The Real Happily Forever After Place: helping children with where a loved one or pet goes when they die (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781494344061)

Sheila has loved writing since she was a girl growing up in the hills of West Virginia, where her very vivid imagination was allowed to flourish (thanks for her mother). Sheila is the oldest of 5 children, and was raised with large extended families consisting of close to 50 cousins, who provided her with many adventures. At age 18 a few weeks after graduation from high school, Sheila met and fell in love with her husband, Greg whom she married 5 months later and 40 years later are still happily married. Together they raised 4 children and moved all over the country with Greg's job. Sheila put her writing career on hold to be a full time mom and homemaker, which she loved. As their children began to leave the nest, Sheila's mother encouraged her to find a new adventure. So Sheila returned to college to study writing, where she also fell in love with psychology. In 1999 Sheila graduated from Hasting College with her bachelors in English and Psychology. In 2002 she received her masters in Social Worker from The Ohio State University. Sheila began working as a school social worker shortly thereafter. Over the next 10 years she worked as a social worker/psychotherapist various places. 4 years ago Sheila opened up a private counseling practice, where she is also a grief counselor. Sheila received her grief counseling certification through Grief Recovery.net in Columbus, Ohio. While over the years Sheila has written and submitted many stories, created and wrote for The Ladies Corner (a women's church newsletter), she has just recently published her first children's book, The Real Happily Forever After Place. While taking a writing class in undergrad, Sheila first wrote The Real Happily Forever After Place. The book sat in a drawer for many years, until 2013 where Sheila discovered it, as she was looking for something else. Sheila decided it was time to take her writing serious, especially after counseling so many adults and children, who have lost loved ones and pets. Death and grief is something that touches nearly everyone at some point in their lifetime. Personally Sheila has found death and grieving to be one of the most difficult things to deal with in her own life, with the loss of her father and twin daughters, and other family members. There is no right or wrong way to grieve the loss of a loved one, but all of us can find comfort in those who love us, and by fondly remembering those we have lost. Sheila's book is intended to aid in that comforting.