Dr. Albert Schweitzer left his lucrative European medical practice to work in the African jungles. He found the jungle to be a place of great healing. Dr. David Hall, a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Washington Medical School, could easily have had a lucrative and comfortable practice anywhere he chose. He chose instead to work with the most difficult cases where there was the least hope. He has worked with victims of serious child abuse and neglect for decades. There are no quick fixes or miracle drugs for these cases.
Few clinicians have the skill and compassion to help their clients dig deep enough to truly heal such wounds. David Hall is one of them. The tools he has found for healing the deepest emotional injuries are very effective for other family problems as well.
David Hall's book is important for what it is as well as for what it is not. It will not mislead you with trendy labels or quick fixes that, like plastic wrap, cover problems but do very little to heal them.
This book does not trumpet any shortcuts where altering one part of your life will somehow fix the rest. It also does not make problems so technical that nothing can be done without therapy. It takes the more difficult path of addressing you as a whole person with a unique perspective.
Few clinicians are sufficiently skilled to help family members recover from the worst of injuries. Fewer still are those who can distill what they do and write about it in an accessible manner.
David Hall has done this and more: he provides a set of tools born of twenty years of medical practice that extends far beyond psychiatry. Many books push beleaguered parents to buy into new techniques when the parents barely have enough energy to keep going. This book does just the opposite: it empowers first by bringing greater tenacity and compassion to what you are doing before considering different ways of parenting. The gentle wisdom flowing through these chapters makes rereading just as beneficial as the first reading.
In both layout and content, this book is a wise friend—a friend who listens without lecturing, who supports without judgment, and who honors your commitment to parenting.
Good books on parenting help you see your problems in a new way. Great books help you see yourself in a new way. Dr. Albert Schweitzer wrote, "You will never find true happiness until you determine how it is you are to serve." David Hall has been serving parents and families for over thirty years. His work helps us each find our unique path through the jungle of doubt and frustration into the happiness of knowing that we truly served our children, our communities, and ourselves.
—John Kydd, MSW, JD, Past President, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts