Helping Survivors Manage

This is last year’s entry for 2011, but it is how I feel again at this year end. I would like to extend many thanks to all who have supported the Helping Survivors Manage mission! All the best to you and yours and Happy New Year!

Resolutions are good, but be gentle with yourself. My resolutions don’t come to me on certain days (like New Year’s Day), I have quotes all over my office that inspire me, make me laugh and help me – like most of us – get through one day, let alone an entire year. Sharing from my brick and mortar walls:

“Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of (wo)men, but from doing something worthwhile.” Sir Wilfred Grenfell

“If I should labor through daylight and dark,
Consecrate, valorous, serious, true,
Then on the world I may blazon my mark;
And what if I don’t, and what if I do?”
Dorothy Parker

“Real communication happens when people feel safe.” Ken Blanchard

“In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Be a hard master to yourself – and be lenient to everybody else.” Henry Beecher

“Keep looking, there is always something you missed.”

“A person’s true character is revealed by what (s)he does when no one is watching.”

“The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.” Swedish proverb

“Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Talent is good, practice is better, passion is best.” Frank Lloyd Wright

In the past couple of days, I came up with one “kindness is a result of deep contentment, unkindness is a result of deep sadness” let’s hope we are all in the former category and have patience for those in the latter.

Here is to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012, peace…

Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 6:30-8:00pm
Begin Here: Helping Survivors Manage After a Death – class

If you are in the Twin Cities area, please sign up for the Community Ed class, the last one was a lot of fun!

South Washington County Schools, Community Education District 833
Cottage Grove Middle School
9775 Indian Blvd.
Cottage Grove, MN 
$25.00 class includes a book ($24.00 retail value)
sign up at www.cecool.com

Many people ask me “what is the most important thing to do immediately after someone dies?” Here is the answer, and it may surprise you. The following is an excerpt from the book Begin Here:

Urgent and Important

The first consideration after a death is the welfare of any dependents the decedent may have had. This task rates above any and all others.

If decedent has dependents (human and/or pets):

Immediately arrange for a home care provider or make other arrangements for living dependents:

-Contact your local human services department for assistance with human dependents; children, elderly parents, etc. (see http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Local_Government/Cities.shtml for your local social services branch).

-Contact the Humane Society for any and all pets (see http://www.humanesociety.org/ for your local branch).

-Search the residence for any medications that may be necessary and time-sensitive for surviving dependents and pets.

-Bring along a few meaningful possessions to comfort the dependent if you are removing them from familiar surroundings.

These tasks may seem obvious to you, but to a survivor, these thoughts do not come easily. As I have stated many times, a surviving person has difficulty thinking clearly and logically. Our thoughts and emotions are in a vacuum.

We all need help and guidance…Begin Here is that guidance. Help someone you know by giving them this book when they become a survivor and are struggling with these issues. Peace…

This is a free event and open to the public.

Location:
The Recovery Church
Senior Recovery Program
253 State Street, Saint Paul, MN  55107

free parking, handicapped accessible and on a bus line

The Recovery Program is providing health screenings, guest speakers, games and drawings! Helping Survivors Manage will have a table and selling the book Begin Here for $20.00 each ($4.00 off retail) tax included.

Senior Recovery Program is a nonprofit organization providing a unique and comprehensive recovery program for men and women, 50 years of age or older, who are abusing or have become dependent on alcohol or drugs. Our program provides age-specific assessment, abuse counseling, dependency treatment, social and emotional support, medication monitoring, home visits and assessments, transportation to and from our facility, and much more.

Hope to see you there!

Our two year anniversary has arrived and you are the benefactor! Our way to celebrate and thank you is to offer a buy one Begin Here and get one free offer for the week of October 8-15. Simply purchase one book from our website and two will automatically be sent during the week of October 8-15, 2011 only.

On October 13, 2009 we shipped the first 30 books sold and so much has happened since then! Here is a brief summary as of today:

-More than 1,600 copies of the book sold
-Media exposure in over 30 publications, hardcopy and digital
-Nineteen events and speaking engagements attended, more on the calendar
-Books sold to customers in three countries and 41 states in the US
-The book is in its third printing
-Begin Here is now a community education class
-so many other amazing things have happened, too many to list!

We would like to thank all of our customers and supporters for a wonderful first two years. We look forward to helping survivors manage indefinitely. Peace.