Eric's Story - Surviving A Son's Suicide is a mother's account of the sudden, unexpected death of her only child. Eric Michael Underwood was a highly successful 27 year-old engineer and actor living in Los Angeles when, in 1995, he took his own life. The book tells the story of his bouts with the depression his parents never knew about, his success as an engineer as well as his budding career as an actor (he was in the movie Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks). It details his mother's struggle to go on living and survive her devastating loss.
Real Men Do Cry, by former NFL quarterback Eric Hipple, is an incredible story of tragedy and triumph. After his 15-year-old son died of suicide, Eric fell into a debilitating downward spiral. Bankrupt and jailed for drunk driving, he found the strength to seek therapy for his own depression and was able to make an amazing comeback. With unflinching honesty, Eric shares his journey, thus opening the door for others to realize that depression is treatable. This page-turner is packed with practical resources for families living with depression and is a valuable tool for counselors and mental health professionals nationwide. Resources include a Nine-Symptom Checklist for Depression along with Signs of Depression and Possible Suicide Risk.
A Christian homeschooling mom of a large family, Suzy LaBonte never imagined one of her children might die by suicide. She received an agonizing blow the day her sixteen-year-old son, Zachary, without threat or forewarning, chose to end his own life. The following months were bleak and sorrowful as Suzy struggled down a confusing path of shock, anger, guilt, and depression. Slowly putting one foot in front of the other, Suzy focused on the unfailing character of God, her husband's faithful partnership, and the hopeful faces of the children before her. Plodding and stumbling toward understanding and healing, Suzy found that God's faithful companionship and the promises of His Word lightened the darkest hours and sustained her life. Healing came slowly and with it, transforming lessons of pain and courage. With a passion to reach out to encourage other suicide survivors, Suzy shares the healing that is found in Christ Jesus. Includes a Survival Guide for those impacted by suicide and suggested resources for further support.
Named in USA Today's "5 books not to miss," and New York Post's "The best new books to read" From New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey—named one of USA Today’s 100 Black Novelists and Fiction Authors You Should Read—comes his final work: an unflinchingly timely novel about history, hearts, and family. It’s the summer of 2019, and Professor Pi Suleman is a Black man from Memphis with a lot to endure—not only as a Black man in Trump’s America but in his hard-earned career as an adjunct professor. Pi is constantly forced to bite his tongue in the face of one of his tenured colleague’s prejudices and microaggressions. At the same time, he’s being blackmailed by a powerful professor who threatens to claim he has assaulted her, when in fact the truth is just the opposite, trapping him in a he-said-she-said with a white woman that, in this society, Pi knows he will never win. When he meets Gemma Buckingham, a sophisticated entrepreneur who has just moved to Memphis from London to escape a deep heartbreak, things begin to look up. Though Gemma and Pi hail from separate cultures, their differences fuel a fiery and passionate connection that just may consume them both. But Pi’s whirlwind romance is interrupted when his absentee father, a celebrated writer, passes away and Pi is called to Los Angeles to both collect his inheritance and learn about the man who never acknowledged him. With the complicated legacy of his famous father to make sense of, Gemma’s visa expiration date looming, and the threats of his colleague becoming increasingly intense, Pi must figure out who he is and what kind of man he will become in his father’s shadow. In The Son of Mr. Suleman, Eric Jerome Dickey takes readers on a powerful journey exploring racism, colorism, life as a mixed-race person, sexual assault, microaggressions, truth and lies, cultural differences, politics, family legacies, perceptions, the impact of enslavement and Jim Crow, code-switching, the power of death, and the weight of love. It is an extraordinary story, page-turning and intense, and a book only Dickey could write.
A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.
After her son, Erik, committed suicide at age twenty, a physician, who had always placed her faith in science, finds her skepticism of life after death turning into belief when Erik begins communicating with her from the other side.
This powerful memoir follows a father’s journey to make sense of his world after losing his son to addiction and suicide. Fifteen years ago, Richard Boothby received a fateful call from his ex-wife that their twenty-three-year-old son, Oliver, was dead. Although Richard had been dreading this news, given Oliver’s prolonged struggle with drug dependency, nothing could have prepared him for the devastating shock. He became obsessed with uncovering the truth of why Oliver shot himself—had he been self-medicating an undiagnosed mental illness?—and what they could have done to prevent it. In an attempt to stem the pain, Boothby turned to psychoanalysis. He was no stranger to the concept—as a professor of philosophy, he had focused his career on the intersection between psychoanalytic theory and contemporary philosophy—but this was far from an academic exercise. Through his time in talk therapy, as well as psychedelic experiences in a research study on psilocybin, he would gradually find a sense of acceptance of the unknown, and a renewed appreciation for life. Exploring the epidemics of substance abuse and gun violence from an intimate perspective, Boothby’s poignant account of grief shows how the death of a loved one can in some ways bring us closer to them and ourselves.
No experience is worse than being a parent who has suffered the death of a child. It's so horrible that the English language doesn't have a word for it. Chris Gregory, a nineteen-year-old Freshman at Loyola University New Orleans, had a girlfriend. He was rushing a fraternity and although he had had a rough first semester, he told his parents he was certain he was finally getting "this college thing right." One night during a casual after-dinner conversation about driver's licenses, Chris's parents learned that he had opted to become an organ donor. "What am I going to do with my organs after I'm dead? And besides," he added with a grin, "who wouldn't want this body?" Life's funny. One day, some kid is a happy-go-lucky college freshman, healthy as a horse, and another guy is standing at death's door. And then in a matter of hours, they somehow trade places. Chris collapsed and died of an aneurysm with no warning. Five people who had been near death lived to see another day because they received Chris's organs. Eric Gregory, his father, wrote this book to chronicle this miracle of science and how meeting these recipients of his son's organs filled a special need in their hearts that few outside the organ donation community can understand.
"The mother of one of the two shooters at Columbine High School draws on personal recollections, journal entries and video recordings to piece together what led to her son's unpredicted breakdown and share insights into how other families might recognize warning signs,"--NoveList.
Eric Arauz suddenly died at the age of 47 in March of 2018. His friends, family, and community were devastated. In order to deal with his own grief, Frank Greenagel wrote about Eric every day for 30 days and shared his stories and photographs. Others followed. This book celebrates the life of an extraordinary man and also provides a model on grieving. Those that knew Eric or devoured his book will be pleased to read new stories about him. Those that never met the man nor read his book will be astounded by his service to others and moved by the grief of those that survive him. Eric Arauz is the award winning author of "An American's Resurrection," which was published in 2012. It is the story of Mr. Arauz's descent into the personal hell of a locked down VA ward. Mr. Arauz was a disabled Gulf War I veteran who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. He also had a problem with alcohol and drugs. He got sober in 1996 and earned two degrees at Rutgers. In 2006, he became a mental health advocate. By the time his book was published he was a faculty member at the Rutgers Medical School and a national trainer with an expertise in mental health disorders, trauma and suicide. All profits from this book will be donated to a scholarship fund at Rutgers University for veterans that are in recovery from a substance misuse disorder.
