Reviews

“Nagel and Clark join their personal experiences as bereaved parents with research of the literature and interviews in a book written for bereaved parents. Their goal is to empower bereaved parents to actively rebuild their lives in healthy ways. The fourteen chapters cover relevant issues from the startlingly realistic, “Seeing Your Child’s Body,” to the pragmatic, “Surviving with Your Partner” to the existential, “Facing Spiritual Emergencies.” Overall the tone of this book is compassionate and practical. The authors include an Appendix which provides further information about support groups, helping organizations, and websites for further help. This book will service well as a self-help book for bereaved parents and may be useful as a type of homework tool to be assigned by professional counsellors to their clients.” – Omega: Journal of Death and Dying Book Reviews

“The book, which was published last month by New Horizon Press, offers the kind of advice [Clark and Nagel] say would have been helpful to them in the aftermath of their sons’ deaths — it describes symptoms of trauma and grief and offers guidance on the recovery process.” –Toronto Star

“Nagel and Clark speak from awful experience.” – Victoria Times Colonist

“Losing a child can be a truly devastating experience. “When Your Child Dies: Tools for Mending Parents’ Broken Hearts” is a grieving guide from Avril Nagel and Randie Clark, as they share their own pain of losing their own children prematurely, and the agony it faced with them. Drawing on Clark’s experience as a therapist, they encourage readers how best to cope and remember their child healthily for the rest of their lives. “When Your Child Dies” is a strong addition to any self-help collection focused on grief and coping.” -Midwest Book Review

“Just published this month by New Horizon Press is a book that addresses the greatest tragedy in a parent’s life, When Your Child Dies: Tools for Mending Parent’s Broken Hearts by Avril Nagel and Randie Clark ($14.95, softcover). Death claims babies, infants, children and adolescents every year, as well as adult children. The authors, both of whom lost a child, provide readers with compassionate, pragmatic tools to handle the emotional, practical, and psychological challenges that confront parents so that they may learn how to regain and redefine their lives while holding close their child’s memory.” – Bookviews by Alan Caruba

“The most comprehensive and helpful book ever written on the subject.” – K. Kukowski, LMHC

“Let me know if there is anything I can do to help? Was there ever a bereaved parent who did not hear this well meant yet trite phrase at some point? And was there any one among us who could, at that particular moment, articulate what we needed? Well, bereaved families now have a pat response to the “Let me know if…” comment: “Please hand me a copy of When Your Child Dies, by Avril Nagel and Randie Clark.” In the early days of our grief, not only do we not know what we need; we often don’t know what questions to ask. Nagel and Clark, both bereaved mothers themselves, have subtitled their manual: Tools for Mending Parents’ Broken Hearts, and they have organized their supportive information thematically. A parent can scan the contents page and turn to whichever one of the fourteen chapters resonates for them at the time.” -We Need Not Walk Alone, The Compassionate Friends Book Review

“This book is an important resource for grieving parents, written by two women who understand the issue first hand. I highly recommend this book as a tool both for those who have lost a child, and also those trying to help friends and family members in this situation. So often we have no idea how to help– reading this book will give you practical ways to do that” -Amazon Review

“When Your Child Dies” is a compassionate and ruthlessly honest book written from the heart about the death of a child and how to recover from it. It will be enormously helpful for those experiencing a recent loss as well as for those caring professionals who are assisting others with their loss. The book is extremely well organized, so that one can quickly focus in on the areas of most relevance to their needs. It takes you through the process from beginning acute stages of grief to the resolution of grief and the realistic possibilities for recovery without minimizing the fact that the grief over a loss of a child is an unending process. This is not an academic exploration (although this book would be an excellent resource for students). There are lots of tools and suggestions for things you can do to get through the trauma and loss. Buy it for yourself or for someone you know who needs it.” – Amazon Review

“This excellent book fills a real void. Any family who has lost a child will find this book a useful resource to guide them through the agony of losing a child.” -Amazon Review

