Author to discuss benefits of therapy at NAMI meeting

Submitted by NAMI-Kane County North

Terry Shouba, author of “Conversations About Therapy: People Tell Their Stories,” will give a presentation to National Alliance on Mental Illness/Kane County North at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Ecker Center, 1845 Grandstand Place, third floor, Elgin.

The purpose of her talk, “Therapy and Mental Health,” is to spark conversation among attendees.

She has been writing and speaking about therapy since 2005. The complex strands of mental health and illness are tied up with stigma. As a result, many people don’t talk about emotional disorder and distress, especially not their own. Very little is known about what happens in a therapeutic relationship and no one helps you clarify your expectations.

If you go to therapy at all, you may leave with the idea that you have “had therapy” or settle for some other outcome. How are you to know? Maybe therapy itself is something to think and talk about; maybe it’s something to help you get a better grip on your life.

Shouba was a technical writer and instructional designer for many years before returning to the classroom to teach middle-school students with behavior and emotional disorders. That experience and others, in the context of her own long-term therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, gave her a larger perspective about emotional suffering and its profound cost to societies.

The book grew out of her deep interest in human development across the life span, especially what can go wrong and how can it be helped.

In “Conversations About Therapy,” a dozen men and women discuss their experiences. The author highlights and expands on their insights, offering ways to think about therapy. Through the stories of other people, you can weigh the cost of doing nothing with the cost of doing something.

For information, contact Laurie at (847) 695-7957 or lauriehuske@wowway.com.

Since it was founded in 1987 in Elgin, NAMI Kane County North has offered support and education programs to families facing mental illness, and participated in advocacy efforts to improve and expand mental health services in the community.