Parenting an Addict: Mother Tells Her Gripping Story of Unwavering Love
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Like a drowning woman, Christine Naman grappled for a lifeline and choked on her harsh reality: it was time to let go of denial. The tin foil, spoons and lighters she found in her daughter’s vanity weren’t the makings of a science experiment; they were drug paraphernalia. Christine’s only solace was that she hadn’t found any needles. Three days later she did.
About Natalie is Christine’s raw, compelling story of her valiant fight to help her daughter overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. It is a gripping, cautionary tale of how, in spite of a loving family and a comfortable life, a child can end up on the wrong path, meet the wrong people and get lost in the unthinkable.
About Natalie takes readers deep inside Christine’s emotional and mental turmoil as she grows into her new, unfortunate role as the parent of an addict. She steps on syringes left on the floor and wrestles one from the family dog’s mouth. She lives the nightmare of finding an unresponsive child on the floor and uses Narcan to revive her. She struggles and wins, struggles and loses, cries and rages.
She chases away a drug dealer and stays up all night waiting for her missing child to come home. She rejoices during periods of recovery and hope and is devastated during relapses. When her daughter suffers, Christine suffers right along with her. But through it all, never once, does Christine ever contemplate giving up.
At its core, About Natalie is a story of fighting for — and right alongside — the ones we love, no matter how difficult the circumstances. It’s a story of keeping the faith, battling hard and helping a child get back on the right track. It is the story of struggling, living through it all and coming out on the other, better, side.
Christine has watched a perfectly healthy daughter thrive and then succumb to the pull of substances. She has suffered the feelings of isolation, pain and humiliation that being the parent of an addict often brings. She hopes that by sharing her family’s difficult story she can bring understanding and knowledge to those who do not know the problem firsthand as well as provide comfort to those who know the nightmare of addiction all too well.
Bestselling author Christine Pisera Naman is a wife to a beautiful man named Peter and a mother to three fantastic kids named Jason, Natalie and Trevor. In her free time, she enjoys crocheting, which she does poorly; painting, again poorly; and volunteering at her local hospital, which she hopes she does well. She is the author of the Faces of Hope series of books that are now housed in the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. Her other works include Caterpillar Kisses, Christmas Lights, The Novena and The Believers. About Natalie is her heart poured onto paper.
About Natalie Publisher: HCI Books Release Date: May 2021 ISBN-13: 978-0-7573-2385-0 (Paperback) ISBN-13: 978-0-7573-2386-7 (ePub) Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Melanie Howe Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone
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Trauma doesn’t discriminate. It can happen to anyone, anytime. And in all likelihood, COVID-19 has traumatized each and every one of us to some degree. Everybody hits a low point once in a while, and ultimately, the quality of our lives depends on our ability to process heartbreaks and catastrophes successfully. So how do we do that?
In Post-Traumatic Thriving: The Art, Science, & Stories of Resilience, world-renown expert on disasters and trauma Dr. Randall Bell interweaves science and academic research with stories of people who have not just survived, but have used their trauma as their fuel to thrive. Dr. Bell sits down with survivors of the Holocaust; murder-victim’s families; crime victims; suicide survivors; and those who’ve experienced homelessness, disasters, addictions, depression, death, divorce, disabilities, defeats and disease to explore the rare mindset of the post-traumatic thriver.
Through this unprecedented research, Dr. Bell shares with readers stories of remarkable resilience, including the following:
• A deaf man with a glass eye invented the electric guitar and became a household name, remarkably wealthy and most importantly, happy. • A convicted murderer took responsibility for the damage he caused, graduated with honors from college, became a minister and turned around the hearts of the most hardened criminals. • A girl born with cerebral palsy landed the world’s first starring role on national television and spoke at the White House three times. • A woman hid in a basement for years and lost her entire family in the Holocaust. She eventually found true love and paints stunning artwork. • The sister of a murder victim helped millions of women in toxic domestic relationships. • A woman’s car crash resulted in an addiction to prescription drugs, a divorce, a loss of her children and a cot in a homeless shelter. She has rebuilt it all back and more. • A man set to go to the Olympics had his hopes dashed by Jimmy Carter and went on to build a worldwide business empire.
Ultimately, Dr. Bell documents the science of happiness, as well as the individual styles and common thread that all post-traumatic thrivers have to emerge with a fulfilling life. When trauma hits, your most significant decision will be to dive, survive or thrive. If you choose to thrive, this book is for you.
As an economist, Dr. Randall Bell has consulted on more disasters on earth than anyone in history and is widely considered the world’s top authority in the field of post-traumatic thriving. His clients include the Federal Government, State Governments, International Tribunals, major corporations and homeowners. Dr. Bell believes that “the problem is not the problem — the problem is how we react to the problem.”
