This is a advice book which uses the author's personal experiences. Dena Yohe spreads this book throughout 15 chapters. She begins each chapter with a wise or relevant quotes. She follos her final chapter with an Afterward, an appeal to her target readers. Yohe includes a section called For Those Who Want to Help Someone Else, which gives suggestions on how to help parents of troubled teens. If the Unthinkable Happens includes encouragement and comfort for those who have lost a child to self-destructive choices. Yohe includes a Chair Exercise meant to help her targeted readers to draw nearer to God in their need. More Help for Specific Worries includes references to help for her readers. She includes many pages of Suggested Reading and Acknowledgements of those who made this book possible. She includes a Tribute to a Young Man and wraps it all up with Notes from sources used for this book. Dena Yohe has been a social worker, pastor's wife and Cru staff member. Her daughter, who was once deeply troubled and self-destructive, inspired the nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA). The author's daughter was portrayed in a 2015 Sony Pictures release.
I read this book quickly. Because of the way Yohe writes, I knew how her situation with her daughter would end up. For years, I've been aware of the nonprofit To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA. I knew of it because of the people I "friended" on Facebook. However, I never knew that the author of You're Never Aloneis the Founder of that nonprofit. Even more, it was news that her daughter inspired TWLOHA. Yohe writes in such a way that you care for her, her family and especially for her one-troubled daughter, Renee. Renee writes her own short columns that her mom inserts in this book. They give a good view of things from a teen's perspective. One thing I couldn't understand is why Renee's doctor diagnosed her with Sensory Integration Disorder (SID). With all the misery and hell that this family had endured, I can understand why they wanted to put a label on suffering tha made no sense to them. Reason for my perplexity? To me, its seems that SPD can't explain much of Renee's past self-destructive behavors. What did they have to do with sensory integration? But a doctor gave Renee this diagnosis and he must know. Also, I feel thankful that as a parent, so far, that my family and I have been spared the heatbreak of the author and of so many other parents of troubled youth. I was moved by her strong and enduring faith in and intimacy with God. This book makes me wonder how many families are facing similar situations with their young people, that this author faced.
This book clearly targets one audience. That's the parents of young people and especially troubled youth. Non-Christian, agnostic and atheist parents may dislike the clearly Christian content in this book even as they welcome its compassionate, caring counsel and the author's candid sharing of her own experiences. But this book may plant seeds in their hearts where they may consider God. Hurting Christian parents, especially in our Western culture with our "church is a museum for saints" culture, will find this book tremendously comforting and encouraging. They'll also find it full of of resources for further help. I recommend this book for every pastor to equip them to counsel troubled youth and their parents. I also recommend this book for youth ministers and other caring professionals who work with young people.
I received a compliementary copy of this book through BloggingForBooks in exchange for an honest review of this book. I wasn't asked to give this book a favorable review.
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