Amazing Grief A Healing Guide for Parents of Young Addicts
by Charles Harper
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.67

Amazing Grief: A Healing Guide for Parents of Young Addicts, is a hands-on, interactive guide that represents 30 years of working closely with addicted young people in crisis. As the title suggests, the 300-page book offers a powerful and hopeful refuge for parents who often have few answers for their agony outside of conventional and often very expensive treatment programs. Rev. Charlie Harper began his career working with teenagers in crisis and their parents as the house manager and resident counselor at a home for single teenage mothers and street gangs in Pomona, California. He received his BA in Psychology from Pitzer College and his Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School.He spent eight years in church ministry focusing on youth ministry. For the past 10 years Rev. Harper has served as a street minister to families and young people in crisis.Rev. Harper is a father of two and a stepfather to four. Over the past 10 years, inaddition to attending to his own recovery from alcoholism, public speaking engagements, and a teacher of drama and art, he has served over 200 families in crisis.His experience as a church pastor, spiritual director, faith counselor and life coach coalesced into a unique perspective and practice of recovery, and particularly, the lack of care and concern for the parents of young people in crisis.Through his experience, faith and education Harper has taken his extraordinary life experience of working with young people and their parents… and put them together between the covers of Amazing Grief: A Healing Guide for Parents of Young Addicts.The book is based on three life saving observations:1. When parents took care of themselves during a crisis, their child was twice as likely to recover their life.2. Unlike the death of a loved one, the stages of grief for a parent of a child in crisis has a far more complicated grief process, including 11 stages of grief compared to the commonly accepted 6 stages of grief.3. Most remarkably, he found that when parents applied the principles of his stages of grief and their antidotes, they were empowered to heal and became an empowering force for their child’s recovery while growing spiritually and emotionally themselves.Harper offers his well-articulated “11 Stages of Grief” to help parents cope with the loss of innocence of their children and the overwhelming guilt and shame they often feel after the shock of discovering that their son or daughter is an addict. For each stage of grief, Harper presents a composite portrait of a fictitious family based on his direct experience with addicted teens and their parents. Universal themes of addiction and recovery are revealed in the raw, in-your-face drama and wreckage wrought by addiction. Then a transformative antidote to each stage of grief is presented as a virtue—anger has its antidote in forbearance, denial has its antidote in honesty. This helps parents find inner strength as they creatively process their grief. Powerful exercises, meditations and prayers accompany a discussion of each stage of grief to assist families on their journey. The meditations and prayers are also available as free downloads on www.amazinggrief.com.Amazing Grief: A Healing Guide for Parents of Young Addicts, has recently won a “Best Books 2011” Award from USA Book News. The category, Health: Addiction & Recovery.Rev. Harper is also available for consultations, speaking engagements, and workshops. He can be contacted at 203-695-1317, by email at rev-charles-harper@amazinggrief.com or online at www.amazinggrief.com.