Often called the “Master of Disaster,” Dr. Bell is squarely focused on authentic recovery and resilience. His research has been profiled on major television shows and featured in numerous magazines and the international media. More information can be found at www.posttraumaticthriving.com.
Post-Traumatic Thriving: The Art, Science, & Stories of Resilience Publisher: Core IQ Press Release Date: January 1, 2021 ISBN 978-0-9967931-7-9 Available from Amazon.com and all bookstores
Trish Stevens Teresa Hinojosa Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 832.569.5773 Direct 281.333.3507 Phone [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com
Ordinary People Extraordinary God Shares 17 True Stories of Everyday Heroes
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Children may never learn their names and hear their stories in Sunday school, but there are plenty of “ordinary people” all around us who have accomplished God’s remarkable work in their own individual ways. In Ordinary People Extraordinary God: 17 Personal Stories of Lives Transformed by the Love of God, author Rick Schatz shares inspirational true stories of eve-ryday people who answered God’s call to service.
“Most were not raised in Christian homes but have made a commitment to Christ and are serving him in various ways around the world,” Schatz explains. “Few, if any, would be considered superstars in the eyes of the world, but each of them is serving others in life-changing ways.”
Ordinary People Extraordinary God profiles personal friends and contacts of Schatz’s who have served Jesus in a variety of capacities, such as becoming a hospice nurse later in life, writing books, developing resources to help others in need and serving in churches. The honest accounts don’t hide the flaws and struggles that these servants endured. In fact, it’s through pointing out the insecurities and the ups and downs that Schatz underscores the fact that God can and does use “ordinary people” to reach others with His love and grace. This book also shares that all God needs from His followers is their availability because He will supply everything else that is needed to get His work done.
As readers follow the 17 journeys featured in the book, it is Schatz’s hope that the stories will encourage and challenge people to first seek God and then to serve Him for His glory.
“The goal of the book is to encourage others to seek a personal relationship with God and for those who already have such a personal relationship to dream bigger and reach for the stars in serving Him,” Schatz adds.
Author Rick Schatz earned a BS in chemical engineering and an MBA from Harvard, where he became a Christian during his second year. In addition to a long career as an executive for several major corporations, including as the founder and part-owner of Creative Waterworks, Schatz has been a deacon, elder, Bible teacher and preacher since 1969.
He has also served on the board and leadership teams of On Target prison ministry, Spiritual Counterfeits Project and the John Guest Evangelistic Crusade in Cincinnati.
Schatz officially left the business world in 1990 and served with pureHope ministry as COO and president/CEO from 1990 until 2014. He joined The Prayer Covenant in 2014, where he served as president and currently serves as COO.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Schatz married his high school sweetheart, Sharon, in 1967. They have three grown sons and 11 grandchildren.
Ordinary People Extraordinary God: 17 Personal Stories of Lives Transformed by the Love of God Publisher: High Bridge Books ISBN-10: 1946615455 ISBN-13: 978-1946615459 Available from Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Julia Vaughn Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone 800.854.2207 Fax
Academic Mediocrity of American Students Examined in Thought-Provoking Comparison of Educational Approaches
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East Asian students have always gained higher scores on the international comparative tests than American students. How can this be explained?
In A Mirror for Americans: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Teaching Students Who Excel, Dr. Cornelius Grove provides the explanation. Distilling 50 years of anthropological research into East Asian primary classrooms, Grove offers insights into East Asian teaching methods and, more significantly, into the societal values that shape East Asian teaching.
But A Mirror for Americans, about teaching, provides only half of the explanation. The other half is about East Asian families and parenting, revealed by Grove in his 2017 book, The Drive to Learn: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Raising Students Who Excel.
“The purpose of my books,” explains Grove, “is to convey to the general reader the research findings from East Asia, where societal values unlike ours shape child-rearing and primary school teaching. There’s an ‘Aha!’ moment: If only we could think differently about children and their classroom learning, we could raise the level of our own youngsters’ performance.”
A Mirror for Americans concerns itself with preschool through grade 5, comparing the culture of teaching in East Asia and the U.S. Among the research-generated facts revealed are these:
• In preschool and grade 1, East Asian children are taught, and they practice, individual and group behaviors that promote their own learning and their teacher’s efficient lesson deliv-ery.
• Teachers design lessons based on the internal logic of the content they are teaching, not on factors such as a need to motivate, have fun learning or draw out pupil creativity. But they do strive to present content so that all their pupils – slower and more advanced – will benefit.