“This excellent book validates the trauma, in a clinical sense, experienced by bereaved parents in a way that no other book on the loss of a child I have read. My son died suddenly 18 years ago, and I have read a lot of books about grieving, death and trauma since then. I have worked as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist for 15 years, specializing in grief and loss. This is the first I have read that uses a breadth of understanding of the trauma response to validate the experience of many parents who have lost a child. I highly recommend this book, which is simultaneously compassionate and practical, to bereaved parents and therapists alike. I wish it had been available when I was newly bereaved.” – Amazon Review

“Thank you for writing this book. I am so relieved to see there is a resource that shows us that there is a universal link between all who have lost. It is SO isolating to lose a child, or a pregnancy. Even thinking about ways to seek help feels impossible to most. Religion and family values can sometimes make things feel even harder and scarier. This book is a beautiful resource that clearly outlines the experience of grief and loss. It doesn’t matter what your religion, or family situation. Grief is completely overwhelming to try and understand. A compassionate and clear voice is hard to come by. This book is a bright and clear voice with which to help guide someone who is grieving.” -Amazon Review

“In the aftermath of the December 14th Newtown, CT Sandy Hook Elementary School deaths never has a resource for grieving parents been more timely than Nagel and Clark’s WHEN YOUR CHILD DIES Tools For Mending Parents’ Broken Hearts. I recommend this book – better yet, recommend it be placed it in the hands and in the homes of grieving parents, the lobbies of emergency rooms, shelves of funeral homes, churchs, synagogues, temples, mosques, libraries of every community suffering from tragic, traumatic losses of children (of any age). The authors are mom’s who have both experienced the traumatic loss of a child. Their voices speak directly to the broken hearts of bereaved parents. A beautiful compassionate valuable resource for the challenging and difficulty days ahead for parents struggling with their unfathomable losses.” – Amazon Review

“If you have lost a child or are connected to someone who has, this book will offer solace. With different strategies and multiple excepts from bereaved parents, you will find comfort and strength.” – Amazon Review

“I got this after a friend of mine told me about it and I felt like the book was for me… I recommend it to everyone …. a wonderful book.” -Amazon Review

“A much needed contribution to the literature on loss of child. A powerful handbook and healing guide for those who have lost a child and the people who love them.” – Amazon Review

“Authors Avril and Randie help parents survive the impossible. I would recommend this book to anyone faced with such heartbreak. This book is excellent.” – Amazon Review

“I bought this book for my Mom. My younger brother was killed in a car accident 10 months ago. I found the book through an internet search. When I saw the title, it felt like the right thing to do, buying it for her. It turns out that it hasn’t just been a good book for her to read, but a book that me, my sister and my brothers wife have been opening every time we are together. It feels like even though we all lost the same loved one, that since he died, we have been fighting with each other non-stop. I feel like this book has helped give us points to all be standing on the same ground for once. I think it started when I was trying to convince Mom to read the book. She didn’t receive the “gift” too well, at first. I was reading the titles of the chapters to her and somehow it sparked into a conversation. Instead of all of us feeling crappy and alone, we have this guide list to help us think that what we’re going through as an actual process. Yes, it’s a new way of life, but there is some structure to it…somehow. It’s now on a shelf in the living room at her house instead of in a drawer where I found it right after I gave it to her. I guess we are treating it like a coffee table book, of sorts. We spend a lot of time together, now, watching my nephew and sometimes we pull out a paragraph or a topic and just talk about it. I know that we’ve all spent some time turning through it on our own, too. Even my mom, who is hard to admit any defeat, ever. I think that at some point in life, all of us will be in over our heads and need a guidebook. Unfortunately, it seems no one knows how to face losing a family member suddenly. Nor, do they know how to recognize they are feeling so lost. I don’t know if it’s how we were expected to use the book, but I do know that it’s really helped change this experience for all of us trying to move on. If you know someone whose child has died, or you’ve lost someone, please get this book! It may be the spark they need.” – Review on Centering.org