heaney

We experience grief and loss for many reasons: death, separation, divorce, job layoffs, illness and through many other major life changes. Pam Heaney’s thorough and perceptive exploration of grief is a book that will truly help us help others and ourselves.

Sensible, clear and caring in tone, the author explains how we express grief via our cultural and family conditioning, much of which is based on inadequate stereotypes and myths. In debunking the old clichés – ‘time heals all wounds,’ or ‘you should be over it by now’ – she offers insight into the true nature of grief and loss, and equips the reader with useful knowledge and understanding. She also provides strategies to help healing while recognizing the unique grieving experience of each individual.

Coming to Grief has a legitimacy and wisdom based on experience – the author has over 20 years background as a funeral director and grief counselor. She counters each time-honored myth with sound, practical advice and looks at why we grieve, what grief is and how it affects us. Physical, social, psychological, developmental and spiritual aspects are discussed in a positive way, and the whole is imbued with hope, encouragement and compassion.

This is a self-help book which includes:

• A variety of exercises to make information personal
• A helpful summary at the end of each chapter
• The debunking of 10 common myths. “Best leave them alone to get over this,” “You should be over it by now,” “Just focus on the positives…” The author counters these clichés with practical, sensible advice
• Covers loss in general – separation, divorce, death, loss of employment
• A chapter on how to support and help those who are grieving – lists of what to say and do
• Validation that everyone is unique as is their grieving
• Acknowledgement that grief affects us physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually
• Strategies for healing and acceptance
• Anecdotes and real life stories; the author acknowledges the great variety of experiences
• A recognition that recovery requires action

Pam Heaney has over 20 years experience first working as a funeral director and then as a grief counselor. She has directed educational programs for healthcare professionals, volunteers, families and support groups; has organized therapeutic workshops; worked as a trauma debriefer; and lectures on the subject extensively throughout New Zealand. She was co-founder of the Grief Education Trust and contributed to the establishment of the National Association for Loss and Grief. Pam is self-employed as a grief and loss therapy and educational practitioner and her workshops, counseling, lectures and educational programs are in high demand. Soft cover, 224 pages. Published in 2002.

Endometriosis; One Woman's Story by Megan Harvey. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 0908704437. Recommended retail price $12.95.

Ten percent of menstruating women suffer from endometriosis, the condition causing chronic, agonsing menstrual pain and a host of associated problems. Just as worrying, many of these women are unable to name the condition and therefore cannot get the right treatment.

Endometriosis: One Woman's Story relates Megan Harvey's long struggle, from the confusion of years of unexplained blinding pain to the relief of diagnosis, the grief of infertility and eventual 'cure' - in her case, a complete hysterectomy at the age of 22.

Case studies, treatment advice and a strong underlying theme of emotional support make this book an essential and affirming guide for endometriosis sufferers, their friends and families. The problems Megan endured, emotional as well as physical, make harrowing reading - but her journey back to a 'normal', happy life shows that it is possible to be an endometriosis survivor.

Megan Harvey was born in Taihape, New Zealand, in 1972. As a child she moved around New Zealand and the world a lot with her parents as her father had a career in the army. After attending Christchurch Girls' High School Megan went on to gain a Master of Arts in psychology from the University of Canterbury. She is currently working on a PhD in family psychology at the University of Canterbury.

Megan plans a career as a tertiary lecturer and researcher. She likes to read and walk and go to movies. She is single and loving it. Soft cover, 108 pages. Published in 1997.

Faith, Hope, Love & Laughter: How They Heal by Paul Kraus. Published by Hale and Iremonger. ISBN 0 86806 683 4. Recommended retail price $15.

This is an inspirational guide for the maintenance of wellness of body, mind and spirit. The author believes passionately in the healing power of the emotions and the importance of faith and hope in the recovery process. He has gathered together this collection of writings on holistic healing, ranging widely from biblical passages to extracts by medical and health writers, in order to encourage people to lead fuller, more loving and constructive lives, whatever their situation. It is the perfect gift for those who need sunshine in their lives, for people weighed down by care or illness, or simply for those who feel the need to be inspired. Soft cover, 192 pages. Published 1999.

Health of Pacific Societies,The : Ian Prior's Life and Work edited by Philippa Howden-Chapman & Alistair Woodward. ISBN 1877228524. Published by Steele Roberts Ltd. $X

Dr. Ian Prior is one of New Zealand's most distinguished epidemiologists, whose career encompasses 50 years of research and action. A pioneer in social epidemiology, his work in New Zealand and the Pacific has explored environmental and cultural factors that maintain the health of Pacific populations.