• Whether a lesson is student-centered or teacher-centered doesn’t concern East Asians. Grove’s conclusion is that East Asian lessons are knowledge-centered, a key explanation for why East Asian students outperform their American peers on those international tests.
Explains Grove, “Attitudes toward learning brought from home, plus methods of teaching encountered at school, mold East Asian youngsters into superior students. These research-generated facts can serve as a mirror for Americans, enabling us to examine our approaches to children’s learning – and to the values that drive our approaches – from a fresh perspective.”
Author Cornelius N. Grove holds a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Johns Hopkins and a Doctor of Education from Columbia. An independent scholar, his “day job” since 1990 has been as the managing partner of the global business consultancy, GROVEWELL LLC.
Grove has had a decades-long fascination with the cultural factors that affect children’s ability to learn in school. At a 2005 conference in Singapore, he delivered a paper on the two instructional styles found around the world. In 2013 he wrote The Aptitude Myth: How an Ancient Belief Came to Undermine Children’s Learning Today, a historical study of why most Americans believe that inborn ability determines school performance. For two recently published encyclopedias (2015 and 2017), he contributed entries on “pedagogy across cultures.” And now with A Mirror for Americans and The Drive to Learn, he is revealing the complementary roles that home and school potentially play in building young people’s mastery of school learning.
For more information, please visit www.amirrorforamericans.info.
A Mirror for Americans: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Teaching Students Who Excel Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, Maryland) Release Date: September 2020 Hardback: ISBN 978-1-4758-4460-3 Paperback: ISBN 978-1-4758-4461-0 eBook: ISBN 978-1-4758-4462-7 Available from Rowman.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and Amazon.com
Trish Stevens Maria Jenson Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone 800.854.2207 Fax
Find the Career that Fits Perfectly: The Tools are at Your Fingertips
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Why do so many people stay in unrewarding careers? Fear of change? Lack of updated skills? Whatever the case, staying in an unfulfilling job prevents you from doing what you really want to do. The pandemic taught us that we can pivot and innovate faster than we ever thought possible, so why not restart your career with a renewed vision and a clearer path forward?
Elevate Your Career: Live a Life You’re Truly Proud Of from experienced career development coach Helen Horyza brilliantly demonstrates how you can design a career that aligns with your interests and talents by discovering what makes you truly happy.
“The path to a thriving career requires self reflection to discover what values are important to you and to identify the types of work that hold real meaning,” Horyza writes. “It also demands patience and persistence.”
Through a series of true stories, Horyza illustrates how people from all walks of life and education levels can create a career that is literally a perfect fit—even if you don’t know what your “passion” is yet.
In addition to these real-world examples, Elevate Your Career includes valuable tools that readers can use right away to reassess their career paths. First, the Elevate Career Cycle method, which is explained in the book, can help readers uncover their passion by pinpoint-ing their interests and unique talents. Also included with the book is a coupon code for the Elevations Career Assessment, which synthesizes values, skills, interests and personality in the context of contemporary careers. Individuals who complete the assessment receive a fo-cused report complete with valuable decision-making tools. The result is a comprehensive model for smart and healthy career development.
No matter where you are in your evolving career journey—college student, executive or someone looking to course-correct—this book will provide you with the tools and the momen-tum you need to elevate your career.
Helen Horyza is an expert in the fields of career development and employee development, engagement and retention. She is an accomplished trainer, motivational speaker and execu-tive coach. She holds a Master of Science degree in Career Counseling from California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), and is a professionally trained coach through Coach Training International. She is a Nationally Certified Career Counselor (NCCC) and has over 20 years of experience uncovering talent and directing it to achieve extraordinary results.
Horyza is comfortable inspiring audiences large and small with her authentic, approachable style. She is the inventor and author of the Elevations® suite of assessments designed to assist individuals in career transition or to enhance employee engagement. Elevations® is utilized in colleges, universities and in consultant practices around the world.
She has used her own advice to re-career and is opening the Career Coach Entrepreneur Academy in the fall, a training program for people interested in becoming career coaches.
Elevate Your Career: Live a Life You’re Truly Proud Of Publisher: Merack ISBN-10: 1949635384 ISBN-13: 978-1949635386 Available from Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and Helenhoryza.com
Trish Stevens Karen Anderson Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone 800.854.2207 Fax
Humane Policing Outlines Groundbreaking Approach To Widespread Police Reform
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The days since George Floyd’s death have simultaneously united and divided communities all over the world. “I can’t breathe” has become a battle cry; 8:46 an unsettling reminder of how long Floyd struggled for air. Is there any way to rebuild a system that has collapsed under the weight of its own power?
