Loving Someone with a Mental Illness or History of Trauma

Skills, Hope, and Strength for Your Journey

A compassionate, interactive guide filled with practical skills and essential information for adults who love someone with a mental illness or history of trauma.

Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Awards by the Independent Book Publishers Association

Family members and friends of adults with a mental illness often navigate difficult journeys, filled with fear, heartache, frustration, helplessness, exhaustion, and guilt—feelings that may be intermingled with immense pride and hope. Suffering in silence can magnify confusion, isolation, and pain.

Loving Someone with a Mental Illness or History of Trauma provides actionable strategies for these family members and friends who give so much but whose needs and sacrifices are often unappreciated. Written by clinical psychologist Dr. Michelle Sherman and her mother, DeAnne Sherman, an advocate and educator, the book provides research-based recommendations, practical skills, up-to-date resources, inspiration from families with lived experience, and interactive activities to encourage personal reflection.

This accessible guide teaches readers:
• Tools to cope with difficult emotions
• Strategies to empower loved ones, including how to navigate the mental health system
• Communication and limit-setting skills
• Approaches to supporting loved ones who have experienced trauma or have PTSD
• Ways to manage common challenges, such as alcohol or drug misuse, and when a loved one declines professional help
• Strategies to support children
• Skills to build personal resilience and strengthen relationships

Grounded in science, empowering, and hopeful yet realistic, this book is an invaluable resource for family members, friends, and mental health professionals.

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.