In this book, New Zealand and international colleagues pay tribute to Ian Prior's unique contribution to epidemiology
and our understanding of health in the Pacific. Ian responds with an outline of his career and guiding principles. The book focuses on health, but also celebrates Ian Prior's commitment to a nuclear-free world, protection of the environment, social justice, and a flourishing creative community. Soft cover, 112 pages. Published in 2001.

Life's an Illusion by Leigh Kelly. ISBN 0473048043. Recommended retail price $19.95.

Leigh Kelly RN ADN trained at the Auckland Hospital. For two decades she has focused her energies on senior citizens, serving in leadership roles in long-term care wards in Kenepuru Hospital (Wellington) and Greenlane Hospital (Auckland).

During this career commitment she majored in care for people with dementia. She became increasingly concerned at the use of chemical restraints to change and modify behaviour. Frequently this course of action did not work. Leigh's work in this field confirms that more often than not the opposite of the desired outcome results.
With the restructuring of hospital-based care in Auckland she saw the opportunity to branch out into the private sector. This resulted in purchasing a rest home in the city for people with dementia. This enabled Leigh to:
* explore further why chemical restraints (sedatives) were not working
* introduce a bodywork therapy program along with other holistic health practices
*discover a common response in each person - an underlying feeling of powerlessness
* learn that people who were loved, valued, respected and acknowledged no longer exhibited many so-called inappropriate behaviors

In essence, people with dementia just want to be treated like everybody else. This powerful discovery led to this, her first book. Through this medium, and through her public presentations, Leigh encourages carers of all kinds to look at themselves first and to strive for better alternatives.

We can no longer keep doing what we have always done and expect different results. Universal principles always work. These very principles can and will enhance relationships with everyone we meet. Soft cover, 178 pages.

Recycled People: Forming New Relationships in Mid-Life by Coral Atkinson & Paula Wagemaker. Published by Shoal Bay Press. ISBN 1877251046. Recommended retail price $15.95.

A new book which draws on the experiences of mid-life men and women who have moved from relationship breakdown to new partnerships. Told with frankness and intimacy, the book takes the shared threads of these people's sorrows, difficulties, strengths and joys and weaves them together to illuminate the journey's themes and signposts, as well as the common experiences that hinder or help along the way.

Comments from professionals working in interpersonal counseling, sexuality and family law, along with summarized findings from international relationship gurus, are also included. The reader is provided with a topical travelers' guide though a life stage that is different from anything previously experienced; one that has the potential for both disaster and considerable happiness. Practical, and at times wryly amusing, Recycled People offers information, reassurance and the sharing of authentic experience by those who have gone before.

Using the metaphor of recycling - of vibrant and satisfying new things coming out of the destruction of the old - the book covers such issues as loss, coping, finding new partners, sex, recommitment, legal and other practical matters, baggage, children, making it work and lessons learned. The authors, Coral Atkinson and Paula Wagemaker, have both come out of long-term marriages and are now in new committed relationships. Soft cover, 215 pages. Published in 2000.

Welcome to the Amazon Club: A remarkable journal of hope, bravery and strength by Jane Bissell.  ISBN 1877135933. Publisahed by Longacre Press. Recommended retail price $19.95.

“The diagnosis of breast cancer is never expected; we all think it will never happen to us.”
- Belinda Scott, FRACS

This is the story of my first year with breast cancer – from diagnosis to my first ‘all-clear’.  I kept a journal during that time, charting my physical and emotional responses, but also trying to understand what was happening to me.

I hope my story will help women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer, or in fact anyone with cancer, for our journeys have much in common.

Most of all, I would like my book to offer the very thing that gets us through the hours and the days of a life changing experience… Hope.  There is always hope – at best hope of recovery and a full life, or at worst, hope for less pain and suffering.  We each have a remarkable capacity for hope, bravery and strength.  Sometimes it takes a traumatic event to make us realize it. 
-- Jane Bissell

Welcome to the Amazon Club dispels the many myths surrounding breast cancer.  The author’s experience offers as much empowerment and strange reward as it does difficulty. Soft cover, 200 pages. Published in 2004.

Click on links below for these books.

All Stings Considered: First Aid and Medical Treatment of Hawai’i’s Marine Injuries by Craig Thomas and Susan Scott

Parenting Girls by Dr. Janet Irwin, Susanna de Vries and Susan Stratigos Wilson

Last modified on Thursday, August 20, 2009