Former marine and one-time sheriff’s deputy Darron Spencer offers hope for police departments and the communities they serve. His revolutionary approach to law enforcement, called “humane policing,” aims to help officers diffuse dangerous situations, induce cooperation, preserve lives, and ultimately enjoy long and fulfilling careers protecting and serving the public.
Spencer’s book, Humane Policing: How Perspectives Can Influence Our Performance, shares his insightful, experience-based techniques for those in law enforcement while also enlightening the public about the complexities of the job and the balancing act undertaken by the men and women in uniform every day.
The book demonstrates — through real-life-inspired examples — how self-control and understanding can mitigate potentially dangerous situations and save lives.
Humane Policing explores the changes that law enforcement needs to make, chronicles the experiences that shaped Spencer’s personal perspective, and offers life-changing tools to help officers everywhere better serve their communities.
Author Darron Spencer worked in a patrol division for just 20 months before a debilitating condition ended his career. As a deputy, Spencer oversaw more than 250 cases that resulted in 40 felony and 74 misdemeanor arrests. He assisted in four death investigations and booked in more than 150 pieces of evidence. He was awarded Deputy of the Year and received the Ribbon of Merit.
He achieved tremendous success gaining cooperation from individuals, suspects and even career criminals while investigating cases. In fact, 90% of those he arrested actually thanked him for his service. When Spencer’s police work was cut short, he sought a new avenue to public service.
Now he travels the country to meet with local police departments and share his approach to policing. His goal is to improve the relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve and ultimately the public image of law enforcement officers on a national scale.
For more information on Spencer and his approach to humane policing, please visit www.humanepolicing.com.
Short On Inspiration While Dining In? My Pinewood Kitchen Dishes Out Some Quarantine Cuisine Tips
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With COVID-19 keeping us at home more and shopping less, home chefs need to get creative while cooking tasty, healthy meals for their entire family. Chef and author Mee McCormick is an expert: she healed herself of Crohn’s disease, gut issues, and other immune system challenges with whole food recipes when doctors couldn’t help her.
The mom/rancher/restaurateur can share tips for “quarantine cuisine” when you’re hankering for variety in your meals but you’re short on ingredients and inspiration. Perfect for social distancing, many of her recipes are made with items you probably already have in your pantry (for example, her Black Bean Chicken Chili and Immune-Boosting Chicken & Quinoa Soup); she can teach home cooks how to repurpose items to reduce food waste (cilantro pickles, anyone?), and reveal the healthiest foods you need in your pandemic pantry.
My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure offers more than 100 gluten-free, whole foods recipes that can be customized for Keto, Paleo, or vegans, making it a truly “all-inclusive” eating plan for the entire family. From smoothies, soups and salads, to dinners and desserts, every recipe is gluten-free and gut-friendly. • Curb Your COVID Anxiety with healthy chocolate with Mee’s Chocolate Avocado Mousse & Five-Ingredient Fudge Cups • Soups for Social Distancing – Black Bean Chicken Chili and Immune-Boosting Chicken & Quinoa Soup (nutritious, delicious, and they use what you likely have in your home already!) • Plenty of plant-based offerings • Reduce Waste: Learn how to make cilantro pickles from cucumbers, sweet potato chips from sweet potatoes, a falafel burger from canned chickpeas, and how to make your own healthier ketchup and mayonnaise if you run out • 10 Gut-Friendly Foods for your Pandemic Pantry
Mee McCormick is a rising Southern culinary and wellness innovator, restaurateur, author, TV cooking personality, farmer, rancher, wife and mother. She splits her time between Nashville and nearby Nunnelly, Tennessee; a tiny, unincorporated community in Hickman County, which is also home to her biodynamic farm and restaurant Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile.
Mee authored her first cookbook My Kitchen Cure, which led to wild success and a book deal with HCI for her second cookbook My Pinewood Kitchen, published on April 14, 2020. She frequently appears on Today in Nashville, and she participates in nationally-recognized food festivals and events, spreading the same level of care and hospitality to audiences everywhere that she has become known for throughout the state of Tennessee. Visit: www.meemccormick.com or www.pinewoodkitchenandmercantile.com.
My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure/130+ Crazy Delicious, Gluten-Free Recipes to Reduce Inflammation and Make Your Gut Happy By Mee McCormick HCI BOOKS Released: April 2020/ $26.95 ISBN: 9780757323522 Available wherever books are sold
Trish Stevens Allison Janse Health Communications Inc. The Life Issues Publisher 1700 NW 2nd Ave Boca Raton, FL 33432 800.851.9100 [email protected] www.hcibooks.com
